Anyone who is regular to this blog, knows my love for biryanis or any kind of flavored rice. It is also known fact that, I like to make something new instead of following same recipe again and again. When we were in India, we had so many favorite restaurants and whenever we felt like, we would go out and eat. But here, the Indian food choices are not very good. So cooking these favorite dishes is the only way out.
This time when I bought chicken, I wanted to change my recipe slightly. This is pretty much a combination of all other biryanis on this blog. The final result was amazing. I want to cook this for my dad, brother and SIL when I meet them next time, I am sure they would love it.
I made a huge batch of it and had it for two days. I served it with a cold raita. Yumm.
Rice preparation: 2 cups basmati rice 4 cardamom 3 cloves 2″ cinnamon 2 bay leaves 1/4 tea spn turmeric Ghee & Oil Salt 3 cups water
Method: Wash rice, drain and spread on a kitchen towel for about 15mins. Heat ghee and oil, add cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon. Add rice, turmeric powder and fry for 2-3mins till a nice aroma comes out. Add salt water and cook till all water is absorbed. (Remember, here we are adding less water than normally required to cook the rice completely, this is done to undercook the rice).
For chicken marination: 1/2 kg (17oz approx) chicken 1/2 cup onion 1/2 cup tomato 1/2 cup coriander leaves 1/4 cup mint leaves 3 tea spns green chillies 3 tbl spn thick yogurt 2 tea spns ginger 2 tea spns garlic 1 tea spn biryani masala( home made or store bought) 1 and 1/2 tea spns chilli powder Oil Salt
Method: Heat oil and add onion. When they turn brownish, add tomato and fry till they are mushy. Grind these with coriander leaves, mint leaves, ginger, garlic, biryani masala, chilli powder, salt to a smooth paste. Add this paste and yogurt to chicken pieces. Leave the chicken to marinate for about 30mins.
Remaining ingredients: 1/2 cup thin slices of onion 1/4 cup finely chopped tomato 1/4 cup water 2 tbl spn yogurt Ghee and oil 2 tbl spn cashews Salt(only if required)
Assembly: Heat a little ghee and oil and add onion. Fry for 2-3 mins till they are translucent. Add the chicken along with marinade. Fry for a minute. Add water. Cover with rice. Top with tomatoes. Spread yogurt. In another pan, heat ghee and fry cashews till they are brownish. Spread these on top of rice. Cover with a tight lid. Keep something heavy on the lid to press it down(I keep the pan on a tava while cooking to give extra thickness). Cook on a medium low flame until done. Keep it undisturbed for another 15mins. Serve hot.
Serves : 5 Preparation time : 90mins
Pictorial –
This recipe is inspired by other Spinach-Coriander Pulav recipe . I made this yesterday morning to take in our lunch box. It came out really well. We both are not big fans of spinach taste, but I like to use it frequently because it is very healthy. This pulav masks the taste of it, which we loved.
I used red and yellow bellpeppers(capsicums) in this instead of green ones because of their mild taste. You can use any of your usual pulav vegetables.
Ingredients: 2 cups basmati rice 2 cups vegetables (red & yellow bellpeppers, potatoes, carrot, cauliflower, green beans, green peas) 1 tea spn cumin seeds 2 cardamoms 4 cloves 2 bay leaves 2″ cinnamon Ghee 1/2 cup onion Salt
Paste (grind to a smooth paste)- 2 cups spinach(palak) 1/4 cup coriander leaves 2 tea spns ginger 1 tea spn garlic 1 tea spn coriander-cumin powder 6 green chillies
Method: Heat ghee and add cumin seeds, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves. When cumin starts popping, add onion and all other vegetables and fry for about 2 minutes. Now add paste, rice, salt and fry again for 2-3minutes. Add 3 and 1/2 cups of water and let it cook on medium heat(Transfer the pan on a tava to give extra thickness). When all water is absorbed, reduce the heat to low and let it cook for another 10mins, in this time, the rice finishes cooking in the steam. Serve hot with raita.
Serves : 4 Preparation time : 60mins
