Everyday Chicken Biryani -- Version 1.0

Once upon a time there was a young girl newly married and her husband who too was newly married and they did not cook much.To simplify life they would often make a very easy chicken biryani. It would start of as a chicken curry and then they would add rice to it, put everything in the pressure cooker, close the lid and then wait expectantly for the pressure to go whoosh 3 times. Their little house smelled nice with the rich spices and promises of a better tomorrow hung limply in the fragrant air. They would each have a plateful and think that was the best biryani ever.

Slowly they made friends, friend who introduced them to authentic Biryani places, the hole in the wall meat shops, who also served delicious Biryani. Sometimes they would travel 40 miles on the weekend to some such place for a plate of goat biryani and that taste would linger for the entire week. The everyday chicken biryani seemed too rustic, too homely compared to such exotic tastes. They did not feel the urge to cook it as often anymore.

Then they acquired a friend whose cooking was legendary and whose Mutton Biryani was the closest you could get to paradise. They would wait and wait for lunch or a dinner invite at her place, for a taste of that Biryani. The husband frustrated with all the waiting finally managed to wrangle the treasured recipe and cooked the legendary Mutton Biryani at home. It took half a day, half a bottle of ghee and tasted like heaven. The taste was so exotic that Every Day Chicken Biryani rarely got made again. The half bottle of ghee ensured that the Legendary Biryani never got made again except on rare occasions.

When the Biryani craving struck they just ordered out from the numerous respectable Biryani places that had now sprung up in the neighborhood.

And then I chanced upon Indosungod's Chicken Biryani. It sounded familiar, comforting and brought back the rich smell that hung in that small house years ago. So I made it. I adapted it to my old style but applied the new techniques and addition of new spices that I learned from her. I also applied the tips that I had learned from all of you in my Egg Pulao post.

I was extra happy with this dish because it had tomatoes, mint and coriander from the garden. I served this Biryani with a simple raita and I added some of the cherry tomatoes to the raita. I also added oven baked spicy potatoes to the Biryani to satisfy my Bong craving for potatoes in a Biryani.

The Everyday Chicken Biryani turned out delicious and comforting. Everyone including BS and LS loved it. Now that is a rare feat.

I say this is version 1.0 because there are many other variations to this delightful one pot meal that I might try in future. For now this=bliss.

Update: This goes to BB#6 at Nupur's delightful One Hot Stove


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Everyday Chicken Biryani

Marinate about 2 lb Chicken with 1/4th Cup yogurt, 1 tsp Biryani Masala, 1 tsp Ginger Paste, 1 tsp Garlic Paste salt and little oil for an an hour or more. Note: Use your own or store bought Biryani Masala

Heat Vegetable Oil in a deep heavy bottomed bottomed pan or in a pressure cooker

Lightly fry 6 cloves of garlic and 2" piece of ginger. Remove and make a paste once it is cooled.

Temper the Oil with
1 Bay Leaf
2" stick of Cinnamon
4 whole clove
4 whole green cardamom
1 black cardamom (optional)
1/2 tsp of Fennel seeds
1/2 tsp Corriander seeds

When the spices sizzle add 1 Cup of chopped red onion. Add 1/2 tsp of sugar and fry the onion till it is soft and translucent and lightly browned at the edges.

Next add the ginger-garlic paste that you made and saute for a couple more minutes

Add 1 Cup of chopped carrots and green beans finely chopped and saute for 2-3 minutes. (This is optional)

Add 1 large potato chopped in quarters and saute for a minute. (This is NOT optional)

Now add the marinated chicken pieces and fry them till they turn a light golden.

Next add the spice powders
a little Turmeric Powder
1 Tbsp Biryani Masala
Note: I did not add any red chili powder as the kids were going to eat it too but add according to your taste.

Mix the masala with chicken and saute for 3-4 minutes. If needed sprinkle a little water while frying.

Add 2 Tbsp of chopped mint and 2 Tbsp of coriander leaves. 1 Tbsp of Dried mint works great too.

