Chicken Biryani Again

So yesterday I did this Biryani coz we had some cousins over for dinner. I must confess this time I had some progress over my all previous attempts, and it was really loved by our guests, made me feel even better. Btw no matter how much (usually) people boast/claim but making good biryani is extremely tricky and needs years of practice to be confident in it. And the only time I seriously pray is while making biryani :)

Stuff needed
1/2 kg boneless chicken pieces
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
200 gm rice
2-3 green chillies (or more if u like spicy)
almonds, cashews (as much as u like)
salt (as needed)
3-4 tbsp oil

Whole spices:
2 bay leaves
2" cinnamon stick
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
4 green cardamoms
3 cloves
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
5-6 dry curry leaves
1/2 thyme seeds
1/2 tsp peppercorns
tiny bit of nutmeg


1. Dry roast all the whole spices and crush them well in a mortal n pestle.
2. marinate chicken pieces with salt, ginger-garlic paste, tomato paste and crushed whole spices for around 3o mins.
3. Heat oil in a vessel and add chicken pieces, cook for 5 minutes on high flame, keep stirring to avoid sticking at bottom.
4. Cover the vessel and keep the flame quite low.
5. Boil some water and add rice, cook for few minutes only as we want them only 40-50% done.
6. Now drain out all the water and spread the rice carefully on chicken or mix them very gently. NOW HERE THE TRICKY PART STARTS.
7. Put a tawa/griddle/hotplate on gas (still on low flame) and put the biryani vessel on top of griddle.
8. Cover the vessel and leave it for 40-45 mins. Now because our rice were quite raw, they will absorb any extra liquids left by the chicken pieces, as a result we'll have quite dry biryani without any sogginess.

(Please) do not forget:
1. if u want to put onions, fry the slices seprately and spread them on top of biryani as garnish.
2. Using boneless chicken is much better coz u dnt wanna pick bones while enjoying this fine dish.
3. Prefer boneless thigh pieces as they contain more fat than other chicken parts. and as a result you dont have to use much cooking oil.

Lamb Korma

Aloha Buddies!!
It's always a pleasure to cook for friends so herez the Korma I just made. Now while cooking anything Indian/Mughlai we dont have to stick with authenticity all the way, seriously, dogma sucks!!! The only things we need to keep in mind 1)Main ingredients of this particular cuisine and 2)The ingredient that separates this dish from its other family members. So here the first rule is basic Indian spices and secondly, do not use turmeric, Korma is usually white/slightly brownish and contains good amount of cashew paste. so here we go..

Ingredients
1 kg Lamb
1 cup brown onion paste (slice 4-5 medium onions, fry upto light brown n grind)
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
100-150 cashews (depends, you can put more or less)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt (as needed)
10-12 dry prunes
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder


whole spices
2 bay leaves
2 inch cinnamon stick
3 green cardamoms
2 cloves
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp thyme seeds
5-6 dry curry leaves
pinch of mace

Shredded almonds/nuts for garnish

1. Heat oil, add all the whole spices and wait till they start crackling.
2. Add lamb pieces, salt and cover the vessel. Cook on medium heat until the pieces are almost tender.
3. Add ginger-garlic and brown onion paste, prunes and nutmeg. simmer for about 10-15 mins.
4. Add cashew paste, red chilli powder, pepper, cumin powder and coriander powder. Simmer for next 10 mins.
5. Garnish with some almonds, pistachios or saffron strands or any nuts u like.

Few things to remember:
Use least oil as possible, lamb already has quite lot of fat in it. we only need enough to cook the whole spices.
Try to use whole spices, readymade curry powder or 'garam masala' powder wouldnt give that nice rich aroma.
Still if u dont have whole spices, skip the 'whole spices' step and add 1-2 tbsp garam masala while adding cashew paste.