Delicious Chicken Biriyani

Biriyani is a dish that comprises of Meat and Rice, layered and cooked together with some spices... It is derived from the Persian word 'Birian' which means roasting before cooking.

This very tasty dish has its origins in Arabia or Persia. The story goes that the nomads and the tribals carried some dried meat and rice with them during their travels, and they layered the rice and the meat and added some dry herbs and nuts and let it simmer on a wood fire for sometime and then buried it under the sand for a few hours, after which the dish was ready. It was a fairly simple form of preparing biriyani those days, making use of nature and her resources.

Pan Fried Chicken

Biriyani has taken many different forms since then, and gone on to become a gourmet dish, that has been evolved and finetuned to such an extent, that now one comes across at least 50 varieties of biriyanis. I may be wrong there, as the number may be greater.

Biriyani has Rice and Meat as its basic ingredients. The rest of the ingredients, the spices that go into it vary.

Hyderabad in India is known as the Biriyani capital of the world. There are mind boggling varieties of Biriyanis prepared here at different restaurants. Some of those recipes are closely guarded by restaurants and families, as they have been handed down through several generations. The Mughals brought Biriyani with them when they invaded India. It is one of the many influences that came to India with the Mughals and became extremely popular here and further evolved. It also took on some local flavors to suit the spice loving Indians...

A good Biriyani consists of perfectly cooked meat and the right blend of herbs and spices, cooked together with the rice. The Rice and Meat is never mixed while cooking. They are both cooked separately. The final stage of the preparation consists of layering the two alternatively and generally cooked either in an oven or on traditional wood fire, using gentle heat. One is careful not to mix the Biriyani even while serving.

Here I am going to share my recipe which I have tried to simplify to my own practical needs. I remember the good old times during my childhood when the preparation for Biriyani began early in the morning in my Ancestral house, with the men folk chasing the Chicks ( for Chicken Biriyani) or the livestocks or Mutton Biriyani and the dish was prepared on coal fire. Whereas now things are simplified, I go to the supermarket for the Meat and the other ingredients and I use the rice cooker to make the Biriyani and, find it tastes no different from what the other more complicated forms of Biriyani's tasted.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice 3 and a 1/2 cups washed and soaked in water for 2 hours
Meat or chicken 500 gms, cut into medium sized pieces
Onions 4-5 sliced
Tomatoes 2 large sliced
Yogurt 1 cup
Ginger and garlic paste 1 tb sp
Gharam Marsala powder 2 tb sp
Red chilly powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
salt to taste
Ghee 1 cup
Clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamoms

For the Green Marsala paste:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mint leaves a bunch
Coriander leaves a bunch
Green chillies 4-5 or more if needed
A small piece of ginger and 5-6 garlic flakes
Grind the above into a fine paste
A few strands of Saffron soaked in a quarter cup of milk

Method of Preparation:

Drain the rice. In a large frying pan or wok heat 4 tablespoonfuls of Ghee and fry the rice till slightly crisp, add the cloves, cinnamon, crushed whole cardamoms, nutmeg gratings and transfer the rice to a rice cooker and add 5 cups of water and enough salt. Leave it to cook.

Slice 3 onions into fine long pieces, and fry with some ghee till very crisp and brown and keep aside.

Marinate the meat with the gharam Marsala, turmeric powder, chilly powder and yogurt and the ginger garlic paste. Pressure cook with green chillies, coriander leaves and the tomatoes.

In a frying fan heat some ghee and fry the rest of the onions, add the ground green Marsala paste, and mix well. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes after which transfer the contents from the cooker. Let the meat mixture simmer for a couple minutes or until the gravy becomes thick and well blended.

For layering:

Now we need to assemble the various ingredients together. In the Rice cooker spread a little ghee and a layer of Rice, and pour a little of the saffron milk on top of the rice, then a layer of the meat curry, and finally sprinkle some fried onions. Repeat this process, finally sprinkle onions on the top and cook for 5-6 minutes, and the Briyani should be ready by then.

It is generally served with Raita prepared with Raw onions, Tomatoes, Cucumber and Yogurt, mixed with some chopped fresh Coriander leaves and Green Chillies.

Summary: It is a lovely dish that tastes great.

Delicious Chicken Biriyani

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