Thrissur Chicken Biryani

Thrissur Chicken Biryani

This delicious biryani reflects the taste of God's own country Kerala. Both rice and chicken are cooked with coconut milk. The spices used in this recipe give the heat which represents the weather and coconut milk mellows the heat like a nice windy day on the beach.

This biryani is served with Mango Coconut chutney, Boiled Egg and Lemon or Mango pickle with papad.

Preparation time : 45 Mins

Cooking time : 3 to 4 Hrs

Servers : 5 to 6 People

Spice powder Ingredients

1. Green cardamom - 6 nos

2. Black cardamom - 1 nos

3. Jeera - 1 tsp

4. Black Jeera -1/4 tsp

5. Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp

6. Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

7. Black pepper - 2 tsp

8. Cinnamon stick - 1 inc stick

9. Javitri -1 nos

10. Bay leaf - 1/2 medium size

11. Cloves 10 to 12 ns

12. 3 Dried whole Roses (or add 2 to 3 drops of Rose extract/essence)

Ingredients

1. 3 lbs chicken boneless or 4 lbs with bone

2. Jeera Samba rice - 3 cups

3. Coconut milk 13.66 fl oz can - 2 nos [or 2 big fresh coconut to extract milk]

4. Onions 3 to 4 big onions

5. Deep fry one big onions or 1 cup store bought fried onions

6. White vinegar - 1tbsp

7. Ginger - 1 inch

8. Garlic Clove- 6 nos

9. Green chilli - 6 nos (more or less according to your taste)

10. Coriander leaves 10 to 15 sticks

11. Mint leaves 10 to 15 sticks (optional, don't add if its not fresh, biryani will taste bitter with old or dried mint)

12. Lemon 1 nos

13. Ghee 5 tbsp (Optional - can substitute with coconut oil)

14. Coconut oil 2 tsp

15. Cashew 10 nos

16. Raisins 10 nos

17. Chopped Pineapple - ½ cup

18. Saffron water [Add pinch of Saffron into boiling water and let it rest for 30 mins] (Optional)

19. Whole Garam Masala

    1. 2 green cardamom

    2. 4 cloves

    3. 1 small stick of cinnamon

    4. 1 bay leaf

    5. 1 star

20. Banana Leaf [optional skip the step involving banana leaf]

21. Garam Masala powder- 1 tbsp [optional]

Prep

1. Chicken 3 lbs - add required salt, black pepper, turmeric, lemon juice or white vinegar1 tsp. Let it marinate for a minimum 45 mins.

2. Dry roast all the spice powder ingredients and make it into fine powder.

3. Fry Cashew in ghee till its golden color and Raisins in ghee till it puffs up.

4. Mix the chopped pineapple with a little bit of salt and chilli powder then fry it in ghee, Keep them aside for garnishing

5. Finely chop ginger, garlic and green chilli or crush it with a stone pestle for better flavour.

6. Slice onions.

7. Tip : You can do step 1,2,3 and 4 on the previous day. Make sure you store the chicken in the fridge. You can keep the chicken upto 18 hrs in the fridge.

Process

Step 1 Chicken Gravy

Take a heavy bottom big Tawa or Iron Skillet. add 2 tsp coconut oil and 1 tbsp ghee. Add finely chopped ginger, garlic and green chillies after it turns little golden, add sliced onions and salt for onions. let it cook till oil comes out, saute every 3 to 4 mins. Add chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves and let it get soft. Now add spice powder and marinated chicken, mix well, reduce the heat to lowest possible and close the skillet. In 5 mins all the water from chicken will come out. Now open the coconut milk tin from bottom and add only the liquid part of coconut milk ( 2nd squeezed milk if you are extracting from fresh or frozen coconut) and 1 tbsp white vinegar, 1 tbsp lemon juice and half of the fried onions. check for salt and spice, adjust seasoning at this time, should be a little bit bitter compared to chicken curry, if not add some garam masala to it. and add 1/2 the required salt measured for rice (Eg: if you add 1 tbsp salt for 3 cups of rice, add 1/2 tbsp of salt to the gravy). Now lets close it and sauté it occasionally till gravy thickens

Step 2 Cook Rice

1. Wash and soak the rice for 30 mins.

2. Take a big pot or saucepan to cook rice. Add 1tbsp ghee, add Whole garam masala and add 1 tbsp of fried onions.

3. Drain water from soaked rice and add it to the pot and mix it gently till the rice is a little bit hot. gently mix it and rice might break while sauteing.

4. Meanwhile, boil water separately. When the water starts to boil. Measure and add rest of the coconut milk [or 1st squeezed milk] to rice. 1 portion rice needs 1+1/2 water, add the rest with boiling hot water, add 1/2 measure salt to the rice (Eg: if you add 1 tbsp salt for 3 cups of rice, add 1/2 tbsp of salt to the gravy) and set at medium-low flame and close it with a lid. Check occasionally and turn off the flame when rice is 80% done.

Step 3 Fry the chicken

Take all the chicken pieces from gravy and sear it. You can either deep fry the chicken or griddle it with some gravy. Just a minute or 2 each side. [I prefer griddling in an iron skillet, Chicken might absorb lots of oil]. Then put chicken back into the gravy.

Step 4 - Final step

It's time to assemble the Biryani. Take a big bake safe skillet or pot. Spread some coconut oil in the bottom then put a banana leaf in the bottom. Now it's time to layer. First layer is chicken gravy then some fried onions then cooked rice. Finally spread all the garnish evenly - fried onions, cashews, raisins, pineapple and sprinkle saffron and Now place another banana leaf close it tight with a lid.

When it's Time to serve

With Oven : Heat the oven for 250F and bake for 20 mins. If Biryani is cold, bake it for 320F for 30 to 35 mins.

Stovetop : Warm an old dosa tawa pan in medium flame. After its warm place the pot on top of it and reduce the flame to lowest possible. Pour little bit of cold water on top of the lid. When the water starts to evaporate, biryani will be ready to be served. Note: use old tawa pan, as you might not be able to use it for making dosa or chapati later.

Traditional way with sand and charcoal: In an extra large pot. The pot we have assembled the biryani in should go inside this one. Make 1 to 2 inch layer of sand in the extra large pot and heat it on medium-high flame. Once its hot(should be hot when you touch the sand but not very hot for you to move your hands on top of it without touching it, place the biryani pot on the sand. And add hot charcoal on top of the lid and close the extra large pot with a lid. Reduce the flame to low for 20 to 30 mins. let it rest for another 15 mins before opening.

Hooray our biryani is ready. Now it's time to enjoy it :)