HYDERABADI CHICKEN BIRYANI

Recipe Prerequisites:1)chicken-1kg 2)rice-1kg 3)curd-1/2kg 4)onions-1kg 5)mirchi powder as per taste 6)salt as per taste 7)coriander-5 bundles 8)mint leaves(pudina)-3 bundles 9)ginger-garlic paste-3 big spoon fulls 10)turmeric-3 tsps 12)ghee-100 gms 11)garam masala:1-shah zeera(Caraway seeds)-2 big Spoon ful

2-patta(cinnamon)-50gms 3-ilaichi(cardamom)-12 pcs 4-zeera(cimin seeds)-2 big spful 5-pepper corns-10-12 pcs 6-laung(clove)-10-12 pcs 7-coriander seed powder-50 gms Grind half the quantity of garam masala and keep the remaining half to use it in boiling rice

Procedure:- first marinade the 1kg of chicken

with kg of curd and 2 big spoons of ginger garlic paste,turmeric,mirchi-2/3 spoons more than the normally used volume,salt to taste,chopped 2 coriander bundles and 1 mint bundle,half of the ground garam masala(keep the remaining half of ground garam masala for use in rice when layering and the unground garam masala to use when boiling rice)---keep the marinade aside for 1-2 hrs but it wud be best if kept for 3-4 hrs coz it makes the chicken tender and juicy.

Meanwhile chop 1 kg of onions into slices and fry 3/4th of the onions to dark brown and crisp and keep aside. Also soak the biryani rice for abt 1 hr in the unground garam masala and 2 big spoons of salt and then put it on flamebut remember to put a considerably large amnt of water so as to drain the rice easily when cooked. Now in a big vessel which can caontain both chicken and rice, heat oil and put some of the unground garam masala and unfried onions. When the onions start turning translucent put 1 tblspn ginger garlic paste and 2 chopped coriander leaves and 1 mint leaf bundle and stir for abt 5 min. Now empty the marinated chicken into it and cook until the chicken is 80% cooked. Now remove the vessel from the flame and keep the chicken aside and add half of the CRUSHED fried

onions into it and keep aside until the rice is 85% cooked. When the rice is done(around 85 percent-that means the grain should be soft enough to break but firm enough not to break very easily) Now collect a 50% of cooked chicken with small pieces aside and keep the remaining in the vessel to form the base of biryani Now drain the rice making sure that the garammasala in it is retained and put half of the rice over the chicken Now again layer the rice with the chicken kept aside and sprinkle finely chopped mixture of coriander leaf and mint leaf,groundgarammasala,fried onions. Now layer this again with the remaining rice and and again sprinkle-chopped coriander and mint lfs,garam masala and fried onions and all the remaining ghee mostly on the sides and all over and tightly seal the vessel and put some weights over it and keep it on very low flame for abt 30

mins and then increase the distance btw the flame and vessel or you can keep something similar to a tava so as to prevent the biryani from burning..and it shud be kept so for abt 30-45 min. Note-once the biryani is sealed it should not be opened at allbut if u r unsure abt the situation of rice then check only once and slightly reverse the outermost region of the uppermost layer only. And remember not the make the chicken very drythe gravy in the cooked chicken should be slightly half an inch more than the level of chicken so that the moisture and falvour reaches considerable portion of rice. THIS IS MY PERSONAL RECIPIE. CHAKRADHAR