Biriyani must it be!

Suddenly it felt like a rumble in my tummy and what was it calling for? Biriyani must it be or maybe something more? I realized I had to cook up something anew for my tummy to be at peace with myself and hence I got down arduously trying to sort out ingredients in my kitchen to ensure I bring about a change in our palette by creating this homestyle biriyani that tastes nothing like what you maybe used to eating out. But nonetheless, I can guarantee that it will taste as good if not better or worse.

I had guests last evening at home and cooking up for about six to seven people was not really too much of a task when I knew what I had to procure in order to create this amazing rice dish full of flavor and aroma and chicken pieces that almost melt in the mouth.

Ingredients required for this dish are four cups of basmati rice, around fourteen green cardamoms, ten cloves, 2 big sticks of cinnamon, 2 bay leaves and a handful of peppercorns kept aside for that comprises of the garam masala mix that will go in the oil for spluttering, extra aroma and spice.

Then comes in the rest of the dry ingredients or spices which are 11/2 teaspoon of turmeric and the same amount of paprika for color, 11/2 teaspoon of coriander powder and 1 teaspoon cumin powder, 2 teaspoon fenugreek leaves and 2 teaspoons of garam masala powder to be sprinkled at the end for finishing touches and salt for taste to be mixed with the dry ingredients. 2 tablespoons of yoghurt and 1 teaspoon ginger and 2 teaspoons of garlic for the cooking process when the gravy is churned up. Also, goes in the kewra water for added essence during the final finishing touches.

Now when all the ingredients have been collected on your kitchen countertop and kept for the cooking process to actually begin you nicely cut the chicken leg quarters into two pieces equally and for six to seven people around 12 pieces of chicken quarters are sufficient. Chop up lengthwise onions around two big ones and first fry half of it in oil till it turns reddish brown and turn off the gas for this is required for the final touches again. Now take three medium sized potatoes and half them and leave them aside as well. In a big pressure cooker heat up three tablespoons of vegetable oil or any white oil of your choice and add one tablespoon of ghee or clarified butter. Once it warms up enough tip in the dry spices the garam masala mix and give it a nice mix till it turns a different hue slightly and starts to emit a certain aroma that fills up the rooms with Indian ness and truly Bengali eagerness for food is always in our minds as much as it is in our bellies. Add in the rest half of the onions that were not browned and left aside for this cooking process and fry them lightly till it turns a nice pinkish hue and perhaps a shade darker. Once that happens, you tip in the ginger garlic paste and give it a nice mix for a minute or two until it starts to catch up in the bottom of the vessel and then sprinkle some water into the masalas to ensure it does not stick at the bottom and nicely scrape up all the rich spices and blend them all once again, stirring them occasionally. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients and keep stirring for a good six to seven minutes and keep sprinkling more water so that it does not catch up at the bottom yet again. Now all the spices and oil will be a seamless mix and the gravy will look somewhat dark reddish or caramelized to a great extent. Add in the chicken pieces one by one and nicely cook it all up with the gravy and add in the yoghurt and let it come all together with the spices ensuring they are mixed up evenly and the chicken is almost cooked through but not exactly. Keep continuing the cooking for at least twenty five or thirty odd minutes and as the chicken almost turns tender add in the rice that was sitting for a long time aside. Add in the diced potato halves and nicely mix it up keeping the action of stirring for a good two or three minutes. Add in nine cups of hot water to the rice and chicken mixture and finally all the last minute ingredients like garam masala powder, fenugreek leaves, the browned caramelized onions, kewra water for essence, one extra spoonful of clarified butter and last but never the least salt as per taste. Once the liquid above the rice starts boiling put on the lid and nicely seal it and let it simmer in low heat. Turn off the gas stove once the pressure cooker starts to almost ease out with one whistle. Let it not whistle fully and at the very first sound of the whistle turn off the gas making sure that it is lying in the pressure cooker sealed tight and very important is for the steam to work up it's own magic and open the lid only when it's time for dinner.

Enjoy this dish with a side of raita or even alone. Bengalis love it just like that and anything that's done in a matter of forty five to fifty minutes is always better than arduously painstakingly cooking up dishes that takes half the day or even more postponing work that is pending in every other domain.