Murgh Biryani

Chers Amis!! earlier i posted couple of recipes for biryani, both Lakhnawi(Lucknow styled) and Hydrabadi but if you are a beginner its a HUGE challenge for you, coz Hydrabadi is quite tricky and Lakhnawi you need to handle with lot of care coz if rice are fully boiled it will turn quite soggy. In short if you gonna make it for the first time its a matter of luck :)

Now this style that im gonna share is the complete opposite of Hydrabadi. In Hydra you spread the layer of marinated meat at the bottom of pan, cover with half cooked rice and then cook on very low flame in a sealed pot for an hour. Now here we have the risks of over cooked rice, somewhat raw meat and sogginess. BUT the procedure ive used, in this we mix 40-50% cooked rice with fully cooked meat and some seasonings and then again cook on low flame till the rice are fully cooked. Now the advantage here is that the extra juices that cause sogginess are used to cook the rice which results into quite dry biryani with zero stickiness between rice.. sounds easy no ??? ;)

Now the quantity ive used here is sufficient for 2-3 people with average appetite.

Ingredients.. ..

For marinade

250 gm boneless chicken pieces

1/2 cup curd

Whole garam masala (1 bay leaf, 2-3 green cardamoms, 3 cloves, 1" cinnamon stick, 1/2 tsp mace, 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder)

Salt, to taste

1-2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2 tsp crushed peppercorns

1 tomato, chopped

1-2 dry red chillies

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

Other stuff

1 large onion, thin sliced

Salt, to taste

250 gm basmati rice

water

1 tsp kitchen king powder

100 ml ghee/oil

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

How to do it.. ..

1. Wash the chicken pieces with cold water and let them dry for some time.

2. Marinate the pieces with above described stuff and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

3. Heat the ghee in a thick bottomed pan and fry the onions.

4. Saute till the onions get brown and then with a slotted spoon take out around half the onions and set aside for using later.

5. Add the chicken along with its liquid content. Cook them on medium/low flame till the pieces are tender, without covering the pan.

6. Boiling the Rice: first of all we need to soak the rice in water for about half an hour.

To boil them well, use 1 ltr water and put 1 tbsp salt in that. when water is at its full boiling point, add rice and cook without covering. Here please be careful and drain out all the water when rice are barely half cooked and re-wash them with cold water.

7. Now put all the rice in the pan where we cooked our chicken.

8. Mix them very gently.

9. Add some more salt (if needed), rest of the fried onions, garam masala powder and kitchen king powder.

10. again mix gently and thoroughly and cover the pan. Cook on low flame for another 15-20 minutes or till the rice are fully cooked. Serve hot.. ..