Chicken Biryani (Pakistani Style)

Chicken Biryani (Pakistani Style)

Ingredients:
Native names been given to make it easier to find these in any Indian store.

• 500 grams of Basmati Rice (washed & drained)
• 1 kilogram of Chicken (cut into medium pieces)
• 5 large Onions (peeled, finely sliced and fried until crisp)
• 4 sticks of Cinnamon (Dal Cheeni)
• 2 Big Black Cardamoms (Bari Kaali Ilaichi)
• 6 small Cardamoms (Choti Ilaichi)
• 1 Lemon (extract the juice or use white distilled vinegar)
• 6 Cloves (Loong)
• 2 Bay Leaves (Tezz Patta)
• 1 tsp. Whole Black Peppers (Kaali Mirch)
• 1 tsp. Cumin Seeds (Sufaid Zeera)
• 2 tbsp. Red Chilli Powder (Pisi Lal Mirch) more or less to taste
• 1 tsp. of Turmeric Powder (Pisi Haldi)
• 1 tsp. Ginger Paste (Pisi Adrak)
• 1 tsp. Garlic Paste (Pisa Lehsan)
• 1 1/2 cup Plain Yogurt (beaten)
• 2 pinches of Saffron (Zaffron) (dissolved in warm water or milk)
• 5 Golden Prunes with Pits (Alo Bokhara)
• Salt to taste (2~3 tbsp)
• 4 green Chillies (spice to taste)

For Rice:

• A handful of Mint Leaves (Podina) (chopped)
• 1 Big Black Cardamom (Kaali Baari Ilaichi)
• 2 Cinnamon Sticks (Dal Cheeni)
• 2 Small Cardamoms (Choti Ilaichi)
• 3 Cloves (Loung)
• A handful of Cilantro
• Salt (to taste)
• 6 tbsp. Clarified Butter (Ghee) or Refined Oil

Directions:

1. Fry/Brown all the onions.
2. To the chicken add the beaten curd, ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, haldi, powdered masala, salt and half of the crushed fried onions. Allow the chicken to marinate for 3 hours (marinate in the refrigerator).
3. Heat water (2 ½ times more than the rice). As soon as it boils, add the whole masala, rice and salt to taste.
4. Cook the rice till ½ done and then drain in the colander. Read the rice bag label to find the exact time.
5. Remove the whole masala.
6. Melt the clarified butter and set aside. Don't mix this with rice yet.

Assemble

1. Take a heavy-bottomed pot and add the marinated chicken and ½ of the melted clarified butter.
2. Cover with chopped pudina and celentro, fried onion and slit green chillies and juice of half a lemon. Spread the rice over this. Sprinkle the remaining clarified butter, saffron milk and lemon juice. Dig the prunes into the rice.
3. Put on the lid and place heavy object on the lid to create "pressure cooker". Another option is to seal the pot with flower (atta) paste.
4. Place over medium high heat for 8 min*.
5. Reduce it to medium heat for 9 min*
6. Lower heat to low heat and cook for another 25 min*.
7. Turn off the stove and keep it for another 10 min.

*These timing are based on my estimates. Your pot may require a little different timing. I would recommend any Non-stick/Enameled type heavy cast iron pot. Avoid burning at all cost.

Recipe based on famous Fuazia's Authentic Pakistani Biryani