Chicken Biryani

If you're like me then the very thought of this dish can get your digestive juices flowing! Chicken biryani needs very little introduction these days with Indian cuisine having become synonymous with the many varieties of this flavorful rice dish where the already full-of-flavor Basmati rice has been cooking in the juices of chicken spiced with all those famously delicious ingredients from the sub-continent like cloves, coriander, cardamoms, cinnamon, mint and many others! Well, you get the picture :) My love affair with this hearty Indian specialty began a long time ago, when mom used to serve up biryani every Sunday for lunch along with the simple raita that simply cannot be surpassed when you dig into this hot favorite!


Here is my very own tried-and-tested version of the dish that has never failed to impress and is simple enough even for beginners to make on their own. 


CHICKEN BIRYANI ~ Chicken cooked with rice and spices


Serves: 4


Ingredients:

1 medium chicken (skinless, cut into small-medium size pieces) - approx. 2.5lbs or 1kg
Rice (Basmati / long grained or Jeera Samba / short grained) - 2 cups
Onions - 2 large, thinly-sliced
Tomatoes - 1 medium, chopped (optional)

Green chillies - 8 to 10 depending on spice levels, sliced

Ginger garlic paste - 1tsp

Cloves - 4

Peppercorns - 5

Cinnamon - 3 sticks on about 1 or 2 inches each

Bay leaves - 3

Cardamoms - 2

Coriander powder - 2tbsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Lemon - 1

Oil / ghee - 2 tbsp

Coriander and mint leaves for garnishing the rice - a handful, chopped

Curry leaves - a few leaves for flavor

For the marinade:

Curd - 1 cup

Salt - to taste

Turmeric - 1 tsp

Chilli powder - 1tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1tsp

Coriander and mint leaves - a handful, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

Pre-preparation:

1. Marinate the chicken in the ingredients listed under "For the marinade" atleast for an hour (Tip: If you are short of time even 30 minutes will do, especially if the chicken if fresh and tender. Personally I've found that marinating overnight or 5-6 hours helps the chicken taste yummy all the way to the bone)

2. Wash and soak the rice for 30 minutes (Tip: I add the water required to cook rice upfront while soaking and reduce the amount of water to add to the dish from this after seeing how much water is retained in the curried chicken before adding the rice)

Method:

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan or pressure cooker (Tip: Adding some ghee enhances the flavor)

2. Add the whole garam masala spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns) and saute for a few seconds taking care not to burn them

3. Add the sliced onions and cook until they begin to brown and are well done (Tip: Add some salt to quicken the cooking process as it helps bring out the moisture from the onions)

4. Add the ginger garlic paste and sliced green chillies and cook for a couple of minutes until they lose the raw flavor

5. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute until done

6. Add the coriander and garam masala powder and saute for a couple of minutes

7. Add the chicken along with the marinade mix and mix well and saute for a few minutes. Close the pan and allow the chicken to cook on medium heat stirring occasionally until the juices are released and the meat is tender. If using a pressure cooker, cook for 1 or 2 whistles.

8. Once the chicken is completely done, simmer the flame and try to gauge the amount of liquid/water left behind in the curried mixture - let's call this chicken masala (Tip: It is not necessary to be very accurate, you will be able to tell approximately how much liquid is left behind in the chicken masala by just eyeballing the mix. Sometimes there might not be any left at all and the chicken masala will be dry/thick)

9. Now add the rice and water that has been soaking, reducing the water according to what is already left in the chicken masala. For example, if you see approximately 1 cup water left behind in the chicken masala, and you have had the rice soaking in 4 cups water, drain out 1 cup from the rice and add the rest of the rice and water to the chicken masala (Note: The quantity of water in the rice container itself would have reduced as the rice would have absorbed some of the water while soaking in it)

10. Add the chopped coriander and mint leaves and the juice of half a lime (or more according to taste). Mix the mixture well on increase the heat. You can taste the water in this mixture at this time to check for salt and spice levels and adjust accordingly.

11. Close the pan or cooker (without whistle) and reduce the flame and cook on simmer for the next 20 minutes checking occasionally until the rice is cooked and all the water has been absorbed. You can stir once or twice in between if you prefer.

12. Once done, turn off flame and let the biryani rest for about 10 minutes for the flavors to settle in and then serve hot with raita!

Mor Kuzhambu

What is common amongst all of these - Rasam saadham, Thayir saadham with pickle, Kichidi, Dal chaawal, Mashed potatoes, Mac n Cheese, Maggie/ramen noodles, Toasted bread, Chicken soup?

Well, depending on whether you are from Mylapore or Andheri or Brooklyn or where ever it be... one or more of these dishes would bring back soothing memories of a childhood meal, mama's quick fix or that which you long to eat after days of binging... it's your very own COMFORT FOOD! Needless to say, I have my own share of dishes that evoke that nostalgic element within and take me on trips down memory lane all the way back to my grandmother's kitchen... Mor Kuzhambu is right on top of that list!

