Ingredients
Chicken
and Marination
• 1.5 kg chicken cut
into medium pieces (Size like a leg piece cut into 3 pieces)
• 2 tbsp ginger garlic
paste
• 1 tbsp roasted
coriander powder
• 1/2 tbsp roasted cumin
powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp red chilli
powder
• Garam masala (Grind to
a powder 1-inch cinnamon, 5 green cardamom, 3 black cardamom, 5 cloves, 2 small
pieces of javitri, 2 bay leaves)
• Golden brown fried onions
of 2 big onions
• 4-5 tbsp curd
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 2 tbsp oil in which
the onion was fried
• Salt as per taste
• 4-5 pieces pathar ke
phool/biryani phool and crushed with hand
• 6-7 sprigs each of
green coriander and mint leaves coarsely chopped
Potli
Masala Water
• 4 cloves, 3 green
cardamom, 2 black cardamom, 1 star anise, 2 bay leaves, 1/2 inch cinnamon –
Lightly crushed to release the flavor
• Put everything in 250
ml water and heat in a low flame for 30 minutes. This makes the water rich with
the flavors of the spices.
• Keep aside this potli
masala water
Rice
and final steps
• 750 grams of long
grained basmati rice, washed and soaked in water for 30-45 minutes.
• 2 sprigs each of
green coriander and mint leaves coarsely chopped
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
mixed in 90 ml milk
• Golden brown fried onions
of 1 small onion
• 5 tbsp salt
Marination
Mix all
ingredients under “Chicken and Marination” and marinate for atleast 3
hours in a shallow heavy bottomed vessel.
Process
• Atleast
30 minutes before the end of chicken marination, take a big vessel and boil 3-4
liters of water. Add salt to this.
• When
the water starts boiling, add the potli masala water and the soaked rice.
• Take out
the vessel containing the chicken.
• After
10 minutes or so the rice would be around 40 % cooked. Take out 60% of the rice
and layer on top of the chicken and marinade. Sprinkle half of the chopped coriander
and mint leaves and fried onions (from Rice and final steps) on this
rice layer. Pour in 45 ml of the milk mixture over this layer.
• By this
time the remaining rice would be around 70% cooked. Take out all the rice and put
it on the earlier layer of rice. Sprinkle remaining chopped coriander and mint
leaves and fried onions (from Rice and final steps) on this rice layer. Pour
in the remaining 45 ml of the milk mixture over this layer. Remember to leave some space in the
vessel.
• Cover
the vessel with 2-3 layers of aluminum foil and put on the lid light.
• Put on
high flame for 5 minutes.
• Remove the
vessel from the flame and put in 1 heavy bottom tawa on the flame. I had 2 thin tawas, so used both of them.
• Place
the chicken rice vessel on top of the tawa. Reduce the flame to the lowest
possible. (In Indian gas
stoves, I used the smallest one)
• Let it
remain like this for the next 90 minutes. You will start to smell the light
aroma of the biryani spices.
• At the
end of 90 minutes, remove the lid and gently scoop out rice from the side from
within and taste it. Rice should be perfectly flavored and cooked by now. Poke
in something to see the tenderness of the chicken. Cover the lid, switch off
the flame and let the vessel remain on the tawa for the next 5 minutes.
Dish out
hot with a cool mint raitha! Enjoy with family and friends!
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