It’s a Kerala Twist, Come on Biriyani Lovers…!

Kerala Biryani is always a popular dish for its unique taste and aroma. Unlike other biryanis where basmati rice is used, Kerala Biryani is made using jeerakasala rice or kaima rice. At home we all love rice-based dishes and biryani top the list. This biryani can be made with chicken, mutton and beef.

Nowadays making biryani is no more a challenging task, the preparation style varies from person to person. It’s liked by all young and old. Do enjoy my version of the lip-smacking Kerala biryani.
Ingredients for masala
Chicken- 1 kg
Onion-5 (medium size)
Ginger- 2 tbsp
Garlic- 2 ½ tbsp
Green chilli- 12 (according to your spice level)
Tomato- 2
Curd- ½ cup
Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
Garam masala- ½ tsp
Powdered Fennell seeds- ½ tsp
Cinnamon sticks- 2 (small)
Cloves- 3
Cardamom-3
Coriander and mint leaves- ½ cup (roughly chopped)
Refined oil- ¾ cup

For rice
Rice- 4 cup
Hot water- 7 ½ cup
Ghee- 3 tbsp
Cinnamon- 1 stick (small)
Cardamom-3
Cloves-3

For garnishing
Onion- 2 big (thinly sliced)
Cashews-1/4 cup
Raisins- ¼ cup
Coriander and mint leaves- handful
Ghee-2 tbsp

Method
• Grind ginger garlic and green chillies into a paste and keep them aside.
• Now heat 3 tbsp of ghee in a biryani pot.
• For Garnishing fry the onions evenly in medium flame until it turns to a nice golden brown and keeps aside.
• Fry cashews and raisins in the same pot and keep aside.
• In the same biryani pot add ¾ cup of oil along with the ghee. add finely sliced onions, sauté until light golden colour.
• Add the ginger garlic and green chilli paste to it, sauté until the raw smell has gone (there’s no red chilli powder used in this recipe, the heat comes from green chillies alone. So do add accordingly to your spice level)
• Meanwhile in a mixer jar, add the tomatoes and coriander leaves, mint leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and curd. Grind this into a smooth paste.
• Add this paste to the onion mix and saute the masala till the oil separate
• Do remember to do all these procedures in medium flame.
• Add turmeric, Fennell seeds powder, garam masala powder. mix everything together.
• To this, add the washed chicken pieces, mix everything with the masala, adjust the salt accordingly. Cover and cook till the chicken is almost done. Keep stirring occasionally.
• Chicken when cooked on low heat releases moistures which are good enough to cook it completely.
• While the chicken is cooking, we can make the biryani rice, it’s almost similar to the ghee rice.

• Wash the rice and soak it for 15 minutes, drain and set aside.
• Heat a pot with 3 tbsp of ghee, sauté the spices (cardamom, cinnamon and cloves)
• Add the drained rice and sautè for 3 minutes.
• Add hot water to it and salt accordingly.
• Cook on a medium flame until the entire water is absorbed. At this stage, the rice is cooked to about 90 percent. If the rice is still not cooked, you can sprinkle some warm water and continue to cook.
• By then the chicken would’ve completely been cooked. Level the chicken properly.
• Layer the cooked rice on the chicken masala, now sprinkle some garam masala on top of the rice, some fried onions, coriander and mint leaves, cashews and raisins.
• Pour a spoonful of ghee on top of the rice, cover it with a tight lid.
• Heat the Tawa, when it turns hot, place the biryani pot over the Tawa and keep it for dum for 15-20 minutes. Make sure the flame is in low-medium.
• After 20 minutes, switch off the flame and allow the biryani to rest for a while.
• Next while serving mix the masala and the rice well.
• Enjoy this delicious biryani with onion raita.

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