Chicken Biriyani

Biriyani is a very famous traditional one pot Indian dish served with Salad, pickle and pappad.  In my childhood it had been a food of the special days.On a vacation,  It is actually my brother  Biju (with his Gulf experience with friends) who taught me to make the so called "Dhum-Biriyani" which is the real and ethnic biriyani.  He is an expert in putting -dhum- and cooking rice to the right point together with chicken. The impatient- inexpert me tried to make the exact version and i always ended up adding more water or cooking chicken more. Over time I changed a little bit of here and there and I ended up with this  easy oven baked biriyani which is as tasty as my brothers Dhum-biriyani. Okay- u caught me. its not as tasty as his, may be a little less tastier but I am impressed. Seriously!!

I had almost forgotten about my blog, when Inda My colleague asked me the recipe for Biriyani. so this I am writing for you. Hope this helps you Inda and wish you good luck with Indian cooking.   (Since I know you like it less spicy and less hot, ignore the Green chilly, kashmiri chilli and Biriyani masala powder)

Ingredients:-

For Rice

1 Basmati Rice  1 kg

Whole cloves,cardamom and cinnamon stick- 2 each

1 Tbsp Oil

Salt

1 tsp Turmeric powder soaked in water- to colour the rice. (Saffron substitute)

For the Chicken

Whole Chicken (medium sized pieces) – 1 kg

Chicken Masala Powder – 2 tbsp

Biriyani masala powder- 1 tsp

Kashmiri Chilly Powder – 1 tbsp 

Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp

Coriander Powder – 1 tsp

Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tbsp

Salt – to taste

Garnishing 

Onion Thinly sliced  and fried

Cashew nuts and Raisins

Cilantro

Chicken 1 kg Cleaned and cut into medium pieces

 Medium Sized Red Onions  5-6  

Chopped Tomatoes 3- 4 

Green Chillies 3 or 4 Slit

Ginger – Garlic Paste 1 Tbsp

Preparation of Chicken Biriyani

Cut the chicken into pieces. Marinate the chicken pieces with a paste of Red chilly powder, coriander powder, garam masala, salt and 1/4 cup curd. (or Chicken masala).Keep it aside for at least 30 minutes.

Pour some oil into a hard bottomed wide pan (Kadai) and fry these chicken pieces half and keep it aside. 

Into that oil, fry part of the onion (may be 1 onion) until Golden Brown. This can be used for Garnishing at the end. fry some cashew nuts and Raisins too.  Keep them aside. 

(@ Inda: or use store bought fried onions)

To the kadai, add the rest of the  finely sliced onions. When it turns transparent ,add chopped tomatoes, ginger - garlic paste, slit green chillies  Mix well and saute on a medium heat until the onion-tomato mix is light brown (not burnt).This will take at least 20 minutes. Keep on stirring occasionally so that the onions are not burnt. Adding a pinch of salt while frying the onions speed up the frying part. Reduce heat and add biriyani masala powder, chicken masala powder,  kashmiri chilly powder,  turmeric and salt to taste. Saute the powders for a minute.

Add the half-fried chicken pieces to these onion tomato masala and cook it for the chicken and masala to blend. take a cup of the gravy before it thickens and keep it separately. Remember not to overcook. 

In a big pot boil water  and add whole cloves,cardamom, cinnamon stick and salt. Adding a teaspoon of oil to this water helps rice not to stick together. cook it 3/4 and drain  excess water and keep the rice aside

To the baking tray Spread cooked rice as bottom layer and gravy , add a layer of fried chicken masala and top with another layer of Rice. Add chopped Cilantro/corainder leaf in the chicken layer if you prefer. Sprinkle Turmeric solution on top of the rice carefully.  Garnish with fried onions,cilantro,  cashews and raisins. Cover with an aluminium foil 

 Preheat oven to 350 degree F and bake for 30 minutes.  

Orange-Carrot Juice

Ingredients
Carrots – 3 nos.
Ginger – 1 small piece
Orange Juice - 1 cup
Sugar
 Method:
Grind the cut, washed, scraped carrots along with Ginger, Sugar and enough Orange Juice in a blender.
Strain the juice to remove the lumps.
Serve chilled.

Strawberry-Mango Shake

Ingredients
Fresh Strawberry - 6-8 pieces.
Mango - 1
Milk – 100 ml
sugar –  1 ½ table spoon

Method
Place all the above ingredients in a blender and mix well.

