This is traditional Kerala dum style biriyaniIngredients:
1. For preparing the rice:
a. Basmati rice or - 750 gm
Kaima rice
b. cinnamon sticks - 2 pieces
c. cloves - 6
d. cardamom crushed - 8
with skin on
2. Chicken cut in pieces - 1 kg
3. For marinating the chicken
a. cinnamon sticks - 2 pieces
b. cloves - 9
c. cardamom - 6
d. nutmeg - 1 cm piece
e. aniseed - 4 flowers
f. Sah Jeera or കരിം ജീരകം - 1/2 tsp
g. fennel seed -1/2 tsp
4. Ghee - 1/2 cup
5. Yellow Onion cut in thin slices - 1 Cup
6. For making the chicken masala
a. Shallots chopped - 1/2 cup
b. garlic - 12
c. Ginger - 1 inch piece
d. green chilly - 10
(I use hot Serrano peppers)
e. grated coconut - 4 table spoon
f. Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
7. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
8. a. Curd ( I use nice sour curd) - 3/4 cup
b. lemon juice - 1 tsp
c. sugar - 1 pinch
d. cuscus ground - 2 tsp
9. Salt
10. For garnish:
red onion - 1 cup
cashew - 1/2 cup
raisins - 1/2 cup
11. Tomato - 1
Corriander leaves - 1 cup
12. Saffron - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1/4 cup
Pineapple essence - 1 tsp
Rose water - 2 tsp
almond coarsely powdered - 1/2 cup
13. Wheat or all purpose flour for sealing the dum - enough to cover the sides of the pan used for dum purpose.
Steps:
For making chicken masala:
1. Warm the spices in group 3 and crush them. Marinate the chicken with the crushed spices.
2. First we need to fry all the garnish ingredients from group 10. In hot ghee, fry cashew till brown and remove to a bowl with tissue. In same ghee, fry raisin, remove them to the bowl and then sauté the red onion till dark brown and crispy. Remove the fried onions to the bowl.
3. now, in the same vessel which the group 10 was fried, add the yellow onions and sauté them till transparent.
4. grind the ingredients from group 6 and add them to pan with yellow onions. Sauté till the fresh smell is gone. I sauté till the oil from masala separates and can be seen clearly. I Malayalam we say എണ്ണ തെളിയുക.
5. add turmeric power
6. add the marinated chicken pieces and sauté for some time.
7. grind ingredients in group 8 and add to the pan
8. add salt
9. cover the pan, let the chicken cook in very low flame.
10. once chicken is cooked, add chopped ingredients from group 11 and cover the pan.
For making the rice:
1. wash and soak the rice in water for about 30 mins
2. In a large stockpot boil lots of water and add salt.
3. once the water boils crush the spices from group 1, and add them to boiling water
4. add the rice and let it cook till you see 2 rings on a grain. when to squeeze a grain between index and thump finger, it should split to 3 pieces.
5. drain the rice.
For making the yellow color milk for garnish:
1. Boil the milk and saffron from group 12 together. Once the milk becomes nice yellow color, drain the mail into a glass
2. add pineapple essence, rose water and almond powder
Now we are ready to assemble the biryani and Dum it.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degree
2. Add the chicken masala in and oven safe pan at the bottom spread it evenly to make a nice layer
3. add rice on top of the chicken masala and spread it evenly
4. use a spoon to drizzle the yellow color milk all over the rice
5. spread the fried onions, cashews and raisins over the rice.
6. close the pan and seal the edges with wheat or all purpose flour dough.
7. Bake for 1 hour. In a steel bowl or some metal bowl, pour water and keep it on top of the pan. this is to ensure than the biriyani would not get dry and would remain soft and fluffy.
8. Break the dum and enjoy delicious biriyani :). We use boild egg, pappadam, raita and lemon pickle to accompany the biriyani :).
