EASY RECIPE FOR TRADITIONAL INDIAN CHICKEN BIRYANI

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https://alcoeats.com/blogs/alcoeats-feed-your-cravings/12-easy-recipe-for-traditional-indian-chicken-biryani

Preparation – Marination

Make slits on the chicken pieces and add them to a large bowl. After this, add:

• Plain Yogurt (Curd): 3 tablespoons
• Ginger Garlic paste: 1¼ tablespoons
• Alcoeats garam masala: ½ to 1 tablespoon
• Salt: ½ teaspoon
• Alcoeats Turmeric Powder: ¼ teaspoon 
• Alcoeats Red Hot Chilli Powder: ½ to 1 teaspoon, and
• Lemon Juice (optional): 1 tablespoon

1. Now, mix all the above ingredients thoroughly and marinate the chicken. Cover this mixture and set it aside for 1 hour. The best marination is if you keep it overnight in the fridge.
2. Add 2 cups premium basmati rice into a large pot and rinse it thoroughly. Drain the rice and soak it in fresh water for about 30 mins. Next, drain the rice into a colander. 
3. Optional – Soak a pinch of saffron strands in 2 tablespoons of hot milk.

Cooking the chicken

In a heavy-bottomed pot or pressure cooker, heat some ghee or oil. Ensure that you’re using a large pot at this stage. Using whole spices is optional but recommended. For the best taste and flavor, you can use spices like

• Bay leaf: 1 No.
• Green Cardamoms: 4 Nos.
• Cloves: 6 Nos.
• Cinnamon Piece: 1 No.
• Star Anise: 1 No.
• Jeera (caraway seeds): ¾ teaspoon shahi jeera
• Mace: 1 strand

1. Into this large utensil, first add some thinly sliced onions. Fry these on medium heat and keep stirring them often until they turn a uniform light brown. This is the correct color of the onions. Take care to not burn them as burnt onions leave a bitter taste.
2. Now, add the marinated chicken pieces and sauté them for around 5 minutes, until they turn pale.
3. Reduce the flame completely now. Cover and cook the chicken till it becomes soft, tender, and perfectly cooked. You can quickly check if the chicken is cooked to perfection by poking it with a fork or knife. Remember, the chicken needs to be just cooked and NOT overcooked. 
4. Evaporate any excess moisture left in the pot by cooking further without the lid.
5. Taste it and add more salt if needed. Also, add:

• Plain yogurt (curd): ¼ cup
• Alcoeats garam masala: 1 teaspoon
• Red chili powder (optional): ¼ to ½ teaspoon
• Green chili pepper (optional): 1 slit
• Chopped mint leaves (pudina): 2 tablespoons

Preparing the chicken biryani

1. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Spread the paste evenly in a single layer.
2. Layer the drained rice from Point# 3 over the chicken. 
3. In a separate bowl, pour 3 cups water and add ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt. If you’re cooking the biryani in a pot, just start with 3 cups of water. Stir and taste the water. It must be slightly salty. 
4. Now, pour 2 cups of this water across the sides of the cooker or pot, and pour the rest of it gently over the rice.
5. Level the rice gently on top. Add 2 more tbsp of mint leaves. Take care to not mix up everything.
6. The taste of the biryani cooked using this recipe should be excellent. You can optionally sprinkle 2 tablespoons of fried onions & saffron-soaked milk over the biryani.
7. To finish, cover the pot or cooker. If you’re cooking your biryani in a pot, cook on medium heat until the rice is done completely. If the rice is undercooked, you can pour ¼ to ½ cup boiling water at this stage. The quantity of boiling water to add depends on the quality of the basmati rice you’re using. 
8. Cook under cover till the biryani rice is perfectly done, grainy, and fully cooked. 
9. Rest the biryani covered for 15 mins. If you’re cooking chicken biryani in a cooker, cook till the first whistle. Then remove the cooker from the hot burner to stop cooking further. After some time, when the pressure reduces, open the lid. Gently fluff up with a fork.
10. Always serve chicken biryani in layers – the top layer with rice and the bottom layer with chicken. 
11. Enjoy with raita or shorba.

Tips to make the best chicken biryani

Marination: Marinating chicken with yogurt & spices is the most important step to make the most authentic chicken biryani. This is because yogurt tenderizes the chicken and adding the spices enhances the flavors. Marinating and then resting the chicken makes it extra soft & succulent, so please do not skip marination. If you do not prefer curd, you can easily substitute it with coconut milk.

Preparing rice: Premium basmati rice must be rinsed thoroughly a few times in ample water to get rid of the starch. This prevents the individual rice grains from turning mushy. Soaking the rice helps it cook to fluffy & long grains. So DO NOT SKIP the critical step of rinsing & soaking the rice well before using.

Water: The above recipe uses plain water to cook the chicken biryani. But water can be easily replaced with either coconut milk or chicken stock. This ratio works pretty well with any aged long-grained basmati rice.

Hear: Also, apply just the right amount of heat to this recipe.