MUMMA'S HARA MASALA BIRYANI

This recipe was a speciality of my mum's. She made it almost at every special occasion in our house. We loved it to bits and till date we go mad when this biryani is made.It's simple to make, and with every bite you take can taste the freshness of the ingredients used in it. Every birthday that has gone by since I remember I've had this biryani my kids love it and I hope everyone who tries it loves it. The most important things to remember in this recipe is timing of how much you would boil the rice if you miss that technique you'll miss having a great biryani.

Biryani's are always easy to make and to me basically biryani is a one-pot dish. Biryani is half cooked rice layered with a special kind of curry. As you start to read the method of this one you'll be surprised that this recipe requires very little cooking really. When i make this recipe I usually keep the chillies on the minimal because of my kids but you can have more if you like......hope you like it and becomes a special dish for you and your family as much as it is for me and my family....healthy eating...

INGREDIENTS:-

• 1 Whole chicken cut in 8 pieces
• 4 Tbsp Salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Garam masala
• 1/2 Bunch hara dhanya (coriander)
• 1/2 Bunch pudina (mint)
• 8-10 Green chillies
• 600g yogurt about 1 and 1/4 pack greek yogurt.
• 2 Tbsp Ginger garlic paste
• 1 1/2 Cups oil
• 2 Medium sized Onion
• 3 1/2 -4 cups rice washed and soaked in water just an hour before cooking
• Saffron
• 1/4 Cup milk
• 1 tsp yellow food coloring (optional)
• 2 Lemon's juice
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 2-3 cardamom pods
• 2-3 cloves
• pinch kala zeera

METHOD:-

1. Wash the chicken well and drain well.
2. In the blender make the hara masala (add green chillies,coriander,mint,
   salt 2 Tbsp,ginger garlic paste, 1/4 oil , yogurt and garm masala).
3. Add this to the chicken and leave to marinate for 1-2 hours.
4. Cut 2-4 green chillies in half, squeeze lemon juice , cut some coriander and mint and leave it aside.
5. Cut onions in thin slices ,fry in 1 1/4 cups oil ,and leave them aside too, also save the oil as well for later.
6. Now add water in a pan/pot, to that add black zeera, mint leave,2 Tbsp salt,cardamom,cloves,Cinnamon stick.
7. When it starts to boil drain the soaked rice and add to the water. Just about 3 Min's later, when it starts to boil with the rice be as alert as you can. Take a grain of rice in your hand and place it on your finger and press it with your thumb this will break into small pieces this should ideally break into max 3 pieces, not more. See the Picture below to get a better idea.
8. Once it reaches this stage very quickly drain the rice in a colander empty all the rice from the pan.
9. In the same pan add the oil used for frying the onions about 1/2 cup.
10. Then add the marinated chicken, to the pot.
11. Sprinkle fried onions, 1/2 of cut green chillies, some min and coriander leaves.
12. Now add all the rice to the pot and sprinkle the rest of the green chillies,fried onions,mint and coriander leaves.
13. To the 1/4 cup milk add saffron, and warm it up a bit before spreading it over the rice.
14. Add food coloring to the 1/4 cup water and add that all over the rice too.
15. Then with the help of a wooden spoon make holes. ( from the handle side)
16. Now pour over 2 Tbsp of oil and the lemon juice.
17. Cover the pot and cook over high heat for 5-8 Min's or till you start to hear a sizzling sound. then leave to cook on low heat for just about an hour.

Don't get too afraid to make it seeing all the steps its really easy to make...I made this biryani for the first time at the age of 14 and since then I've been making it and loving it been over 20 years now. Every time I make it I feel like I've made it for the fist time. the only step difficult is the boiling of rice and knowing when to take it off boiling just a helpful hint/tip in case you've boiled your rice a little longer don't panic just wash it under cold water and it won't be as bad as you think. I make it this recipe in memory of my mum ....love you mumma and miss you too always....:)