Add salt to taste and cook the chicken till they are 3/4th done

Meanwhile wash 2 cups of Basmati rice and drain all the water. Smear the rice grains with ghee so that the rice grains are nicely coated. Also bring about 5 cups of water to boil in a separate pot. Mostly the ratio of rice :water suggested is 1:2 but do what works best with the rice you use.

Once the chicken is almost done, add the rice and mix lightly. Do not stir vigorously. Adjust for salt and other seasonings. At this point I added 2 whole green chili chopped. Add the boiling water to this pan . Bring it to a simmer, then keep gas heat at medium low and cover the pan with lid. Cook till rice is almost done and the water has been absorbed. Now remove from heat, fluff the rice with a fork and open the lid in part.

If at this point some of the rice grains were not fully cooked, put a big griddle/tawa on medium flame and put this pan with biryani on the griddle/tawa. I sprinkled some fried onion on the rice, covered the lid in part and let it cook for 5-6 minutes. By this time all the grains were nicely done.

OR

If you are doing in a pressure cooker hassle is less. Close the pressure cooker lid and cook till rice is done.

Serving Options 1: Now the Biryani popular in Bengal is always served with potatoes and so I love potatoes in my Biryani. This time instead of adding potato directly to the biryani this is what I did. I sliced thickly two red potatoes and tossed them with olive oil, sea salt and little roasted cumin powder. I then baked them in the oven at 400F for 25-30 mins. I then garnished the Biryani with these potato slices and fried onions.

Serve with a raita. To make raita put thick yogurt in a bowl and stir with a whisk or fork to have a uniform thick consistency. Add little milk to get the right consistency. Add chopped cucumber, chopped onion and tomatoes. Add little sugar, chaat masala and little salt. Mix well. Serve cold

Giada's Grilled chicken with Basil Dressing

Soon after I have had some deep fried goodness I go on a guilt mode. Isn't that sad ? I mean if life has come to a stage where I have to feel guilty of eating deep fried stuff, is that life even worth anything ? And hello, I am not in my seventies or something. My Hajmola eating, ever burping grandma did better than this.

Also when I am on the guilt mode, I eat crap.Not.

So on one of my such modes and on a weekday with very little time I decided to do a grilled chicken. Now there is nothing wrong with grilled chicken and we do a lot of that during the summer months. It is easy, less mess, I do the marinade, D stands on the deck, far from the madding crowd aka the family and turns chicken on the gas grill enjoying the light summer breeze and the peace that loneliness on the deck can bring.

But this time I wanted to use my Basil infused Olive Oil and more Basil with the chicken. A few Google clicks later I settled on Giada's Grilled Chicken with Basil Dressing. Now I love Giada. Ok, not exactly love, because I have seen her only maybe four times on Food Network. But I like her. She is very pretty. In fact I liked her enough to suggest that D start watching pretty Giada instead of brainy Alton Brown.

But he likes brainy guys and I like pretty girls.We have a happy marriage.

So I kind of followed her recipe, altering only a little bit. I used Basil Infused Olive Oil instead of just Olive Oil. And I must tell you, my infused Olive Oil wasn't smelling very great after a week in the refrigerator. I have no clue what happened.

I also reduced the lime juice and added a little honey and red chili powder.

The basil dressing was very good I must say. A little on the bland side for folks like us so should have added more chili but it was very refreshing. I served the chicken with grilled veggies.
The next day I added some Corriander Chutney from a bottle to the same marinade and used it for salmon. That made it totally delicious though.

While on the Grilling topic, I have updated the page Blog Hopped Recipes with two delicious recipes of grilled chicken that I tried from Malluspice and Aayis Recipes. Do check them out.


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Grilled Chicken with Basil Dressing

Original Recipe

Whisk
1/3 cup of oil(I used less),
2 tablespoons of lemon juice,
1 tsp garlic paste,
1 & 1/2 tsp of powdered fennel seeds,
salt,
1 teaspoon pepper in a heavy-duty re-sealable plastic bag. Add 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts and seal the bag. Massage the marinade into the chicken. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day, turning the chicken occasionally.