From the perfect blend with just the right shade of yellow to a curdled mix that is too thick to pour, I have had it all! Though it is such a simple mix of spices and can be put together well before you are done listening to 2 or 3 Rahman songs, it is quite easy to mess this simple dish and trust me when I say that! Here is a tried and tested recipe to help you get it right.

MOR KUZHAMBU ~ Spiced buttermilk curry
Also called: Mor Kulambu; Spiced Buttermilk curry;

Serves:
4 (unless you happen to go back for 3 servings at one meal, like I do)

Ingredients:
Sour curd or plain yogurt - 1 cup
Choice of vegetable (ashgourd/white pumpkin or okra or bottle gourd) - 1 cup cubed or cut into medium sized pieces
Tomato - 1 (optional) cut into medium sized pieces
Oil - 1 or 2 tsp
Salt to taste

For spice paste:
Coconut - 3 to 4 tsp grated or small pieces
Roasted bengal gram dal (channa dal / pottu kadalai) - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 2 to 3
Dry red chillies - 1 or 2
Peppercorns - few (5-6)
Coriander leaves - 2 to 3 strands

For tempering:
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 2 pinches
Dry red chillies - 1 or 2
Curry leaves - a few
Hing (Asafoetida)- 2 to 3 pinches

For garnishing:
Chopped coriander leaves

Method:
1. Add about 2 cups of water to the yogurt to make into thin buttermilk and mix well so as to not have any lumps of curd. Add salt to taste.
2. Make a fine paste with the ingredients listed under the 'For spice paste' category adding just a little water to bring them all together (chutney consistency)
3. Mix the spice paste to the buttermilk and blend together well. Add water if required but be careful not to make the solution too thin as there might be some water from cooking the vegetables next which will add to the overall consistency as well (Tip: It is safer to err on the thicker side here as you can always add more water if required right after you add this buttermilk solution to the cooking pot). You can taste this now to see if the salt and spice levels are to your liking and make adjustments if required
2. To a hot pan, add oil and then mustard seeds, urad dal, broken dry red chillies, turmeric, hing and curry leaves
3. Add the cut tomatoes and vegetable of your choice and a pinch of salt for flavor and allow it to cook until completely done (Tip: Add water for the gourd veggies to cook while okra can be sauted without water to avoid making it too mushy. Be careful about the amount of salt you add here as you have already seasoned the buttermilk mix with salt and this is just to flavor the veggies)
4. Put the pot/pan on medium flame and add the buttermilk mix string continuously to avoid curdling and blend the mixture well (Now is when you make the final adjustment to consistency with water if required)
5. Cook on medium-low flame with constant stirring until you see the first signs of a boil come up and then remove from heat and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice!

Variations:
* The tempering can be done in the end to give a nice aromatic flavor and pep up the presentation - in this case you would just cook the vegetables separately by boiling or sauteing (in the case of okra) and add to buttermilk mix and bring it all to the near-boil stage and remove from heat. Then do the tempering separately on a pan and add to this cooked curry and serve right away!
* The curry can be made plain without any veggies as well for a quick fix. I love it simply with just tomatoes which add to the tanginess!

Note:
This dish is best eaten freshly prepared and hot. But if you do need to reheat any leftover curry, the preferred method would be to microwave or steam cook in a cooker or double boiler. Direct heat can alter the taste and may also cause a curdling effect.

What's cooking?

Have you ever wondered how someone can look forward to doing something that they do day in and day out, more than at least once a day and have been doing for as long as they can remember? This quote from Voltaire says just enough to make sense - Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. What God had to do with it or not is a discussion I am not prepared for.. but you get the idea! 


I was never a connoisseur of food myself.. at least not until recent times :) But I recall having enjoyed cooking from when I was in high school.. I guess success is a great motivator. Had my very first dish been a disaster I may not have attempted another one until it was out of necessity to feed an empty belly. Fortunately for me, it turned out to be a good one the very first time and then there was no reason to stop and not show off my newly acquired culinary skills. Long story short, I have improvised quite a bit over the years and can definitely be counted upon to whip up a decent (actually delicious) meal and it wouldn't take a hungry person to say that! 


Though I have been successful in making many a great meal, there has not been an awful lot of 'my own' in the methods.. the closet I have got to innovation with food is doing a mix-and-match of mom's biriyani with paaty's biriyani and athai's biriyani and then making one that tastes better than them all (:P) or the like with multiple other recipes. So I've always wanted a reference to start with.. something that I could build upon. And thereby the need for a cookbook (in the days of lore) or the laptop on my kitchen table that is the start to every session at the stove! After multiple attempts at trying to compile and put together a list of tried and tested recipes for a quick reference, I decided to make a food blog and try my hand at some creative writing too. So that's how My Cookalicous came to be and here's welcoming you into my kitchen for recipes that go back a long way :)