Madras Chicken Biryani

Biryani.....If you ask me which is the best biryani? I'll right away, without any hesitation say its my moms. The flavour and the taste is very unique, thats because she puts her whole heart and love into it while she makes it. I'll give you my moms recipe in my future posts. So coming back to the madras biryani; I enjoyed this first time at a wedding house in chennai. It is an urdu muslims wedding and the aroma  of the mutton biryani just filled the whole dinning hall, that triggered our hunger. I was so eager to learn it. To my surprise the week after that, my father in laws friend invited us for lunch to their house, and they made biryani which has the similar taste. I was so happy that I got the recipe and tried it out right away. Thanks to Sheriff uncles wife for sharing her recipe. It is very simple and easy to make. Last weekend, in UK, I cooked the same for my husbands cousin and for my sister .They really loved it.

Ingredients: 

 2 ½ lb chicken cleaned and cut into desired pieces.

4 cups  basmati rice

1/2 cup ghee+1/2 cup oil  for cooking chicken gravy

3 cups finely sliced onions

2 cups  chopped tomatoes

1 cup chopped mint

1 cup chopped coriander leaves

1/2 cup ginger garlic paste

4 inch stick cinnamon(I prefer the flaky ones not the hard bark)

3 cloves

3 cardamom crushed slightly

1 and 1/2  tbsp red chilli powder

3/4  tsp turmeric powder

1 cup yogurt

10 green chillies

3 tbsp lemon or lime juice

a teaspoon of vinegar to add when you cook the rice

½ cup coconut milk or regular milk  mixed with a pinch of  yellow or orange food colouring

2 tbsp ghee to drizzle towards the end over the rice

Method:

Heat ghee & oil mixture; add cinnamon, cloves and crushed cardamom. Cook for a minute. Add mint and coriander. Cook this for another minute. Then add onions and cook till it is lightly brown. Add tomatoes. When the tomatoes are soft, add ginger garlic  paste. Cook this for  2 minutes. Now add red chilli powder and turmeric powder and the chicken. Cook this till the chicken is  3/4th cooked. Add green chillies ,lemon juice and yogurt. Cook for another 15 mintues.

Boil water in  pot, add salt , a tsp of vinegar and a tablespoon  of oil. When the water is boiling briskly, add the washed and soaked rice and cook till it is 3 /4 th done. Drain  out the water fully and pour this rice over the simmering gravy. Drizzle the coloured milk  and  2 tbsp of ghee over the rice. With the back of the ladle make some holes in the rice; this helps the rice to cook evenly.

Close the lid and cook on high heat for 2 or 3 minutes, then reduce the flame to medium and cook for another 8 minutes and lower the flame to the minimum and cook for another 20 minutes and turn off the heat. Do not open the lid for another 10 minutes. The rice will be perfectly done by this time.Mix the rice and the gravy well before serving. Enjoy your Biryani with nice onion raita and brinjal curry.

Desi Chilli Chicken

I call this dish Desi Chilli Chicken because this is not the usual Chinese Chilli Chicken. I learned this recipe from my mom, who got it from my sister-in-law's relative.This is a very simple dish, which has no onions or tomatoes. You can roll it in a roti as a wrap for easy travel. This is a no mess food and the kids will love it!

Ingredients:

1 lb (600 g) or 3 cups cubed chicken breast

For marinade:

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
salt to taste

For tempering:
1/2 tsp urad dal

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
few sprigs curry leaves
5 whole dried red chilli

1 cup yogurt

1 tsp tandoori masala

Method:

Marinate chicken with chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder , ginger garlic paste and salt.

Heat 1/2 cup of oil in a pan and fry this chicken till lightly brown. Remove and keep it aside.

In the remaining oil add mustard, urad dal, curry leaves and red chilli. Once the mustard pops, add yogurt and the tandoori masala.When the yogurt has reduced in volume, add the fried chicken and cook for a while till all the masala is well coated to the chicken.

Paladai

 Paladai is a very thin crepe made out of rice. This looks similar to the skin of milk.That's where it derived its name from.This is a very popular dish among the muslim population of kanyakumari district.This can be served with any gravy, but I prefer it with nonvegetarian gravy. I want my vegetarian friends to try and enjoy this dish at home; so I omitted the egg when I made it today. But the traditional recipe has egg in it.

Ingredients:
1 cup Basmati rice, washed and soaked in hot tap water for half an hour
1/2  cup thick coconut milk
1 egg (I omitted this today, but the traditional recipe calls for it)
salt to taste


Method:

Grind the rice to a very fine batter (along with egg if you are adding one). Add coconut milk and salt.The batter should be very thin (the consistency of buttermilk). The batter does not need to be fermented. It should be made right away.

Heat a non stick frying pan, pour a ladle of batter and swirl it all around to thinly coat the edges and the middle of the pan. It will take only a minute to cook. Loosen the edges,lift the crepe off the pan and place it face down on a plate, smear a drop of ghee on the crepe and fold it into half and fold it again. It will look like a folded napkin. Serve this with thick chicken or mutton gravy. For vegetarians you can serve it with  spicy potato or mushroom gravy.