Malabar Chicken Biriyani

I owe this post totally to Mishmash. She painstakingly explained each and every detail of making the wonderful Malabar Chicken Biryani in her blog quite a while back, for learners like me. Since then I have been using her recipe for making this dish..I have made this not less than 10 times and not even once it has gone un-complemented.... Mishmash....you simply rock!

I am not re-writing the entire recipe here...as its bit too long and am lazy! You can get the detailed recipe here. I would suggest you to definitely try this out as its worth the effort and your family and guests are gonna enjoy it like anything. Do serve it with some Raitha, Biryani Chutney, pappad and pickle. It tastes fabulous..in fact it tastes the best the next day! I also love mixing some cooked biryani rice with gravy left in the vessel used for cooking the chicken.

Some tips to get your perfect biryani (which I learnt through my experience) :

• Jeerakasala rice is the perfect rice for Malabar chicken biryani. Soak the rice atleast for half an hour and then drain water completely.
• Special care should be taken while cooking the rice. It should not be over cooked or under-cooked. The rice should be removed from heat once its cooked and drained immediately. 
• The rice and chicken should be layered and left to dum for atleast 3 hrs. This gives enough time for the flavors to set in. I normally layer the biryani in the serving dish which cannot be placed on flame. So what I do is, I cover it tightly with aluminium foil and when its time to serve, keep it in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. If your vessel can be placed on stove, before serving you can place it on a heated iron tava for 15-20 minutes.
• Garnish the biryani with onions, cashew and raisins only just before serving. Other wise, the onions will impart a black colour and a not-so-pleasant smell to the biryani. Also the cashew will turn soft and lose its crispiness.