Blend
1 cup of basil leaves,
2-3 cloves of garlic,
1 tsp lemon zest,
1/8 cup lemon juice,
salt,
1 teaspoon pepper in a blender until smooth. Gradually blend in 1/3 cup oil. Season the basil sauce, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired. I added honey and some red chili powder to this dressing

Prepare the barbecue for medium-high heat or preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to plates. Drizzle the basil sauce over and serve.

Chingri Pakoda -- Shrimp Pakoda

BS lost her very first tooth last week, last Wednesday to be precise. Major excitement ensued.More than the tooth, it was about the Tooth Fairy and the cash she would bring.

I had no clue that Tooth Fairies brought wads of dollar bills.

A shiny quarter was all I knew. Apparently I am wrong, as suggested by little neighbor girl.

The little neighbor girl has raised the bar pretty high saying Tooth Fairy got her thirty dollars. T-HIRT-Y DOLLARS for a baby tooth !!! What was TTF(The Tooth Fairy) thinking. I am guessing there is a scam going on and it might involve Goldman but really T-HIRT-Y Dollars ?

Since this was BS's very first tooth, I did not want her psychologically snubbed by TTF's bias and so she got Fifteen dollars from TTF next morning, crisp 5 dollar bills under her pillow.

Later I learned that little neighbor girl might have duped me. Tooth Fairy still gives out single dollar bills so there I am the stupid adult.

To quickly retract my sin of giving too much cash to a 6 year old I made BS buy ten dollar worth of craft supplies with that money and now BS is left with 5 dollars which she has promised to give to her Mom when the need arises. In fact BS thinks her Mom can become rich herself if she loses her own tooth too.

Before that happens her Mom decided to celebrate the occasion by making Chingri Pakora or Shrimp Pakoda. It did not matter that BS did not even want to take a bite, everyone else enjoyed it to the bits.

Update for Indo: The toothless girl did not fancy pakodas on that particular day. She has her very own independent food ideas that change each day !!!

Fry some up, they are perfect on a rainy day with a steaming cuppa. Ok, they are good on any day and we will also serve it as a bhaja (something fried) to go with rice and dal. If you don't eat shrimp, don't lose heart, you can use sliced paneer or mushroom and they will taste as good.


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Chingri Pakoda -- Shrimp Pakoda

This recipe makes about 15-16 pakodis with 15-16 shrimp

Clean and de-vein shrimp. If using frozen defrost them. Remove shell and the tail. Toss the shrimp with 1/4 tsp of lime juice, 1/4 tsp of Roasted Cumin powder and salt. You can also add a little garlic paste and Red Chili powder, I usually don't. Keep the shrimp marinated for 10-15 minutes. If shrimp is large in size, chop in bite size pieces and then marinate.

In a mixing bowl add

1 cup of Besan/Chickpea flour
a pinch of Baking Powder
1/4 tsp of Red Chili Powder
salt to taste
Add 3/4 cup--1 cup of water gradually to above, mixing with a fork to make a smooth batter.

Note 1: You can add a tsp of rice flour to the batter to make it more crispy
Note 2: Sometimes I will add an egg to the batter. If you do that add less water.

To the batter add about 1/4 cup of finely chopped onions and 2 green chili finely chopped(optional) and mix well
This time I added 2 tbsp of crispy fried onions(the kind you can put in biryani etc.) to the batter and it tasted heavenly

Heat enough Oil for deep frying in a kadhai. Test if the oil is hot enough by dropping a little batter into it.

Dip a shrimp in the batter so that it is well coated. With a tablespoon scoop the shrimp along with some batter and gently drop it in hot oil. At this point heat should be high-medium. After a minute reduce the heat to medium. When the pakoda starts turning golden at edges flip and fry the other side. Approx. it will take 2-3 mins on each side. This is enough for the shrimp to get cooked.
Note: When you are doing several at a time, carefully separate each pakodis in the hot oil so that they do not lump together.

Once the pakoda looks brown and crunchy, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel

Sprinkle Amchoor or Chaat masala on the pakodis and serve with a Hot & Sweet Ketchup