Muslim Style Chicken Biryani

Heat Oil and ghee in a pan and add in the spices. Cinnamon, Cloves and Cardamom. Add in the onions and saute until the onions are soft.

Once the onions are soft, Add in the tomatoes and the ginger garlic paste.Saute the mixture until streaks of oil appear on the top. Then, add in the green chillies and the chicken. Briefly saute for a minute to coat the chicken.

Add in the salt, red chilli powder and the coriander powder. Add in the yogurt.Cover the pan with a lid and cook on medium flame for 7-8 minutes. When the chicken is cooking, soak the rice in cold water.

After 8 minutes, the chicken should be almost cooked. Remove the cooked meat to a bowl and roughly measure how much liquid is left behind. Mine had about 1.5 cup of liquid. Just measure roughly. It need not be accurate. Measurements used – 1 cup rice = 250 ml. We are using 2 cups rice and 750 grams meat. We require 2 times water to the quantity of rice. So we need to add 4 cups water. There was already 1.5 cups gravy that we measured before. So I added 2.5 cups water to the mixture. Let the mixture come to a boil.

Drain the rice and add it to the pan. Add in the coriander leaves, mint leaves and juice of a lemon.

I cooked the biriyani in the pressure cooker. If using pressure cooker, cover the lid and cook for exactly two whistles. Approximately 4-5 minutes. If cooking directly on the pan, then cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for the first four minutes on medium flame.

Open the lid. Gently mix once from the bottom, cover the lid again and simmer for 10 minutes on very low flame.

Remove the pan from heat and set aside.Wait for the pressure from the cooker to release naturally. If cooking in a pan, Do not disturb for the next 20 minutes. The rice will get swollen and absorb all the left out moisture. This time is very important. Do not rush.Serve hot!