Thalassery Biriyani/ Telicherry Biriyani

There was a time when we used to make biriyani every weekend. Every Sunday without fail  ! Once the health consciousness started kicking in, we cut down the biryani a lot and now I make this only when I have guests.

My other half is from Telicherry and the biriyani that we get there is so tasty , especially the ones served for weddings. Eventhough I like to experiment with biriyani’s from differerent regions, this one has to be  my favourite.  We use a special biriyani rice calles kaima or jeerakasala rice for it and every year when I go home I bring a few packets of biriyani rice with me. But unfortunately I ran out of it and had to  make this one with basmathi  rice.

Ingredients

Chicken – 1 kilogram

Onions – 6 medium thinly slicled ( for sauting)

Onions -5 ( thinly sliced ) for frying

Cashewnuts – 2 tbs

Golden sultananas – 1 tbs

Tomato – 2 medium

Ginger –  1  inch piece

Garlic – 5-6 pods

Green chillies – 5 ( according to your spice level)

Mint leaves –1 small bunch

Coriander leaves – 1 small bunch

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt 

oil

For biriyani masala powder

Fennel seeds – 1 tbs

Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp

Shahi jeera – ¼ tsp

Cinnamon stick – 1 small stick

Cloves – 5

Cardamom – 5 no

Pepper – 1 tsp

For rice

Khaima rice/ jeerakashala rice/ basmathi rice  - 3 ½ cup

Boiling water – 5 cups ( depends on the rice)

Cinnamon stick – 1 small pices

Cardamom – 5

cloves -4

Fennel – 1 tsp

Bay leaves – 1

Onion – 1 thinly sliced

Fried onions

Ghee

salt

Method

Soak the rice for 30 minutes, drain and keep it aside.

Preparing the chicken masala

First take a pan add oil and deep fry the onions until golden brown.

Strain and keep it aside.

In a big pan add enough oil and saute the thinly sliced onions( 6 onions ) until it’s golden brown.

Add the chicken pieces to this and fry for about 5 minutes to seal the juices.

Meanwhile In a blender make a paste of ginger, garlic, green chillies, mint and coriander .

Add the  paste to the onions and saute until the  raw smell goes.

Add  biriyani masala powder, turmeric powder and saute until the raw smell goes

Add chopped tomatoes , salt and give it good mix.

Cover and cook the chicken for 10 minutes.

Open the lid and add the half of the crushed fried onions ( reserve the rest of the fried onions for the rice) to the chicken and cook for another 10 minutes or until chicken is done.

Cooking rice

In a big pan add some ghee add the whole spices and saute until nice aroma comes.

Add sliced onions and saute until soft and light brown.

Add the drained rice and fry for a minute.

Add salt, lime juice, boiling water and cook until water has been absorbed.

Fluff up the rice gently with a fork.

Fry some cashew nuts and sultanas in ghee until cashew nuts have browned lightly and sultanas plump.

Layering the rice

Grease the bottom of a big vessel with some oil.

Add chicken masala on the bottom.

Add one layer of rice, sprinkle with some fried onions, some ghee, some chopped mint and coriander

Repeat until all rice has been used.

Finally top it with fried cashews and sultanas.

Cove it with a aluminium foil tightly and place the lid on top and dum it  on the  stove top or in the oven. If using the stove, place the the vessel on top of a pan, so that the masala doesn’t get burnt . dum it for about 20 minutes, 5 minutes on high and 15 minutes on low flame. Of using the oven place it in a preheated oven 180 degree C for 20 minutes.

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