My triumph with biriyani

I love biriyani.We all do. After all we are Indians and India without biriyani is Dutch land without tulips. But it’s really sad that we don’t get the kind of biriyani that our hearts desire. The best biriyani that I have ever tasted was during a Muslim wedding in our neighborhood in Kerala. Dripping with fat, the pieces of chicken so soft that it melted like ice-cream in my mouth. And ever since I have this Biriyani dream which has never been fully satisfied. I have had biriyani from various sources, at five star hotels, specialty restaurants, Dhabas, and now in this country I live the word biriyani brings horror to my taste buds. They serve you some sort of mild pulav in the name of Hyderabad biriyani and the only resemblance is the name.

So, last Saturday, my wife and I experimented with making that perfect biriyani after several YouTube searches, modifications etc , and came out with not so bad result. Though not as good as the mentioned earlier, but being home cooked and hygienic, the experience was equally satisfying.

After the experience we tried again and it was equally good, but this time we realized that it was so easy to make and much less time consuming.

The below mentioned is the recipe, though it may not be the most authentic Hydrabadi biriyani( its also called Kachi biriyani, since the meat is raw and cooked along with rice) you would taste, but what the heck! If you can master a biriyani which is easy, tastes fantastic and takes less time, it’s as good as the original. Convenience is the mother of all inventions.

There are just four steps to follow.(See, I told you its so easy)

1.      Fry sliced onion until they are golden brown. Spread them on a tissue to soak excess oil, on a flat surface.

2.      Marinade chicken pieces( always with bone) with yogurt, salt, ginger/garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, Shahi Jeera, Souf, Chopped mint leaves, chopped coriander leaves, chopped green chilli, Whole garam masala(Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, maze of nutmeg).

3.      Soak basmati rice for half hour, Boil water and cook them till half done, with some oil and salt to taste. Never cook them fully. Drain the water.

4.      Take a large pressure cooker. Drop some Ghee. Put the whole marinated chicken and flatten them with a spoon. On top of the chicken add chopped mint/coriander leaves. Add the whole friend onions which were fried earlier. Add rice on top and flatten to even the layer. Pour some ghee on top.Put the lid and the weight and cook, initially on high flame for 5 minutes, followed by 25 minutes of slow flame, directly on the flame. Open the cooker only at the time of serving.

And ta-daa biriyani ready!Serve it with raita.

Photo courtesy: Google