Banne Nawab Chicken Biryani

I always fall short of adjectives when I have to describe a delicious Chicken Biryani.  It is a royal treat to give your kith and kin :) who will sing your praises for days to come! I am a big fan of this dish and these days enjoy making it every now and then. As we all know there are various kinds of Biryani preparations. So this particular one is using Banne Nawab Biryani masala packet. Makes life easy and the taste of the biryani is just like you eat in the restaurants, even better as it is home made. You will need few ingredients and undivided attention to Biryani preparation as the key is to make the rice cook right before you put it on dum.

'Birian' basically means “fried before cooking" in Farsi. Actually, it is not a traditional Indian dish but was brought to India by travelers and merchants from Iran and Western Asia. Hence, biryani dishes can be found all over South-East Asia, in Arabia and even in the Middle Eastern countries. Not to mention there are a variety of cooking techniques and ingredients that are used to make biryani. The most typical ingredients are ghee, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, cardamom, bay leaf, garlic, ginger, onions, mint, cilantro, and saffron. For a non-vegetarian biryani, apart from the spices, meat such as lamb, goat, chicken, or shrimps may be used. Vegetarian biryani is made of various vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, beans etc. Biryani is usually served with a raita on the side and spicy thin curry called rassa in many regions of India. It can be garnished with slices of boiled egg, fried onions or dried fruits.

Once you get a hang of it, there is no looking back :) Makes an excellent entree when you have guests at home, make them feel royal by feeding them this shahi Nawabi Biryani.

This post is special as it marks my 100th recipe on the blog :)

Let us take a look at the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 750gm chicken (1lb chicken thighs/legs)
• 2 1/2 cups rice
• 1 Banne Nawab Chicken Biryani Packet
• 1 cup mint chopped
• 1 and 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
• 1-2 green chilli
• 1 cup thick yogurt
• 1 tbsp milk
• pinch saffron (pinch yellow food color optional)
• 3 cups onion sliced
• 3-4 tbsp ghee
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 tbsp oil

Preparation:

• Clean and cut Chicken into big pieces. Marinate with Banne nawab masala mixture along with yogurt, 3 tbsp oil, mint, cilantro.
• Warm milk and add saffron, can add a pinch of yellow color and pour it in the marinade.
• Heat 1/2 cup oil in a pan and saute the onions till they are dark brown. Place it on a paper towel to let the extra oil drain out. Keep a couple tbsp of fried onion aside and add the rest fried onions to the marinade. Mix well.
• Let it marinate for good 2-3 hours, more the better.
• In the meantime, wash and rinse the rice. In a big cooking pot, add around 7-8 cups of water and bring it to a boil. 
• Add rice and add contents of the other packet from Banne Nawab masala box which consists of whole masala (bay leaf, cloves, pepper etc) to the boiling water. Be careful, we don't want any spills and burns.
• Cook the rice exactly for 5-6 minutes and drain out all the water.  Rice is 75-80% cooked at this point. 
• In a big non-stick pan add marinated chicken and cook for 10 minutes. Now pour the drained rice over the chicken, add remaining fried onions on top. Make deep holes in the rice in between and pour ghee evenly. 
• Cover the lid tightly (with a foil or add dough on the edges). Place the Biryani pan on a frying tava. Sim the gas and cook for good 30 minutes. This is basically the "dum" process in biryani making.
• Switch off the gas and open the lid, you can smell that rich aroma. Slowly with a light hand mix the biryani and serve hot with curry, raita, onions, sol kadi.

njoY!! happy cookinG!!

You may also like Bhatkal style Biryani, Vegetable Rice Pulao, Vangi (Baingan) Rice.
Shown in the pics is a summer drink Sol kadi

Egg Biryani

The love for Biryani will never diminish in my life :) Egg Biryani is another very swad-isht(delicious) to taste and quick to make dish. I have a winner recipe here :) Love for eggs is inbuilt in me and my family. We can have it anytime of the day. Most of the days my breakfast is incomplete without organic eggs. The recipes that can be churned out using eggs is innumerable. I am thankful that no one around me is allergic to eggs.

And who can forget that advertisement on television by National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC) egg campaign called ”Sunday ho ya Monday roz Khao ANDE”- When I peel my boiled eggs I tend to happily hum this jingle :)

When I used to work in India a while ago, my office campus had a huge canteen that served one of the best egg biryanis. Fridays used to be my Biryani day...Ummm even thinking about it makes me want to have it now. The quantity of biryani served on the plate was for 3 people. And I used to finish all of it :) alone! Hmmm those carefree days when I didn't know what 'Calorie' was :):)- Blissful eh :)
You can also check out my Chicken Biryani here.

Anyways, coming to reality, I call this a jhatpat egg biryani as there is no process of dum involved. You straightway cook rice with the masala.  let us take a look at this recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Basmati rice (any long grain rice)
• 2 big onions sliced
• 4-5 green chillies sliced
• whole garam masala (4 cloves, 4 peppercorns, 2 inch cinnamon stick, 1 cardamom crushed, 1 tsp shah jeera or cumin seeds)
• 3/4th cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup chopped mint
• 1/4 tsp turmeric (haldi)
• 1/2 tsp chilly pwd
• 1/2 tsp coriander pwd
• 1/2 tsp jeera pwd
• 2 heaped tbsp biryani masala (Everest or Badshah will do)
• salt as per taste
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 3 cups water
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp ghee (butter)- can add more.

