Chicken Biriyani

Onions were roughly sliced for the chicken and also set aside finely chopped onions for browning and to use as the garnish for the biriyani.

 Ginger garlic paste-ginger and garlic were taken to suit the amount of chicken used and ground to a nice paste.

Khus Khus/Poppy seeds-soaked and pulsed along with cashewnuts to a paste. Placed in some curd and kept aside until use.

Around fifteen green chillies pulsed coarsely to be used in the cooking of the chicken.

Fresh mint leaves washed and pat dried to be placed between the layers of the biriyani to enhance the flavour

Sufficient ghee used in a wok to add in the whole spice that adds flavour and aroma to the rice-cardamon,cloves and cinnamon

The crispy brown onions...this procedure is quite cumbersome and one has to be extremely patient in doing this, keep tossing them on  low flame until it browns and drain off any excess oil(they were sauteed in oil) and set aside.

Basmati/Biriyani Rice was washed and soaked for a while and then drained and left to go into the boiling spiced water.



A handful of raisins and cashewnuts were also fried in the ghee in which the onions were browned and they were all set aside to go into the decorating of the biriyani.



Water was kept on the stove to boil and the same whole spices were thrown in along with a litle salt. Once it boils the drained Basmati rice was thrown in and left to cook till it was three-quarters done. Please keep checking the rice so that it doesn't over cook.

WILL CONTINUE SOON:- Continuing from where I stopped. There are two ways of going about it,  marinate the chicken ahead of time in curd, salt, green chillies,ginger garlic and half a lemon or cook the chicken separately and add to the rice. As I was documenting this process with my friend S in her kitchen and as the chicken didn't arrive in time we went ahead with the second process. But always remember marinating the meat ahead of time always makes a difference.

The chicken was cooked with the spices like turmeric,chilly powder,ginger garlic paste and the khus khus with cashew paste. A nice handful of finely chopped cilantro was also added while the chicken gets almost done. This can be cooked in ghee for additional flavour. I have not done so.

The chicken was then cooked in another pan in which the onions,chillies and tomatoes had been sauteing. As it changes colour slowly the poppy seed paste was slid in and the ginger garlic paste and the spice powders went in like turmeric and chilly powder. Add the marinated chicken and let it cook through thoroughly.

This is how the cooked chicken would look. Add in adequate salt and the finely chopped mint and cilantro leaves.

(Please excuse me, this is a badly written post. Had issues with my laptop and cursor and was not able to edit properly as well, the pics are also jumbled here and there owing to the slow pace in which they were uploading. This was also done in my friend's kitchen under her guidance and with her permission)

So grateful to her for allowing me to document her at work. We had an enjoyable time and the biriyani was a big hit at home. Thanks S :) hugs!