Nawabi murgh dum biryani by chef raghu

Ingredients:

1 kg Chicken chunks
600 grams Basmati rice
4 medium Sliced onions
20 grams Ginger paste
15 grams Garlic paste
8 grams Red chilli powder

2 inches Cinnamon
10 grams Peppercorns
4 grams Mace
1 bunch Coriander leaves
1 bunch Mint leaves
6 nos. Green chillies
5 nos. Cardamoms (green)
6 nos. Cloves
250 grams Curds
3 tblsp Lemon juice
100 ml Milk
2 grams Saffron
100 ml Oil
50 ml Ghee
As per taste Salt

How to make Nawabi murgh dum biryani

• Pick, wash and soak the rice for 30-40 minutes. Heat oil in a pan and fry the sliced onions till golden brown. Keep aside.

• Finely chop the coriander and mint leaves. Grind the green chillies to a fine paste.
• Soak the saffron in warm milk. Grind mace, green cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorn to a fine powder.
• In a bowl, mix together well beaten curds, red chilli powder, salt, ginger-garlic paste, green chilli paste, mint and coriander leaves, lemon juice, powdered spices and fried onions.
• Rub the chicken legs with this marinade and marinate it for 2 hours.
• Boil atleast 5 ltrs of water with a little salt.
• When the water starts boiling add the soaked rice.
• In the meantime, transfer the marinated chicken into a deep bottomed pan which has a tight lid.
• Once the rice starts boiling, drain the water and layer the rice over the marinated chicken in the deep pan.
• Sprinkle the saffron-milk mixture over the rice and chicken. Add the ghee.
• Cover the pan with the lid and cook on a high temperature till it just starts steaming.
• Then cook on a medium flame till the chicken is tender and all the moisture is absorbed.
• Transfer the contents gently into a serving dish. Serve garnished with mint leaves and ginger julliennes.

By G Raghunathan, Executive chef, The solitaire hotel , Bangalore

Photograph by Lariat productions