Biriyani- Kerala Malabari Style

After having lived in Hyderabad (the land of Nawabs and Biriyani :P) for six years, I am a huge fan of biriyani and now that I live in Los Angeles, I miss some good ol' spicy chicken biriyani, immensely. Biriyani (from Beryan, Persian) is a rice-based dish made with your choice of meat (normally chicken, beef, or lamb), vegetables, spices, and garnished with eggs and roasted cashews and raisins. There are several versions of the biriyani! In India alone there are around 20 typical and famous biriyani preparations.  

One which is very popular is called Dum Biriyani and it is made with the rice, marinated meat, spices and vegetables all cooked together in an earthen pot. Yumm.

So, I was entertaining some guests the other day and I was wondering what to make. Something not too complicated, yet delicious and tasty. That's when I decided to make the Malabari chicken biriyani or Kozhikoddan biriyani, from the Southern most part of India. This biriyani requires three steps- marination, boiling the rice, frying the chicken. 

Malabari Chicken Biriyani
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
To marinate:
Cilantro- 1 sprig
Mint- 1 sprig
Lemon juice- 2 tbsp
Garlic- 2-3 tbsp
Ginger- 2-3 tbsp
Cumin seed- 1 tsp ground
Turmeric powder- 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder- 1 tbsp
Curd- 2/3 cup
Jalapeno pepper- 2-3
Curry leaf- 1-2 stem
Salt- to taste


For the rice:
Clarified butter/Ghee- 2-3 tbsp
Basmati rice- 3 cups washed
Cinnamon stick- 2
Cloves- a handful
Cardamom pods- 1 tsp
Whole pepper pods- 1 tsp
Curry leaf- 1 stem
Onion- 1

For the chicken fry:
Chicken- Drumsticks and thigh pieces, about 2.5 lbs washed and cleaned
Onion- 1
Tomato- 1
Vegetable oil- 1 tbsp


To garnish:
Eggs- 3, boiled
Mint- 1 stem
Raisins- a handful
Cashewnut- Raw and unsalted, to be roasted

Method:

Marination-
The first step is to clean the chicken pieces thoroughly and then prepare the marinade.

Clean the cilantro and mint leaves and chop them slightly before putting them in the blender. Add Jalapeno peppers ( I used some really spicy red peppers from Xiao's backyard! They were really good).

Mix in the lemon juice, mashed garlic and ginger, powdered cumin seed, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, curry leaf (I couldn't find curry leaf in LA, but it tastes much better with the curry leaf) and blend.

You should make a thick paste with these ingredients. Add salt to this mixture.

After this is done, add in the 2/3rd cup curd. The curd I used was fage yogurt. I prefer using thick curd since the marinade needs to be thick. Otherwise, there will be excess water which might be difficult to drain out.

Slit the chicken pieces and nicely coat each of the pieces with the marinade and keep aside at least for one hour. I kept it marinated overnight so that the chicken turns really tender and the marinate seeps in.

Preparing the Rice-
The next step is to prepare the rice. Wash 3 cups of Basmati rice and keep aside. In a pot, heat 3 tbsps of clarified butter or ghee. Once heated, add onions and fry till translucent.

Add the cinnamon sticks, pepper pods, cloves, cardamom and curry leaf, salt. Add in the washed rice and fry it in the butter for 2-3 minutes. Add in water and let the rice boil till done. Keep aside.

Frying the chicken-
Once the chicken has been marinated, the next step is to fry the chicken. Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and add onions. Once the onions turn light brown, add tomatoes. Next add in the marinated chicken and fry it in the onions and tomatoes. Let the chicken boil in this mixture. It is normal for the water to seep out from the chicken (and from the curd). Allow the water to boil off. Once the chicken is done, keep aside.

For the garnish-
Boil 3 eggs and remove shell. Roast the cashews on fire for a couple of minutes.

Final preparation-
In a huge serving bowl, put one layer of the prepared rice and an alternate layer of the chicken. Keep alternating between the rice and the chicken.

Garnish with the roasted cashews, the boiled eggs, raisins and a stem of mint (I used one from my kitchen!)