ULTIMATE Chicken Biryani - Hozef Darukhanawala

To serve 6 adults you need: 

INGREDIENTS: 

Chicken - 1kg 

Cooking oil - 10 Tbsp 

Green chillies - 3 

Ginger Garlic Green Chilly paste - 3 Tbsp 

Basmati Rice - 6 cups 

Curd - 400gms 

Milk - 250gms 

Salt to taste 

Fresh Coriander and Mint Leaves - 1/2 chopped fine 

Onions - 10 finely chopped 

Tomatoes - 8 grated to a paste 

Potatoes - 6 

Garam Masalas: Tej Patta (Bay leaf) - 2 leaves Black Pepper - 10 seeds Dalchinni (Cinnamon)- 1-inch piece Jaiphal (Nutmeg) - fingernail-sized piece crushed Javitri (Mace) - 4 to 5 strands Laung (Clove) - 5 to 6 Jeera powder - 2 Tbsp Dhaniya powder - Tbsp Red Chilly powder - 1 Tbsp 

Tools you will need: Large Cooker or Deep Vessel/Colander (Aluminum is ideal) 

The Burpy To-do: PART 1

1. Marinate the chicken in the ginger-garlic-chilly paste (Grind the ginger and garlic in equal proportions of garlic and ginger with a little water) for at least 2-3 hours. 
2. Add oil in the colander and when hot add the chopped onions and fry till brown (this is called barista). Take out the onions from the oil and keep aside. 
3. Peel and cut the potatoes into quarter pieces and fry till lightly brown in the balance oil in the colander. Take out the potatoes and leave them aside. 
4. In the same oil add the dry garam masala pieces and after a minute add the powders too. Saute for a few minutes till the flavor emerges. To this add the tomatoes and curd with 2 pinches of salt and saute well till the oil leaves the sides. 
5. Now take 3/4th of the browned onions to this preparation while keeping the balance aside. Now add the marinated chicken into the colander along with the requisite amount of salt to taste. Stir till the oil leaves the sides. 
6. Add in the potatoes as well and stir till the preparation leaves oil. The chicken is not to be cooked yet so don't cover it. Divide the preparation into two parts by taking out some of it into another dish. 

RICE: 

1. Meanwhile, you should on another burner simultaneously add the rice to a pot of boiling water along with requisite salt and a tablespoon of oil. 
2. Let the rice be par-cooked i.e. when you put a few grains in your mouth it should feel slightly undone. 
3. Drain away the water and let the rice be in a strainer till the chicken preparation gets done to the stage I have mentioned above. 

The Burpy To-do: PART 2

1. Add half the rice as a layer on to the chicken and then distribute the balance chicken preparation onto the rice and then finally top it up with the balance rice. 
2. Once this is done, pour the milk across the preparation so that it seeps into all the sides of the preparation.  
3. Sprinkle the balance brown onions on top of the preparation and cover the vessel with aluminum foil and then the vessels cover. 
4. Your Chicken Biryani is ready to be kept on DUM ... place the colander on a flat pan (tava) so that it does not get direct heat. Let the flame be high for the first few minutes so that the pan gets heated well and then make the fire slow. 
5. Let the biryani cook for at least 25-30 mins. Open the vessel only when you are ready to eat ... 
6. Just before you eat the biryani garnish the vessel with the coriander and mint leaves 
7. ENJOY your biryani with freshly made Kachumber!!! 

KACHUMBER: 

1. Cut 3 tomatoes, 3 onions, 3 cucumbers, and coriander and mint leaves finely. 
2. To them add 500 gms of blended curd and salt to taste.