Malabar chicken biriyani

Malabar chicken biriyani (മലബാർ കോഴി  ബിരിയാണി)

Aah.. Chicken biriyani!! That' one of my favorite dishes in the whole world :-) So let me get into some history.

As per Wikipedia, Biryani was believed to have been invented in the kitchen of Mughal Emperors. It is very popular in the Indian subcontinent and is a key element of the South Asian cuisine. Hyderabad, Malabar, Delhi/Agra, Dhaka, Kashmir, Kolkata, Lucknow and Lahore, are the main varieties of biryani cuisine. The word 'biriyani' is derived from the Persian word beryā (بریان) which means "fried" or "roasted". 

Historically, long-grain brown rice was used in North India; while, short grain Zeera Samba rice was used in South India. In Bangladesh, puffed rice is used. Traditionally, the leg of goat was used to make Biryani. Now a days, depending on the region and restaurant, one can find Biryani made with Mutton, Lamb, Beef, Chicken, Fish, and Prawns.

In this post I will discuss the way Malabar Chicken Biriyani is prepared. This is more of Kozhikode-style (which is slightly different from the Thalassery style) which my mom used to prepare. My mom had two different styles of preparing the chicken biriynai; one is the dhum biryani and the other is a layered chicken biryani, which she often prepares when there are guests at home. In her opinion, biriyani is the easiest dish to make, as opposed to the meals that consists of boiled rice and three or four varieties of side dishes.

If you have a vegetarian guest or someone in your family is a vegetarian, then it would be easy for you to prepare the layered chicken biriyani. As you would see in the recipe below, the rice and the chicken gravy are prepared separately. 

There are three main steps in preparing a layered biriyani, which are:

1. Preparation of the chicken and it's gravy
2. Preparing the rice
3. Layering

We will see each of these in detail separately.

A) Chicken and it's gravy

Ingredients:

1) Chicken                            1 kg (cut in to big pieces)

Curd                                     2 tbsp

Chilli powder                       2 tbsp;

Turmeric powder                 as needed;

Salt                                             ,,

Curd                                     1 tbsp;

2) Coconut oil                       As needed for deep fry.

Mix the chicken with the items under (1) and half cook. In case you are using a pressure cooker, do not add any water, and switch off the flame after the first whistle. After that, deep fry the chicken in the coconut oil. Tip: if the chicken is mixed with curd, it will become very soft.

Preparing the gravy

1) Onion                                 1 cup (chopped  well)

2) Tomato                                3 (cut in to small pieces)

3) Ginger                                 As needed

    Garlic                                       ,,

    Green chilly                         5 no

4) Coriander powder               1 tsp;

    Chilly powder                      2 tsp;

    Garam masala                     ½ tsp;

    Turmeric powder                As needed

    Coriander leaves                 As needed.

    Salt                                           ,,

5) Curd                                    3 tbsp;

First, grind the items under (3) into a paste. You can use a readymade ginger-garlic paste as well. 

Put the chopped onions into the coconut oil, keep stirring. When the onions are half cooked, add the tomato pieces as well. Add the ginger-garlic-chilly paste to this. Keep stirring well. Add the items under 4 along with a little water in order to make it somewhat loose. Add curd towards the end and mix well.

B) Items for Garnishing:

Ingredients:

1) Onion                     2 no (cut in to thin pieces)

2) Cashew nut           As needed

3) Dry grapes                ,,

4) Carrot                   1 no - optional (cut in to small this pieces)

Fry all these items in oil, or ghee for a better taste. 

C) Rice   preparation

This is an important step, because if rise is over-cooked or even under-cooked, the biriyani will not taste good. 

Ingredients:

1) Rise                           1 kg (Basmati or Ponni variety of rise);

2) Grampoo                  5 no;

    Cardomon                3 no;

    Cinnamon (karuva) 2 no(if big)

    Coriander leaves      As needed;

    Pothina leaves              ,,

    Salt                                ,,

    Water                            ,,

Please keep in mind that preparing the biriyani rice is a very important step. If the rice is over cooked or under cooked, then the taste will not be good and there is no way to compensate for it.

First, soak the rice in water for half an hour, then drain it well. Fry the rice in ghee. Take water in a big vessel that has 5 liter capacity at least. Add the items under 2. When the water starts boiling, add the rice and keep it on low frame for some time. Switch of the flame and keep it covered for another 10 minutes.

It is very important to get the right quantity of water for preparing the rice. Usually I follow 2 volumes of water for every 1 volume of rice. For example, I measure the rice with a glass and for every glass of rice, use 2 glasses of water. In case using a pressure cooker, then use only 1½ volume of water. If the right quantity of water is not used, the rice will turn either sticky or too dry.

D) Layering.

                                                                                                                                            

1)     Lemon juice from one lemon;

2)     Food color (mix in water)

3)     Garam masala 

4)     Coriander leaves and pothina leaves chopped well

5)     Ghee As needed;

Take a big vessel and heat the vessel. Pour a little ghee into this vessel and spread it. Spread a portion of the cooked rice on top of this. The rice should not be more than two inches. A little lemon juice and mixed food color should be sprayed on top of this rice. You can also spread a pinch of garam masala, chopped leaves and other items used for garnishing (such as roasted cashews, raisins, grapes, etc) as well.  Repeat the process of layering until the rice is over. Close the vessel with a tight lid and heat on low flame for about 10 minutes. (I have also seen my mom putting burning charcol on top of the flat lid to keep it hot from top as well).

For serving, first put a portion of chicken on the serving plate and then cover it with rice.