Saturday, April 4, 2009

Simple chicken biryani

Last week I made chicken (that I really didn't want to eat but my husband really wanted to eat and went and bought without informing). So the easist thing to make with chicken was chicken biryani. I decided to settle for a recipe that was an extension of my Veg Biryani recipe and it came out just fine...
I will share my simple recipe below... This works if you are a grad student or if you and your loved ones have simple non fussy low cal taste or if it were a lazy Sunday afternoon and your maid had taken off or if you have no maid.

Ingredients:
1) Chicken(I would always go for boney chicken - the bones add to taste)
2) Onions (finely chopped)
3) Tomatoes (finely chopped)
4) Ginger garlic paste (these days I don't go for the one that we get in the market but opt for homemade. That day even homemade was not available so I took few garlic cloves and half a piece of ginger and tried to crush them (didn't use mixie))
5) Some yoghurt (this was the first time I used it - it is kinda optional but it really adds a great taste)
6) 5-6 Cloves (must for any biryani actually)
7) all the random masala you have - whole black pepper, bay leaves, cardomom, jeera etc

Method:
1) In a cooker - add a little < 1 table spoon oil let it heat.
2) Add jeera, crushed cloves and let the aroma of cloves come.
3)Add other spices and onion. The oil should be good for onions to turn *golden brown* without sticking to the pan bottom. Note - Turning golden brown is crucial for its taste to come else there is no need to add onion.
4)Add tomatoes. And let it melt. Add salt , garam masala, haldi, red chilli powder.
4b) Add yoghurt to form a paste
5) Add chicken and let it immerse in the paste created above.
6) Add rice and enough water to cook the rice (my water proportion is always in excess - try 1:1.5 mebbe) - figuring that out is almost 6th sense :).
7) Let it come to a boil - with 1 whistle in simmer heat. Simmer and one in full heat. Varies with cooker to cooker.

Its cooked and ready to serve with some raita made with yoghurt and onions nad a little salt :).



P.S: Here is one recipe I came upon net today - it closely apporximates my recipe but has a little bit of hulla bulla :). I would recommend this if you are inviting guests over: http://enjoyindianfood.blogspot.com/2008/10/chicken-pullao.html