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Spicy Chicken Briyani

Ingredients

Basmati Rice --1 1/2 cups
Chicken--1 Kg
Onions--2 medium sized (finely sliced)
Tomatoes--3medium sized (finely sliced)
Ginger-garlic paste--2 tbsp
Green Chillies--3-4 nos.
Mint leaves-2 tbsp (roughly chopped)
Coriander leaves--2 tbsp (roughly chopped)
Ghee--6 tbsp
Whole Garam masala- 2 one inch sticks
Cinnamon,
3 Green Cardamom
3 Black Cardamom
3 Bay leaves
3 Cloves.
Saffron Strands--4-5
Warm Milk--3 tbsp
Turmeric powder--1/2tsp
Red Chilli & Coriander Powder--1 tsp
Yogurt-- 1 1/2 cups
Salt--as per taste
Water-4 cups

Method

1. Clean chicken. Cut into half inch sized pieces. Clean, wash and soak rice in the water. Soak Saffron in warm milk and keep aside. Marinate Chicken pieces with Turmeric, salt, yogurt,1 tbspn of ginger-garlic pastes for 4 hours in a cool place.
2. Now cook the rice in salted boiling water along with whole garam masala. Rice should be half cooked and retain the strained water. Keep the rice warm.
3. Heat ghee in a pan or pressure cooker add sliced onions & green chillies, cook until golden brown, make sure to stir continuously. Add remaining ginger-garlic paste mix well, now add the Marinated chicken pieces and cook on high flame stirring continuously for 7-8 minutes. Now add coriander & red chilli powder mix thoroughly.
4. Stir in 3 cups of water, bring it to boil, reduce heat and cook covered till chicken pieces are almost cooked. Add tomatoes. 1/2 tspn garam masala powder, half the chopped mint & coriander leaves. Cook for 15 mins on medium heat, stirring occasionllay. In case you are cooking in the pressure cooker it normally takes 2 whistles. Ensure that cooked chicken does not have runny gravy. If it is so cook on high flame to reduce the water content.
5. Take a cooker mix the warm rice and chicken masala check the salt. Sprinkle the remiaining mint-coriander leaves, saffron milk and 2 tbsp of ghee. In the end sprinkle a glass of retained water cover it with a moist cloth and seal it with a lid. Cook it for 15-20 mins. Serve hot with onion raita.
6. You can cook and serve this briyani in an oven-proof dish. If you want , you can finish the briyani in a Microwave oven also. In that case cook covered on micro high for four minutes only. Enjoy!