Basic Chicken Biriyani - Rajam's recipe

 For most Indians, biriyani is an emotion. There are so many different varieties of biriyani in India and the one you had growing up generally ends up being the winner. The reason is obviously it brings back so many fun memories, and secondly, it is a taste that gets embedded in the ridges and grooves of your brain. Nothing anyone makes is even remotely close to that taste that you know is possible and you strive hard to find it everywhere. I found many Indian restaurants in Melbourne cook the rice and the meat seperately and then layer it in and call it biriyani. Of course it made me mad because for me the meat and rice must be cooked together for it to have the status of biriyani.  Yes, biriyani definitely has a status, if the meat and rice are cooked together in a delicious conglomeration, then the status is definitely at the top.

The trick to getting a perfectly cooked rice and meat dish is 1) excellent quality biriyani rice, 2) infinite patience and 3) careful measuring.  I use India Gate "classic basmati rice extra long" because it never fails me. India Gate basmati rice cooks into a fine long grain, fluffy and beautiful and I know the ratio is 1 cup of rice means two cups of liquid. 

My mother used to make biriyani at home for special occassions and that is what I have tried to create today for you. This is not a very hot dish, but by all means reduce the number of green chillies if you feel it might be too hot for you.  The red chilli powder I have used is Kashmiri chilli powder  which is not hot. 

Also, my mother never used to marinate and seal the chicken when she made chicken biriyani.  However, the chicken she used were organic and small sized where as the ones I see here are huge and have very little flavour - even if they are supposedly organic.  So that is a variation that helps with increasing the flavours of this dish. 

Lets get to the recipe without further ado!  This recipe calls for marination of the chicken and I do it the day before I am planning to make the biriyani.

Ingredients for biriyani:

2 kilos of chicken drumsticks, cleaned

5 cups basmati rice (India Gate Classic, extra long) 

5 large red onions, sliced

10 green chillies, sliced

4 tomatoes, sliced

2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste

1 bunch coriander, shredded, keep aside a stalk for decorating

1/2 bunch mint leaves, shredded

2 cups dessicated coconut, blended to a fine paste

2 cups plain yogurt

1 x 200ml tin coconut milk

2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli powder

2 teaspoons coriander powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 a cup of oil plus two extra tablespoons

2 tablespoons ghee

5 cloves

5 cardamoms

2 bay leaves (Indian bay leaves - they are different to the European bay leaves)

1 stick cinnamon

1 pandanus leaf (I buy them when they are in season and freeze them.  If you dont have it, you dont have to use it; it is optional)

1/2 a cup of cashewnuts for serving (optional)

1/2 cup raisins for serving (optional)

a few cherry tomatoes for garnish

salt, as required

Ingredients for marinating chicken drumsticks:

2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste

1 lime, juiced

salt

Method:

Step 1:

The day before you are planning to make the biriyani, get the chicken ready.

Wash, clean and score chicken drumsticks. First add salt and lime juice and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Next, smear the chicken with the chilli, turmeric and ginger garlic paste. Massage the masalas into the chicken and put it in a bowl and leave it in the fridge. Let the chicken marinate overnight.

Step 2:

Start getting your ingredients ready.

Onions, tomatoes and green chillies  - wash and slice them

Dessicated coconut - grind with a little water to a fine paste

Mint and Coriander - shred

With the coconut milk and yogurt, measure using the same cup that you used to measure the rice and make up 10 cups of liquid. Add water to all of the coconut milk and yogurt to make up the 10 cups.  Remember, since you used 5 cups of rice, you are going to need 10 cups of liquid to cook the rice.

Wash the rice well and then soak it in plain water for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, drain the rice into a colander. 

Step 3:

Lets start making the biriyani!

Use a large heavy bottomed pan  - the pan must be big enough to hold the 2 kg of chicken and the 5 cups of rice, which fluffs up to almost double its size after cooking.

Take 1 tablespoon ghee, add it to the pan and when it melts, add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaves. Let the spices release their fragrance - about a minute or so, then add 1/2 a cup of the oil - I used olive oil.  You may use ghee for the whole lot instead of oil, but I find that too rich which is why I use oil.

When the oil gets hot, add the sliced onions. Though the pan may look full, be patient and saute onions in a medium heat till it gets transluscent and about to get caramalised.  do not leave the pan unattented as you do not want burnt onions. If you want a tastier biriyani, you can substitute a couple of the onions for an equal quantity by weight, of shallots. My mother used to do this and the flavours lift to a whole new level.

Once your onions start looking like this, then it is time to add the ginger garlic paste. Notice how much the onions have reduced in volume.

Keep sauteing with the ginger garlic paste and then your onions will reduce further and take on a darker hue. Now add the tomatoes and green chillies.

Once the tomatoes have started to turn mushy, add the spice powders - coriander, chilli and turmeric.

Mix well and add the green leaves and coconut paste. At each step notice how the onions have reduced and have become darker and sweeter.

Lastly, add the liquid - all 10 cups of it along with the pandanus leaf (I like to knot it since it is very long). Put the lid on and let the liquid come to a boil. At this point you may check for salt and add as required. With your liquid, there is an option to use saffron and if you are using it, then soak a few strands of saffron in 1/2 a cup of warm milk, reduce the quantity of water by 1/2 a cup,  and add it to the liquid to make a total of 10 cups.

Meanwhile, in another sauce pan, add a tablespoon of oil and fry the chicken drumsticks in batches - just to cook off the raw smell of the masalas.  You will need about 3 minutes on each side - as the drumsticks that I got were quite large.

Once the chicken is ready and your pot of biriyani liquid is ready, start arranging the chicken legs inside your big pot.  Lastly, put the drained rice inside.  Make sure you spread the rice all around so it is completely inside the liquid.  Close the lid, reduce your gas flame to low and set the timer for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, you will see the rice has fluffed up beautifully and is almost spilling out of the pot.

Use the remaining ghee to toast your cashews and raisins (if using) to use as garnish on your rice.

Wait for a few minutes and gently spoon out using a large flat spoon to scoop out the rice without breaking it to a serving dish. Decorate with coriander leaves, cashew nuts and cherry tomatoes.

Enjoy with tomato jam and onion raita and your family!

You can also decorate your biriyani with silver / gold foil, raisins fluffed up in ghee, deep fried onions and so on. But what I have shown you is a basic chicken biriyani - and it is up to you to take it to a new level!