Chicken Dum Biryani

Since it's the festive season I thought why not post a recipe of a biryani coz that is what we make for every occasion . Everyone has a different way of making them and this is one of my fav ways . Here the chicken is marinated in an array of aromatic spices and yoghurt is added to make the chicken more tender and  juicy . The aroma is itself to make you salivate and the process of cooking it in dum meaning slow-cooking  makes the rice so aromatic and you get to taste the flavour of each and every spice in the rice . Trust me it's soooooo good so here goes..................

INGREDIENTS

1 kg chicken cut into medium size pieces
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
3 large onion finely sliced
3 green chillies chopped
1 cup chopped fresh coriander
1 cup chopped fresh mint
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 cups yoghurt
half a lemon cut into wedges

dry grind
7 cloves
4 cardamom
1/2 inch pc cinnamon
2 tsp whole black peppercorns

1/2 kg basmati rice
8 and 1/2 glasses of water

for the bouquet garni
7 cloves
2 bay leaves
5 green cardamom
1/2 inch pc cinnamon

10 strands of saffron
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup oil
2 tbsp ghee

METHOD

Heat oil and fry the sliced onions till golden in a deep bottomed dish
Grind them and set aside
Rub the ginger and garlic paste all over the chicken .
Add the chilli powder , salt , half the mint and coriander, lemon , green chillies , ground spices and the ground  onions in the same pan with the oil .
Add the yoghurt and the chicken pieces and leave to marinate 4 hours or preferably overnight .
Soak the saffron in the milk and set it aside
Now bring the whole thing to boil and turn it down and simmer till the chicken is done .
Meanwhile bring the water to boil and add the spices for the bouquet garni and salt to taste.
Add the washed and drained basmati , bring it to boil till the rice is almost done .
Now strain the rice and set aside .
Remove the chicken with its juices in another bowl and add a tbsp of ghee inside the pan .
Add half the rice in the bottom and sprinkle with the safffron milk then add the chicken with all its gravy on the top of the rice  .
Add a little of the chopped coriander and mint on top .
Now add the rest of the rice , then the rest of the coriander and mint .
Now pour the rest of the saffron milk and the ghee .
Cover it tightly with a lid and cook on very low fire for about half an hour or till the aroma wafts around the house .
Serve it with pomegranate raita and enjoy :).