Chicken Biryani - Made With Tamarind And Curry Leaves

This recipe turned out to be quite delicious, lets get started.

Grab 2 medium onions and 1 large onion. Chop them.

The onions are fully chopped.

Add 1/2 cup of cooking oil to a cooking pot.  

      Use 1 cup of oil.

Add the chopped onions to the pot and wait for them to turn light brown.

 Washed 1 kg of boneless chicken.  then added  Biryani Masala to it.

Add 1 cup of yogurt.

If you prefer, you can leave the chicken in the fridge overnight marinated with the spices and yogurt.

Mix thoroughly.

After the onions have turned light brown, add 2 tbsp of ginger and garlic paste.

We must wait for the onions to turn light brown before adding ginger & garlic paste.

Otherwise, the ginger and garlic paste will burn and ruin the biryani!

Now add the marinated chicken to the pot.

Mix thoroughly.

Add 15 to 20 curry leaves. Mix thoroughly.

 Prepared 1 cup of tamarind pulp beforehand.

Add the tamarind pulp at this stage.

Note that because we are using tamarind pulp, we will not be using tomatoes.

Both tomatoes and tamarind are sour, using both will give a strong unbearable taste to the biryani.

Do not add any extra water. Otherwise, the chicken will become too soft.

Now it's time to prepare the rice.

Slice a tomato & green chillies in thick chunks.

Add the cut chilies and tomato to a pot together with 2 to 3 tbsp of cooking oil.

Cook at light flame, be careful not to use a high flame here.

I had soaked 3.5 cups of rice in water earlier. Now is the time to cook them.

Add 8 cups of water to the pot with tomato and chilies.

Add 3 tbsp of salt. The quantity of salt can be varied according to your liking.

Place the rice in a strainer when they are '90% cooked'. You can check the softness of the rice with a spoon, it's a judgement call.

The strainer will remove all the water from the rice.

Be careful not to fully cook the rice. This will prepare it nicely for the final step without the grains breaking apart.

Now it is time to prepare the rice for layering.

Cut a medium size tomato.

Chop coriander and mint. These will be used in the rice layering.

Add some of the chopped coriander to the chicken curry. This will give it a nice aroma and taste.

 The chicken and spices now appear to have a good texture.

Add the rice to chicken curry.

Add chopped coriander, mint and tomato to the top of the rice.

Add food color. The quantity of this can be changed according to your liking.

'Kewra Water' is optional.   

Cook on low to medium flame for 8 to 10 minutes.

Mix the rice and chicken curry using the side of the pot, NOT from the center!

Chicken Biryani is ready!