Egg coating and frying:

• 5 eggs boiled
• 3 tbsp gram flour (besan)
• 1/4th tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp chilli pwd
• pinch turmeric
• salt as per taste
• 3 tsp oil to fry

Preparation:

• Wash, rinse and soak the rice for 30 minutes, drain and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a wide mouth (nonstick) pan, add whole garam masala ingredients and saute lightly for a minute, add sliced onion and saute till light- med brown.
• Add cilantro, mint, green chillies saute for a couple of minutes, add ginger garlic paste and saute.
• On low heat add yogurt and mix properly, saute for a minute or so. It becomes like a thick paste. Add all the powders, saute quickly.
• Now add the rice and saute again for a couple of minutes with a light hand, we don't want to break the rice grains.  Add water, salt and bring it to a boil. Now close the lid, sim the gas and let it cook for about 12-15 minutes.
• Make a paste by adding everything together under Egg coating and frying by adding very little water. 
• Heat a pan and add oil, take your peeled boiled eggs, coat the paste on it and slowly slide in the pan, grill it from all sides cooking a minute or so on each side. 
• Now open the lid of your Biryani when it is about 8 minutes into cooking and place these eggs evenly on top of the rice and continue to cook till the rice is done. Drizzle ghee/butter generously over the pulao.
• Garnish with cilantro! Serve hot with raita, salad or some nice spicy thin red gravy.

njoY!! happY cookinG!!

Notes:* At home I serve ghee/butter on the plate individually based on everyone's liking. One can also add a little bit of saffron water on top to get that yellow color on grains along with flavor and aroma of course. The color of Biryani can look different based on how brown the onions are cooked and brand of biryani masala. You can also add fried onions as garnish.

Coated Egg fry adapted from vahrevah.com chef. 

Health Benefits: Eggs are high in protein content. Eggs contain all the essential amino acids in the right ratios, so our bodies are well equipped to make full use of the protein in them. It has choline content which is used to build cell membranes and has a role in producing signalling molecules in the brain, along with various other functions. It has cholesterol, yes, but new studies are coming up showing the content of cholesterol is not bad as it used to be 10 years back. Probably depends on how the hens are fed and taken care of. Choose organic version. In fact, eggs are highly fulfilling and tend to make you eat fewer calories, helping you to lose weight. Eat in proper proportion to enjoy the deliciousness and calorie intake of this biryani in order to avoid a guilt trip :)

Chicken Biryani- Bhatkal style

Biryani is a heavenly, rich, shahi and a royal dish especially the non-veg Biryani. I have a big mental block when it comes to cooking Biryani and rightly so because the rice that is cooked in biryani has to be cooked till 75% first and then the rest 25% is cooked on dum (on slow flame along with the meat). It can get tricky. Also the spices must be added in proper proportion. One needs total alertness and undivided attention while making Biryani :). One has to keep away from social networking while making this dish lol. My mom and aunts are experts in making this droolicious Biryani dishes. I have to mentally be prepared to make one! :) I am definitely getting better :) My husband and myself crave for it once in a while and today was one of those days :) This particular Biryani is a speciality from a coastal place called Bhatkal in Karnataka. It is a medium spicy, flavorful and yummy biryani! This is one of the easiest biryani recipes that's out there. I am sure you will enjoy making it too.

Let's get to the recipe:

CHICKEN BIRYANI BHATKAL STYLE

Ingredients:

• 2 cups basmati rice wash, rinse and keep aside.
• 6 cups water
• pinch saffron(kesar) in 1 tbsp warm milk
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 tsp oil
• salt to taste

For Chicken Base:

• 1 lb chicken pieces big bite size around 3-4 cups
• Khada (whole) masala ( 8 cloves, 8 peppercorns, 1 stick of cinnamon, 2 cardamoms,  2-3 Bay leaves, 1 star anise)
• 3 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 onion big size, sliced
• 2 tomatoes med size, chopped
• 8-10 green chillies slit (adjust according to your spice level)
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric (haldi)
• 2 tsp biryani masala or garam masala
• salt as per taste
• 1/2 cup mint leaves chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
• 4-5 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Preparation:

• In a wide bottomed vessel, add oil, once it's hot add whole masala, saute for few seconds. 
• Add sliced onions and saute for 2 minutes. Now add turmeric, salt, ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell of ginger garlic paste dies down. Don't brown the onions, cook till it's translucent.
• Now add tomatoes, green chillies, chilli powder, biryani masala powder, mint leaves and cilantro. Cook till tomatoes wilt and oil starts to ooze out from the masala. 
• Add chopped chicken pieces, mix everything nicely and let it cook for around 15 minutes. 
• In the meantime, cook your rice in another vessel. Bring water to a boil by adding salt, 1 tsp oil. 
• After water starts to boil, add rice and let it cook for just about 4-5 minutes (basically till water starts to boil again). Switch off the gas and drain all the water out in a colander. This is your 75% cooked rice. [Keep a close eye on the gas once you put the rice in the water]
• Now sim the gas where your chicken has been cooking, add this 75% cooked rice on top. Pour ghee and saffron milk evenly over the rice. Add lemon juice. Close the lid of the vessel tightly and cook on sim gas for another 10-12 minutes. Switch off the gas and let the biryani sit there for another 5 minutes.
• Open the lid, mix the rice and chicken gently. Your hot chicken Biryani is ready!! 
• Serve it with raita, cucumbers, sliced onions and lemon wedges.
  
  
  
  
  
  
                                               njoY!! happY cookinG!!

Adapted from Chef Sanjay Thumma's recipe!


Note:* I use oil, ghee sparingly but one can use more while making a Biryani. Spice level also can be adjusted according to the freshness of whole masala, chillies and level of spice one enjoys. Do not chop small bites of chicken pieces, no fun in that :) If one likes mint flavor, feel free to add more mint leaves. Basmati rice is the best option while making these shahi biryani dishes.