Wednesday, June 26, 2013

(Amma Cooks) Chicken Dum Biryani

Tell me one non-vegetarian who doesn't like Chicken dum biryani. I am yet to find one. Am no exception too. I love this biryani or let me put it this way, I have a love-hate relationship with this biryani. Love it cos it is mind-blowingly delicious, hate it cos it is outrageously painstaking and labor-intensive... All with its chopping, sauteing, frying and more chopping, it gives you one hell of a time. But end of the day, I can assure you that you will be getting a plate of pure bliss that will leave you wanting for more. That is "the fruit of labor" that you are left with.

I can never stand in the kitchen for hours, chopping onions, frying 'em in one burner of the stove and sauteing 'em in the other, making the masala, fluffing the rice and finally putting them together. I am not that kind and so I never think about trying my hands on the ever famous Chicken Dum Biryani. Moreover hubby prefers the one-pot pressure cooker biryani to this and that makes things easy. Also when you have an SME at home you never have to worry about it.

Amma makes the best dum biryanis and when it is dum biryani at home, appa dons the chef's hat too. He helps her (BTW he is so good at chopping onions), chopping onions like a breeze, cleaning chicken with such skill, following her instructions to the 'T'. So whenever I have that craving for home amma-cooked dum biryani, I call them down and enjoy it to the fullest. Its that simple, so now you know why I never bothered to give it a shot.

This time when she made it, I was there with my camera to click step by step pics but having a kid on his toes never helps with things going the planned way. Finally I had to abandon the camera and the task too. But I did take decent shots of the dum biryani and I so wanted to share it with you. I will update the post with the tutorial soon.

~*What U Need*~
Servings - 6 to 8
Chicken - 1/2 kg
Oil, Salt

For the Rice:
Basmati rice - 2 1/2 cups
Water - 5 cups
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cardamom - 2
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon - 2 1" piece
Bay leaf - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt

For the masala
Onion - 1/2 kg
Tomato - 200 g
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

For frying
Sliced onions - 1 cup
Cashew - a handful
Raisins - a handful
Ghee/oil - to fry

To grind
Coriander leaves - half a bunch/a handful
Mint leaves - half a bunch/ a handful
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Green chilli - 4
Sour curd - 1/4 cup

Saffron - 1/4 tsp soaked in warm milk

How I She Made it:
Prep work:
Grind coconut into a smooth mixture. Grind mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chilli and curd into a coarse mixture. Set aside. Soak the rice for 10 mins. Lets prep it up next. Heat oil in a big kadai, add ghee, fry the crushed cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bayleaf. Add the rice and fry foir 5 mins till the water evaporates. Add the water, salt and cook till 75% done. Remove and fluff with work. Set aside to cool down. Heat oil to fry the onions. Deep fry the sliced onions till brown. Remove and set aside. Similarly fry the cashews and raisins.

Method:
In the same pan, add the remaining chopped onions and fry till golden brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes off. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry till oil separates. Add the masala powders and fry well. Add the chicken and cook till the water separates and half done. Add the coconut mixture and fry well. Once the sauce starts thickening up, add the coriander-mint paste and cook till you get a semi-gravy. Season with salt.

Take a large cooker and grease with ghee. Add a layer of rice followed by a layer of gravy. Sprinkle fried onion, cashews, raisins, chopped mint leaves and a pinch of garam masala. Repeat till you are out of rice and gravy finishing with rice, fried onions and mint leaves and saffron milk. Close with the pressure cooker lid with the whistle on. Place this setup on top of a dosa tawa filled with sand and cook in low flame for 15-20 mins or till the mint leaves on the top get cooked.

Serve hot with raitha and boiled egg!!!

** My Notes:
** The cooking time of the rice is very important so be careful.
** When cooking on dosa tawa, do it on very low flame.
** Also add a dollop of ghee on the top for more flavor.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

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26 comments:

  1. Chicken Dum Biryani is my fav too...looks too tempting vimitha :) perfectly done...inviting!

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  2. Lovely biryani, i had fun reading your write up... what lovely parents & chefs :) never seen that scene in my place as amma only cooks appa never enters the kitchen... please tell aunty the biryani is to die for <3 it

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  3. Wonderful briyani,waiting for the tutorial.i can gorge them any time.

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  4. Wow! Briyani looks really delicious.

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  5. Biryani looks really tempting....wish I'm inviting myself to ur place sis!!

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  6. Absolutely perfect and delish chicken biryani dear.....mouthwatering!

    today's post:
    http://sanolisrecipies.blogspot.in/2013/06/eggplant-potato-dry-curry-masala-aloo.html

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  7. Super delicious and perfect biryani... very very tempting...

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  8. such a delicious preparation n inviting clicks here...

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  9. so delicious & inviting biriyani...

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  10. who can resist that....love biriyani anytime

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  11. drooling over the biriyani deat..loved the leg poping out !Feel free to pop in to my space too when you get the time. Just jotted some tips on"sane motherhood" on my "pick quicks" blog. Lets staty connected beyond the kitchen as well...Hope you will be a follower there.have a great day !

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  12. looks absolutely delicious... can never have enough of biriyani...

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  13. Looks perfect, dum biryani any time :)

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  14. Picture perfect biryani!Addition of coconut is different to me :)

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  15. Wow, that looks amazing. bet it tasted great as well :-)

    Luv,
    Manju

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  16. Am always in love with dum briyani, cant take my eyes from ur clicks Sis.

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  17. Lu ky u to have ir amma cook for u when u crave...u know what sometime back when u mentioned about ur Ammas nilgiri chicken I was so tempted and tired making it from google sources but was not quite happy so I am so mu h looking forward to ur Ammas nilgiri chicken too. :)

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  18. Beautiful pictures..looks delicious...

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  19. Vimitha, this is super yummy! I had a look at the recipe and it sure is labor intensive :)

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  20. It's the chicken that looks so inviting on top of all that fluffy yum rice. Great job with the pictures Vimitha, it all looks so good.

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