INGREDIENTS
FOR THE BIRYANI MASALA PASTE
1/4 cup sambar onions – shallots
1 pod garlic
1-inch piece of ginger roughly chopped
8 green chillies
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1-inch piece cinnamon – cassia
1/2 piece star anise
3 cloves
2 cardamom
1 pinch of kalpasi
2 tablespoon water
OTHER INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 tablespoons ghee
2 bay leaves
2 maratti moggu
1-inch piece cinnamon – cassia
1 onion finely sliced (1/4 cup)
2 tomatoes chopped
2 teaspoon salt
8 green chillies (keep whole)
1/4 cup coriander leaves, chopped
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
1 lime, juiced
750 grams chicken thigh meat (add up to 1 kilogram)
2 cups seeraga samba rice
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
1.5 cups water (divided)
INSTRUCTIONS
Take a small mixie jar and add in the Indian sambar onion shallots, garlic, ginger, green chillies, fennel seeds, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, cardamom, kalpasi, and couple of tablespoons of water. Grind everything to a smooth paste. The paste should be ground fine. Set aside.
Take a pressure cooker and add in the oil and the ghee. Add in the bay leaves, maratti moggu, a small piece of cinnamon, and the sliced onions. Saute for a few minutes till the onions are soft. No need to brown the onions for this recipe.
Add in the sliced tomatoes and the ground paste, and the salt. Mix well to combine. Cover the cooker with a lid and cook on a low flame for a few minutes till the tomatoes are mushy. The tomatoes should be well cooked and soft.
Add the chicken meat. Chicken thighs are preferred for this recipe. and half a cup of water. Mix everything well to combine. Cover the cooker with its lid and cook for about two whistles. It should take about 3-4 minutes on medium flame. After two whistles, remove from heat and wait for the pressure to settle.
While the chicken is cooking, let’s soak the rice. We are using seeraga samba rice today. The short-grained rice adds a nice aroma to the biryani.
Wash and soak the rice for about 20 minutes.
Once the pressure in the cooker settles, open the cooker and keep the cooker back on the stove. Add in the coconut milk. I added a cup of water. There is some gravy left in the cooker. The rice to liquid ratio is 1 cup rice to 1.5 cups water. If in doubt, measure the gravy in the cooker after cooking the chicken and add the water accordingly. Add the whole green chillies, coriander leaves, and mint leaves. The whole green chillies are only for flavour and not for the heat. So keep the green chillies whole. Bring everything to a boil.
Add the soaked and drained rice to the pressure cooker. Add the juice of a lime. Mix everything well. Place a cut banana leaf on top of the rice mixture.
The banana leaf is optional but gives a fantastic aroma to the biryani. Cover the cooker with its lid and cook for about two whistles. After two whistles, remove from heat and wait for the pressure to settle. Open the cooker. Remove the banana leaf and gently mix to fluff up the rice.