Chicken Biryani For A Crowd Recipes

CHICKEN BIRYANI RECIPE

Steps:

• To a bowl, add yogurt, ginger garlic paste, ½ tsp salt, garam masala, turmeric, lemon juice & red chili powder.
• Mix up well and taste the marinade. Add more salt and spice if needed.
• Make slits on the chicken pieces. Add it to the marinade &mix well. Cover and set aside for 1 hour to overnight.
• Rinse basmati rice thrice and soak for 30 mins. Drain to a colander after 30 mins.
• Heat ghee or oil in a pot or pressure cooker.
• Add whole spices - bay leaf, cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, star anise, shahi jeera & mace. Skip them if you do not have.
• When the spices begin to sizzle, add onions & fry them evenly stirring often until uniformly light brown but not burnt.
• Add chicken & saute until pale for 5 mins on a medium heat.
• Cover & cook on a low flame until the chicken is soft cooked or tender. Saute to evaporate any excess moisture in the pot.
• Taste test and add more salt if needed. I add about ¼ teaspoon salt. Add ¼ cup yogurt (curd), 2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves, 1 slit green chili, ½ to 1 teaspoon red chili powder & 1 teaspoon garam masala.
• Mix everything well and layer chicken evenly at the bottom. (check video)
• Spread drained rice in a layer over the chicken.
• To a separate bowl, pour 3 cups water. If cooking in a pot use 3 ½ cups water.
• Add ½ to ¾ tsp salt and mix. Taste the water. It must be slightly salty.
• Pour 2 cups of this water across the sides of the cooker or pot. Gently pour the rest on top of the rice. (check video)
• Level the rice if needed. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons mint leaves. Optionally add 2 tablespoons fried onions & saffron soaked milk if using.
• Pot method - If cooking in a pot, cover and cook on a low flame until the chicken biryani is done to your liking. If the rice is still under cooked or hard, pour ¼ to ½ cup boiling water and cook further. When done it has to be fully cooked, yet remain grainy.
• Cooker method - Set the flame to medium high. Cover & place the whistle. Cook for 1 whistle. Move the cooker away from the burner to stop cooking further.
• Rest until the pressure settles. Fluff up the chicken biryani with a fork.
• Serve from top to the bottom layer. Each serving gets biryani rice from top and chicken from the bottom layer.
• Enjoy chicken biryani with raita and sliced veggies, papad and shorba (biryani gravy).

CHICKEN BIRYANI

Steps:

• In a large skillet, in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or ghee) fry potatoes until brown, drain and reserve the potatoes. Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet and fry onion, garlic and ginger until onion is soft and golden. Add chili, pepper, turmeric, cumin, salt and the tomatoes. Fry, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Add yogurt, mint, cardamom and cinnamon stick. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes are cooked to a pulp. It may be necessary to add a little hot water if the mixture becomes too dry and starts to stick to the pan.
• When the mixture is thick and smooth, add the chicken pieces and stir well to coat them with the spice mixture. Cover and cook over very low heat until the chicken is tender, approximately 35 to 45 minutes. There should only be a little very thick gravy left when chicken is finished cooking. If necessary cook uncovered for a few minutes to reduce the gravy.
• Wash rice well and drain in colander for at least 30 minutes.
• In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil (or ghee) and fry the onions until they are golden. Add saffron, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, ginger and rice. Stir continuously until the rice is coated with the spices.
• In a medium-size pot, heat the chicken stock and salt. When the mixture is hot pour it over the rice and stir well. Add the chicken mixture and the potatoes; gently mix them into the rice. Bring to boil. Cover the saucepan tightly, turn heat to very low and steam for 20 minutes. Do not lift lid or stir while cooking. Spoon biryani onto a warm serving dish.

CHICKEN BIRYANI

Steps:

