Chicken Biryani

Ingredients

Chicken

• 3-4 pounds of chicken (breast or leg quarters both work just fine)
• 4-5 tomatoes
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 can tomato paste
• 3 teaspoons garlic paste
• 3 teaspoons ginger paste
• Whole Masalas
  • 2-3 cinnamon sticks
  • 6-8 cardamom pods
  • 3 teaspoons cumin seeds
  • 6-8 black peppercorns
• Powder Masalas
  • Mirchi (red chilli) powder (amount varies based on your spice level preference, I personally use 3 teaspoons)
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 2 teaspoons coriander powder
  • 2 teaspoons cumin powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 1 pinch saffron
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 cups fried onions
• 1/2 – 1 cup oil (depends are your preference, I personally keep the oil at minimum for health reasons)
• 1/4 tablespoon lemon juice

Rice

• 4 cups rice
• 7 teaspoon salt
• Whole Masalas
  • 2-3 cinnamon sticks
  • 6-8 cardamom pods
  • 3 teaspoons cumin seeds
  • 6-8 black peppercorns
• 1 pinch saffron
• yellow food color

Process

Chicken

1. Chop and cook tomatoes until tomatoes are soft
2. Put tomatoes aside and grab a different cooking pot
3. On medium-high heat, heat oil and fry the onions
4. Once onions begin to turn golden-brown, add water, tomato paste, garlic and ginger pastes, the whole masalas, the powder masalas, salt, saffron, yogurt, and lemon juice
5. Mix well and cook for 3-5 minutes
6. Add and mix-in the cooked tomatoes and cook for another 2-3 minutes
7. Add and mix-in the chicken
8. Cover pot and let cook 10-15 minutes, mix periodically to prevent the bottom of pot burning
9. Leave aside. You may choose to leave the chicken mix overnight to really marinate the chicken, but if you don’t have the time it’s no problem. It still comes out really tasty!

Rice

1. Fill another pot about 3/4 with water
2. Add the rice, whole masalas, and saffron
3. Mix well and bring to a boil (covering the pot will expedite the boiling but it’s not needed)
4. After water boiled 1-2 times and rice has puffed, drain the water (keep the whole masalas and saffron mixed in with rice)

Putting it all together

1. Grab a large pot (I typically rinse out the pot I used to make water and use that pot)
2. Add the chicken mix
3. Add a layer of rice
4. Sprinkle a little yellow color and mix the rice gently (you want half the rice to be colored and half remaining white)
5. Continue adding layers of rice and coloring until all the rice has been added to the pot
6. Heat the oven to 300 degrees and stick the covered pot into the oven 15-25 minutes. This will also finish cooking the chicken if it wasn’t totally cooked
7. Garnish with cilantro
8. Mix well before serving

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