Cooking web notes

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. Just over with Christmas and a new year around the corner, I decided to share my Christmas special Hyderabadi biriyani :) By the way, I had a good Christmas with family. Lots of sofa time watching movies, indoor games etc and we also ventured out to play in the snow. Eating cookies and cakes like there is no tomorrow was also a big part of the season. It was fun!
If you have been following our blog you know most of my Hyderabadi stories and how fond I am of them. However, you should be patient with me because my culinary skills took shape while there. Also, if you have had Andhra food you will agree there is so much to be inspired by their cuisine. It leaves an indelible mark in your way of cooking, eating and your stories too :D At least it has for me.
I lived in Hyderabad for 5 years and never tried to make this world famous biryani while there. Why? Well, when you get delicious biryani from "Paradise" and "Hyderabadi House," the restaurants renowned for their biryani in Hyderabad, who wants to make it at home. I still remember how when we drove past the Paradise circle in Secunderabad my hubby and daughter would suddenly have hungry pangs. It didn’t matter if it was day or night we would have to stop and indulge ourselves. I would secretly share their feelings though I kept a ‘not interested face.’ Giving into our cravings we would walk into the restaurant like magnet attracts iron. The aromatic goodness of the rice and meat cooked to perfection readily comes to my mind.
Talking about Hyderabad Biryani, the most famous is the mutton biryani. The biryani comes from the royal kitchen of the Nizams the rulers of the historic Hyderabad state for, until the Indian Independence in 1947, almost 2 centuries. Nizams' kitchen used to serve more than 50 different types of biryanis. This is a mixture of Mughal and Telugu cuisine and there are 2 ways of preparing this biryani ; katchi biryani and pakki biryani. Katchi biryani is cooked in the dum method, as the name suggests, raw meat is cooked over the steam along with rice. All the flavors of meat and exotic spices infuse into the rice giving the biryani the perfect flavor. In pakki biryani, the meat is cooked with spices and fried onions and then layered with rice. Today, I am going to tell you how to prepare katchi biryani.



Ingredients

For marination:

Chicken (with bone; I used drumsticks)- 2 lbs
Cilantro leaves - 1bunch(small)
Mint leaves - 1 bunch
Red chilli powder- 1 Tbsp
Green chillies - 2 (cut into small pieces)
Ginger paste- 1 1/2 Tbsp
Garlic Paste - 1 1/2 Tbsp
Yogurt (preferably sour) - 1 cup
Cardamom powder- 1 Tsp
Shahjeera (Royal Cumin) - 1 Tsp
Cloves - 3-4
Cinnamon sticks - 3-4 small ones
Bay leaves -2
Salt

For Rice:

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Salt
Cinnamon stick - 1 small
Shahjeera - a pinch
Onion (fried)- 2
Saffron milk- 2-3 Tbsp
Lemon juice - 2 Tbsp
Cashews and raisins fried - for garnishing
Ghee(clarified butter) -1 Tbsp
Oil- 4 Tbsp



Method:

1. Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients listed under the title for at least 2 hours/ overnight in the refrigerator.
2.Fry the onions and keep aside. Also fry the cashews and raisins.
3. Wash and soak the rice for half an hour.
4.Boil water in a pot along with salt,cinnamon stick and shahjeera in it. Add rice once it starts boiling.
5.Reduce the heat and cook till the rice is half done. I added 1: 1.5 , rice: water and cooked for about 8 minutes at medium heat.
6.Pour off any excess water and let the rice dry completely.
7.Pour 2 Tbsp of oil in a really thick bottomed vessel, in which you are planning to cook biryani and layer the marinated chicken.If you think the vessel is not thick enough you can keep it on a tawa on the stove top.
8.Level the top and layer it with half of the rice which is half done followed by fried onions and a Tbsp of saffron milk.Repeat this for the other half of the rice.
9.Sprinkle some cilantro leaves and mint leaves on the top.
10.Pour in a Tbsp of oil and the ghee over the top.
11.Cover with a tight lid. If you do not have a tight lid, use some dough to stick the lid and vessel tightly, so that the steam is not escaped.
12.Cook it on the high heat for the first 5 minutes, then on medium heat for 25 minutes and on very low heat for 10 minutes.
13. Wait for another 10-15 minutes before you open the lid.
14.Mix the chicken and rice together and serve hot with raita after garnishing with cashews and raisins.(I didn't use raisins)



Notes

1.Before you marinate chicken drain the water from chicken completely.
2.If you cook the rice well initially it will get overcooked when you layer it with chicken.
3.Originally this biryani is very hot, but I have added a bit less since I have kids who cannot take that much chilli.
4.The vegetarians can replace chicken with veggies.