Biriyani = Biriyani Rice
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 Kilo grams RED Onions
2 Kilo grams Chicken (thighs & drumsticks)
4 cups Basmati rice (long grain rice)
2 tb spn canned tomato
2 large regular tomatoes
1 bunch mint leaves
1 bunch parsley
5 spices (cinnamon bark - 3 medium pieces, cardamom - 6
pieces, cumin seeds, black pepper - about 1/6 tea spoon,
cloves - 3 to 4 sticks)
4 medium sized potatoes
2 cups yogurt
6-8 lemons
Salt to taste
5-6 sections/pieces from 1 head garlic medium sized
1 node fresh ginger, about 1 inch long and 1/2 inch
diameter (not powdered)
Instructions:
Wash the rice 2 or 3 times until the whitishness does not
re appear in the water.
Boil the rice until it is half done, sieve and throw away
the starchy fluid
Mix the rice with a big pinch of strands of saffron, about
20 or 30 strands.
In a big cooking pot, fry the garlic in GHEE
Raise the temperature of ghee and put in the chicken.. fry
at high temperature only to brown the chicken... remove
quickly so that the juices from the chicken do not get out
(you will need them for later). Remove the chicken and put
on a paper towel to drain the oil and remove the pot from
the fire
Now put everything BUT THE RICE, into another pot and mix
them nicely (all the spices -ground-, the chicken, yogurt,
ginger, garlic etc). Add salt and make sure that you can
taste the salt (don't go over board) also make sure that
the mix taste for sourness.
Pour rice on top of all the mixed stuff.
Boil some ghee on another pot or pan and pour on top of the
rice. Cover the pot with tinfoil and make sure you do this
well, make it snuggle nicely. Then use your regular pot
cover over this.
Cook in medium low (second option between low and medium)
for about 30 minutes. {Alternatively you could cook it in
the oven at about 250 that is about 30-40% lower temp than
you would use for backing cake - if cooking in the oven,
you will need to time it for 45 minutes, after 45 minutes
you will need to poke in a fork all the way to the bottom
to feel if its done or not}
To be done, the rice on the top will be cooked and the
bottom of the pot will stay a little bit soggy.
Time to serve, NOW you will need a big deep bowl like
plate, uncover the pot completely, clear the area for a
little work. Cover the pot with the plate, serving side
facing the pot. Lift the pot in such a way that with a
quick twist, you can flip it over where the plate is at the
bottom and the pot is on top of it. If you used a plate big
enough, nothing will fall on the floor when you pull up the
pot. So now pull up the pot. The thick curry should be at
the top and may slightly run if it was not cooked at right
temperature, but that is not a bad thing. The biriyani
curry is one of the best curry you will ever taste.
Remember what I said about NOT over frying the chicken, not
losing the juices?? Well what has happened is that the
juices from the chicken combined with tomatoes, yogurt and
other stuff and made the rich biriyani curry at the low
cooking temperatures.
Serving:
Usually in Africa and the Middle East, the whole BIG plate
is set in the middle and every one eats hand in hand from
it, sitting on the floor around it. However, though that is
the best way for socializing and breaking class barrier,
you can serve it any way you like in your home. You could
set the big plate in the middle of the table and every one
can serve into their plates (especially if you do not have
eaters hehehe), and take the amount they need.
Every one taking a serving should take the curry and all,
that is the best part, if biriyani is cooked right, I would
swear it is the best food in the world as far as taste is
concerned. However, this here is chicken biriyani, the more
authentic one is beef/veal biriyani, I will get the recipe
for that when mom has time and I will post it here for you.
She says there is a little difference in preparation. I
know there is a lot of difference in taste!
OTHER SUGGESTED VARIATIONS:
Just to add to all the lovely taste, you could boil a few
eggs (1 to 2 eggs for every expected guest) and also but
them at the bottom of the pot, after mixing ingredients and
just before pouring in the rice, that way they are not
stuck at the bottom, but they get the biriyani curry taste
on them as well.