Tangy Chicken Biryani

Biryani! This words makes most of the people drool. It is one of the favourite meals at our dinner table and a must at least once a week. It is so delicious and satisfying that you really don't need anything else with it. Here is the basic tangy chicken biryani for the beginners. Its spicy, tangy and finger-licking good. If you have whole spices in your pantry and basic groceries in your fridge, you can make it in under one hour. Key to having a wonderful biryani is good quality basmati rice so try to get the best available. Sign of a good biryani is every grain of rice has to be separate and that is where the beauty of basmati shines through. Basmati rice are grown in the foothills of Himalayas. Rice paddies are flooded with water as they like to drown in it. And the end result is thin, long grains of nutty rice. A good basmati rice is almost an inch long.
Plz use fresh home made ginger garlic paste as well as garam masala as it makes a remarkable difference in the end result. You can find the recipe of garam masala on the blog. Here is how I make my tangy chicken biryani.

Ingredients

Chicken                                  1 whole 2-3 lbs cut into 14 pcs
Onions                                    3 large
Garlic                                      1 whole head
Ginger                                     1 inch pc
Tomato                                   1 large or 2 medium
Green chilies                            3-4
Lemon Juice                            2 tbsp
Tamarind                                 1 tbsp
Salt                                         to taste
Red chili powder                     1-2 tsp
Turmeric                                 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder                        1 tsp
Coriander powder                   1 tsp
Garam masala                          2 tsp
Oil                                           1/2 cup

For whole spices take the following:

Black pepper                      8-10
Cumin seeds                       1 tsp+ 1tsp
Cinnamon                           2 inch pc
Cloves                                10-12
Green Cardamom                6-8
Mace blade                         2 pcs

For the rice preparation:

Rice                                   3 cups
Salt                                    3 tsp
Cumin seeds                       1 tsp
Vinegar                               1 tbsp
Butter                                 2 tbsp
Rose water                         1 tbsp
Milk                                   1/2 cup
Saffron                               1 big pinch
Water                                 to boil rice

Method

Wash the rice really well  until the water runs clear and then soak for at least an hour or uptill 4 hours.

Soak the tamarind in hot water for 10 mins. Using your fingers, rub the tamarind and then starin to get the pulp.

Slice the onions thinly.

Put tomato, green chili, ginger and garlic in a blender and make a smooth paste by adding 1/4 cup of water.

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom wide pan. Add the whole spices reserving 1 tsp of cumin seeds, when the start crackling add sliced onions.

Cook the onion on medium high till the edges start browning. Put the chicken in the pan and fry till the chicken changes colour. Add the powdered spices and ginger garlic paste. Mix well and cover the pot. Lower the heat and cook for 5-8 minutes.

Increase the heat to high and bhunofy/brown the masala till oil separates from the chicken.

Pour the lemon juice and tamarind pulp and mix. After one minute turn the heat off.

Put another pot containing 15 cups of water to boil when you add the chicken to the masala.

Add salt, vinegar and cumin seeds to the water. When water start boiling, add the drained rice.

Cook the rice till 3/4 way done. Drain.

Now start layering he biryani. Put some of the oil from chicken gravy at the bottom of the pot and sprinkle the remaining 1 tsp of cumin seeds.

Add around 3/4 of the rice on the bottom. Pour the chicken gravy on top covering almost all the rice.

In another cup warm the milk and add saffron and rose water to it. Add this milk to the remaining 1/3 of the rice. Layer the milk saffron rice on top.

Using the back of a wooden spoon, poke a few holes for the steam to escape. Put the pot on the lowest setting of your stove. Cover with a tight fitting lid and let the rice steam for at least 25-30 mins.

When you can see the steam coming from the edges of lid. turn the heat off.

Fluff the rice with a flat slotted spoon using very gentle moves.

Serve hot with plain yogurt or green mint chutney.

Note:

You can make it completely dairy free by replacing milk with coconut or almond milk.

Heat of the biryani depends on your tolerance to increase or decrease the amount of chilies to adjust.