• Remove and discard the skin from the chicken legs and breasts. Cut each leg into drumstick and thigh, and quarter the breasts.
• To prepare the marinade paste, peel and coarsely chop the garlic, ginger, and 3 onions. Place in a blender with the cloves, peppercorns, cardamom seeds, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, poppy seeds, mace, 1 teaspoon salt, and the lemon juice. Blend to a smooth paste. Turn into a large bowl, add the yogurt, and mix well.
• Dry Roasting: Spices are often dry-roasted before use. It is best to do this over medium heat in a preheated small, heavy, cast-iron frying pan. No oil is used; the spices are just stirred around in the pan with a wooden spatula until they brown lightly. Roasted spices develop a heightened, nutty aroma. They can be stored for several months in an airtight jar.
• Peel the 3 remaining onions, halve lengthwise, and slice finely. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the bay leaves and cardamom pods. Fry for 10 to 15 seconds. Add the sliced onions and fry, stirring, for about 10 minutes or until brown and crisp, but not burned. Remove with a slotted spoon, squeezing out as much oil as possible. Reserve the oil, cardamoms, and bay leaves. Add 2/3 of the fried onions to the marinade paste and mix well. Drain the rest on paper towels and set aside for garnishing.
• Pierce the chicken pieces with a fork and add to the bowl of marinade paste; mix well. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight, turning the chicken occasionally.
• Transfer the chicken and marinade to a large heavy-based cooking pot or pan. Bring slowly to a boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Lift out the chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and place them in a 6-quart casserole dish; cover and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Crumble the saffron into the warm milk and set aside to soak.
• Boil the marinade paste, stirring, over a medium heat, until reduced to 9 to 10 tablespoons. Spoon the paste over the chicken. Cover again.
• Pour about 3 quarts water into a large cooking pot or flameproof casserole. Add 3 teaspoons of salt and bring to a boil. Add the rice, bring back to a boil, then simmer for precisely 5 minutes. Drain the rice in a colander, then place it on top of the chicken in the casserole.
• Pour the saffron-infused milk over the rice, streaking it with orange lines. Sprinkle the reserved cardamom, bay leaves, and oil over the rice (retaining 1 tablespoon oil, for frying the raisins, if using). Cover the casserole dish with foil, cut 2 inches wider than the rim of the dish. Now put the lid on and use the protruding foil edges to seal the dish as best you can by crinkling it and pushing it against the sides. Bake in the oven for 1 hour.
• To prepare the garnishes, if including raisins fry them briefly in the reserved oil. Lightly toast the almonds if you wish. Quarter the hard-cooked eggs lengthwise, or cut into slice.
• Spoon the rice and chicken onto a large warm platter. Sprinkle with the fried onions, raisins, almonds and hard-cooked eggs. Serve hot.

CHICKEN BIRYANI FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• Set oven to 350 Wrap cardamom , cinnamon,ginger, and cumin seed in cheesecloth; secure with twine. In heavy-bottomed pot bring water, spice s and salt to boil then simmer, partially covered, until spices have infused water, about 30 minutes. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat butter until foaming subsides; add half of onions and cook until soft and dark brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Add half of jalapeños and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer onion mixture to medium bowl, wipe skillet clean with paper towels, and repeat with second batch of onions, jalapenos, and garlic. Transfer to bowl with rest of onion mixture. Wipe out skillet, return heat to medium-high, and place chicken skin side down in skillet; cook, without moving chicken, until well browned, about 6 to 8 minutes. Flip chicken and brown second side, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate and remove and discard skin. Tent with foil. If necessary, return spice-infused water to boil over high heat; stir in rice and cook 5 minutes. Drain rice through fine-mesh strainer, reserving 3 cups cooking liquid. Transfer rice to medium bowl; stir in saffron and currants and season with salt. Spread half of rice in bottom of pot. Scatter half of onion mixture over rice, then place chicken thighs, skinned side up, on top of onions; add any accumulated chicken juices. Evenly sprinkle with cilantro and mint, scatter remaining onions over herbs, then cover with remaining rice; pour 1 1/2 cups reserved cooking liquid over rice. Cover pot and place in oven. Cook for 30 minutes. Uncover and check bottom of pan. If dry, add up to 1 cup reserved cooking liquid. Cook 20 minutes or rice is tender and chicken is cooked through. Transfer chicken to separate plate. Spoon biryani into individual bowls.

CHICKEN BIRYANI

Steps:

• Soak 300g basmati rice in warm water, then wash in cold until the water runs clear.
• Heat 25g butter in a saucepan and cook 1 finely sliced large onion with 1 bay leaf, 3 cardamom pods and 1 small cinnamon stick for 10 mins.
• Sprinkle in 1 tsp turmeric, then add 4 chicken breasts, cut into large chunks, and 4 tbsp curry paste. Cook until aromatic.
• Stir the rice into the pan with 85g raisins, then pour over 850ml chicken stock.
• Place a tight-fitting lid on the pan and bring to a hard boil, then lower the heat to a minimum and cook the rice for another 5 mins.
• Turn off the heat and leave for 10 mins. Stir well, mixing through 15g chopped coriander. To serve, scatter over the leaves of the remaining 15g coriander and 2 tbsp toasted almonds.