Chicken 65 Biryani

Directions

• To make chicken 65
  Marination
• Take 500gms chicken in a bowl. You can prefer either boneless/with bones.
• Marinate chicken pieces with 2tsp ginger garlic paste, 2sprigs curry chopped leaves, 1tsp pepper powder, 1/2tsp garam masala, 1tsp coriander powder, 1/2tsp cumin powder, 1tbsp Kashmiri chilly powder & 1tsp salt.
• Mix well & make sure all chicken pieces are marinated properly.
• Now add 1/2tbsp corn flour, 1/2tbsp maida & 2tsp oil to this mix. Combine everything well using our hands. [ Do not add more cornflour/ maida than the proportions mentioned here]. Rest this marinated pieces for 10min.
• Shallow Frying
• Now heat a kadai & add oil for shallow frying the chicken pieces.
• In medium flame, lets cook the pieces on both sides till its golden brown.
• Now chicken 65 is ready & keep it aside.
• For Preparing Biryani
• Let us fry 2nos thinly sliced medium onions in the same oil until it turns golden brown & keep it aside.[If you like to use cashews/raisins for biryani, fry at this stage]
• To cook rice let us take a pan & add 11/2tbsp oil/ghee, followed by 1tsp crushed ginger, 1tsp garlic crushed, 3tbsp chopped coriander leaves, 2tbsp chopped mint leaves, 2nos finely chopped green chilies, & all spices. (1stick cinnamon,3nos cardamom, ½ star anise, 1/4tsp shah jeera, 3nos cloves, 1/2piece mace,1bay leaf)
• Add in 2 cups basmati rice already soaked in water for 15min. Spread the rice as a layer.
• Followed by 21/2cups water mixed with salt required for rice.
• Add in 11/2tbsp oil/ghee at the top layer.
• Now switch on the flame. When water starts to boil, turn flame to medium heat. Cover the pan with a lid & wait for 15min.(Cooking time of rice varies for different varieties of rice)
• Check in intervals if water is absorbed by the rice completely in the pan. (In 15 min my rice was 85% cooked.)
• Now take 1cup curd in a bowl & mix it well with 1tbsp biryani masala/meat masala, 1/4tsp salt & 2tbsp melted butter. Add this paste above the rice & spread it evenly.
• For getting a yellow shade for biryani, mix 1pinch of saffron with 1tsp water & pour this over the curd layer.[this step is optional, or instead of saffron you can mix turmeric with water]
• As the next layer add in the fried chicken pieces, followed by fried onions.
• Now put the lid on and cook for 15 min in low flame.(If you need to add biryani /pineapple essence add at this stage.)
• Once done, switch off flame & gently mix all the layers without disturbing rice much. Let us close the lid & rest the biryani for another 10min. By doing so all the flavors will be mixed evenly in the biryani & it becomes aromatic.
• Let us serve biryani with onion/ pineapple raita for more taste.
• Pineapple Raita
• Take 1cup curd in a bowl. Add in 1/4tsp salt, 1/2tsp sugar,& 1/2cup finely chopped pineapple & mix well.(if you need, you can add chilly powder/coriander leaves/cumin powder in to the mix. ) Our raita is ready to be served with biryani.