Recipes by Rashmi

Biryani is derived from persian word 'Birian' which means fried or roasted. Basically this dish is south Asian dish made from mixture of spices, rice,meat or vegetables and curd. There is 20-30 kind of Biryani and each kind has its own taste. In India chicken biryani is very famous rice dish. We can find this dish every restaurant and parties. Its preparation took long time but finally when you have this Biryani you could realize its worth.
Servings: 4
Cooking Time: 45-60 min
INGERDIENTS:
1. Boneless chicken -1lb ( cut into bite size )
2. 1 cup non-fat yogurt
3. Ginger paste – 1tbsp
4. Garlic paste – 1tbsp
5. Cloves -3-4
6. Green cardamom – 4
7. Cinnamon stick – 1 ( about 1”)
8. Bay leaf – 1
9. Cumin seeds – 1tsp
10. Coriander powder – 2 tbsp
11. Cumin powder - ½ tbsp
12. Turmeric powder -1 tsp
13. A pinch of saffron ( soaked in water)
14. Garam masala – 1tsp
15. Red chili powder – 1tbsp
16. 1 large onion ( roughly chopped)
17. 1 large tomato (chopped)
18. 1 medium size red onion ( cut into thin slices)
19. 4 tbsp butter/ ghee/ olive oil
20. 4-5 tbsp olive oil
21. 10 cashew nuts
22. 8-10 raisins
23. 8-10 almonds
24. 2 cups white basmati rice ( soaked in water for 1 hr)
25. Salt to taste
26. 2 boiled egg ( cut into halves )
METHOD:
1. Drain water from soaked rice in a colander and let it be in it for 20 minutes. Now place the rice in a heavy bottomed vessel with 3 ½ cups of water, 1/2 tbsp of salt and few drops of oil. Cover it and bring to boil over high heat. Uncover it and cook without stirring on medium heat for about 7-8 min or until rice becomes just tender (take a few grains and chew them. Are they cooked??). Remember, rice should not be overcooked otherwise rice grains won't remain separated from each other. Turn off the stove and cover with lid.
2. Take a bowl and place boneless chicken, yogurt, cumin powder, bay leaf, garam masala powder, 2 cardamom pods, 2 cloves and garlic-ginger paste in it. Mix them well and keep this bowl in refrigerator for marinating the chicken.
3. After that, heat a pan with 3 tbsp of olive oil. Add cumin seeds, 2 cardamom pods, 2 cloves and cinnamon stick. When they crackle, add coarsely chopped onion and salt. Fry on medium heat until onions turn translucent. Now add chopped tomato and fry for another 2-3 min on medium heat. After that, add marinated chicken, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and mix well. Fry them for 4-5 min on medium high heat and stir occasionally. Add 1 cup of water and cook till chicken pieces get cooked.
4. Again heat a pan with butter/ghee/oil. Add cashews, dry grapes & almonds and fry them for 1 min on medium heat. Now add red onion slices and sauté them till they turn to golden brown. Remove this pan from heat.
5. After that, take a heavy bottomed pot. Spread a layer of nuts and onion mixture (1/3 of the mixture prepared in the previous step) in it. Now, spread a layer of cooked rice (1/3 of total rice) over it and sprinkle saffron water. After that, spread 1/3 of chicken mixture prepared in 3rd step. Repeat this procedure for rest of the nuts & onion mixture, rice, saffron water and chicken mixture.
6. Cover the pot with lid and cook on low heat for 25-30 min or until steam starts coming out of the lid. Turn off the stove. Place this chicken biryani in serving bowl and place the boiled egg halves on rice & serve with raita.

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