Fresh Orange Juice

Fresh squeezed orange juice is little tedious but the effort is worth as it tastes much better than orange juice from concentrate.

Ingredients:

Oranges - 5 nos
Sugar - optional

Method:

*Lightly smack each orange on the counter.
*Cut each one in half and squeeze them into a glass.
* Use a strainer to remove the pulp and seeds.
* Add sugar if required

Kerala Porotta

The flaky, wavy, puffy, multiple layered south Indian porotta with beef is one thing I miss here.I tried the porotta we used to make at home with the basic ingredients. My porottas came out good not the best, because the art of making best Kerala porotta is all about practise. The other day when my friend Smitha asked me about
a site for making kerala porotta, I thought why not I give it a try. I tried to capture every step and hope this helps!!
I see a lot of recipes with milk, egg and sugar added. Guess it makes the porotta better (even though I did not try) .

Ingredients:

All purpose flour   -  2.5 cups
Baking powder     -  a pinch
Salt - as required
oil

Method:

*Sieve baking powder and All purpose flour using warm water. Knead the dough till it become soft and non sticky.
*Cover the dough with a wet muslin cloth and leave it for an hour.  Brush a thin coat of oil over entire surface.
*Pinch off lime-sized balls of dough, and roll them out into small balls of equal sizes and leave this covered with a muslin cloth for another 15 min.
*Grease the counter with oil and flatten the balls into a thin film. If you do not know the traditional way, use your chappathi roller and flatten it to the maximum possible extent.
Starting at one end, roll dough spirally into a thin roll and tuck in the other loose end into the center.Allow this to rest for 15 minutes.
*Flatten the spirals of dough with the palm of your hand, then thoroughly flatten them on the counter before you put it in a tava and roast them till slightly Golden on both sides.
when you made around 5 porottas, keep them one over the other and beat them side ways to loosen the layers. Keep it in a casserole, so that it becomes more moist and soft.
*Serve with any curry.

Oven Baked Chicken Legs

We were running out of the gas in the grill when my son insisted on having Chicken. I did not have any option but to try something with chicken and I remembered one of Suja Sugathan's Kitchen corner Recipe. It was an oven baked tandoori chicken.I made some changes and omitted some of the ingredients as I was lazy. It came out super soft and moist, and tasted entirely different from the grilled chicken as we use the gram flour. I still prefer the grilled chicken for its taste and its more healthier, because the baked chicken was bit oily,  but this sure is an option to try and  my son absolutely loved it.

Ingredients:
Chicken legs-  6 nos

First marinadeKashmiri chili powder
Ginger- garlic paste
few drops of lemon juice
salt to taste

Second marinadeGram flour- 6 tsp
Ginger garlic paste
Chicken masala powder
Oil

Method:*Make a marinade with "first marinade" and add the beef to the it, mix and leave to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
*Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and add gram flour to it. Roast it to get a good flavour, Make sure the flour doesn't burn.Take the pan out and add other ingredients in the "second marinade" except oil.
*Add the Chicken legs into the roasted gram-masala mix. Brush with more oil on top. Leave this chicken in Fridge for few hours.
*Preheat oven to 450 degree F and place the chicken on a greased baking tray. Cook for 10 minutes and then turn around and cook for another 10 minutes.Reduce to 250 degree F and bake for another 10 more minutes. Serve Hot

Fish Pickle/Meen Achar

Ingredients

Fish - 1kg
Garlic
Ginger
green chillies
Turmeric
Chilli powder
Fenugreek powder
White vinegar
Salt
vegetable oil- 2 cups 

Method:

*Cut the fish into half inch cubes.You can use any fish with no bones or Prawns. I used Salmon
*Marinate the fish in turmeric, a little chilli powder and salt. Keep aside for half an hour.Fry the fish pieces.
*Pour oil into a pan and fry the thinly sliced ginger, garlic and green chillies till no water.Add the chilli powder, and fry it.
*Add vinegar to the mixture and bring to a boil on a slow flame.
*Add the fish pieces and stir carefully so that the pieces do not break.
*Add the fenugreek powder and keep covered on the hot stove. Check the spices and salt and add if required.
*When it is cooled down, transfer to dry glass jars with an airtight lid.