Chicken Biriyani - Malabar Style

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1Kg
Basmati rice - 4 cups
Onion - 3 + 2 nos
Tomato -3 nos
Chopped Garlic - 4 tbsps
Chopped Ginger - 4 tbsps
Green chillies - 6-8 nos
Poppy seed/Khuskhus - 2 teaspoons
Aniseed(Perinjeerakam) powder - 1 tsp
Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
Cashew - 4nos
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch
Mint leaves - 1 small bunch
Fresh Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger Paste - 1/4 tsp
Garlic Paste - 1/4 tsp
Biriyani masala - 1 teaspoons
Salt – as per your preference
Curd - 1 cup Juice of one lime

Cinnamon(Karugapatta) - 5 - 6 pieces
Bay leaf(Vazhana/karuga ela) - 2 nos
Cardamom(Elakka) seeds - 4 - 5 nos
Cloves(Grambu) - 4 - 5 nos
Pepper slightly crushed - 4-5 nos
Ghee – 250gms (Replace with Olive oil ,if you are health conscious) Sliced cashew nuts - 20gms Raisins - 20gms Saffron – 1gm (optional)
Boiled egg halved - 2 nos

1. Soak the rice in water for 30min prior to cooking.
2. Cut the Chicken into big pieces and wash. Make small gashes on the pieces. Marinate it with turmeric powder,coriander powder, Ginger and garlic paste, biryani masala and salt and keep it aside atleast for 30 mnts.
3. Grind together green chillies, garlic, ginger into coarse paste.
4. Grind aniseed and poppy seeds( poppy seeds should be soaked in water for 15 minutes), grated coconut and 4 pieces of cashew into a coarse paste.
5. Chop corriander leaves, mint leaves and curry leaves into small pieces.
6. Slice onion very thin. Slice tomatoes vertically and thin.


1. Drain the rice well. In a saucepan melt ghee and add 1/2 the cinnamon, cardamom,bay leaves, cloves and pepper. Can add saffron to the rice, its an optional. Add the rice and sauté it for 4-5 minutes,till the grain becomes slightly soft on biting. Add double the quantity of hot water with salt added and cook till the rice is soft and the water is absorbed. Remove from the fire. Add lime juice to rice to prevent further cooking. Avoid stirring the rice, fluff it with a fork and let it cool.

2. In a sauce pan melt ghee/olive oil and the remaining spices ( cardamon, bay leaf, cloves, pepper, cinnamon) and saute for 1 mnt. The oil/ghee smells really good. Then add items in step 3(green chilli, ginger and garlic -coarse paste) and saute it for 3-4 mnts until garlic becomes slightly brown. Be very careful not to over fry the garlic as it will spoil the dish.

3. Now add 3 sliced onions and fry till it becomes golden yellow and translucent. (Not dark brown). Now add items in step 4 ( paste of poppy seed, aniseed,grated coconut and cashew) and saute for another 5 mnts.

4. Now add sliced tomatoes and then chopped leaves from step 5 and saute for another 5-10 mnts till all the tomato is cooked.

5. Now add the marinated chicken and saute for 4-5 mnts. This enhances the taste of the chicken, and moreover keeps the chicken pieces intact during the cooking process. After that add curd and salt and Cook till the chicken is tender and the water, absorbed and the whole masala coats the pieces. Remove from the fire and keep it aside. Do not add water to cook chicken, if needed add curd instead.

6. In a pan add some ghee. Fry the cashews and raisins and keep aside. Then fry the remaining sliced onion till its golden brown. Sprinkle some sugar on top to fasten the browning process. I strongly recommend to use ghee here, even if u were using Olive oil for this recipe, cox ghee fried onion will really enhance the flavor of biryani...And the smell is irressistable.

6. Set conventional oven to 400F degrees. Layer an oven safe bowl with a thin layer of cooked rice and then with cooked chicken and more rice on top. Garnish with the fried onions , cashews and raisins. Cover tightly with an aluminium foil and bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 mnts. Make sure the bowl is sealed properly. Else the water content will escape and food will become dry. Finally mix the biriyani carefully and serve it hot with boiled egg in the middle.

ENJOYYYYY!!!!!!!!!