Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani, Sokhi style

In all truth, I tried this recipe under the instructions of the gentlemanly Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi from YouTube, but it turned out so well I had to put it here. As Madhu says, the blog needs some ‘meat’ in it too.
My love with Biryani goes back a long way, when we were in Hyderabad and Buwa would bring over packets of the extremely spicy, headily aromatic dish. Back in Nepal, I forgot it for a long time, except when I and Ena had it for lunch in our regular Rajhdhani Restaurant — as expected, nothing to write home about. The latest I had it was when I ordered it from the downstairs Didi’s place, a savior of our growling office-plagued stomachs. She sent over a miniscule amount of gravy-dipped rice which was gobbled up in a minute by everyone in our cubicle. That was what enthused me enough to make my own Biryani, so that I could have oodles of it by myself. And so I did, and though I enthusiastically put in too much rice, I discovered a really easy and delicious dish!

What you need:

Chicken: I used one kg, but for one person, half kg should suffice quite well. Ask for chicken breasts or thighs.
Rice: Basmati, one cup for one person (I used three cups in total, which was a little in excess)
Spices: Two or three each of lwang (clove), sukumel (cardamom), alaichi (black cardamom), marich (pepper), tejpaat (bay leaves), and any other spice you may have a preference for, like jaifal (nutmeg)
Garam Masala: Anything you like, from BMC Meat Masala to Aangan Cardamom Powder
Ginger Garlic Paste: Two teaspoons
Chili Powder: Same as above
Jeera (cumin): One teaspoon
Onions: Two, chopped and browned in ghee
Chilies: To taste
Coriander: One bunch, minutely chopped
Curd: One cup
Lemon: One
Salt: To taste
Turmeric: One teaspoon
Ghee: Four teaspoons
Kneaded dough: One medium sized ball

Preparing the chicken:

Wash the chicken pieces, and place them in a large bowl.
Add the ginger garlic paste, curd, garam masala, chilli powder, half the browned onions and half the coriander. Break the chilies by hand and put them in. Squeeze the lemon juice over it, sprinkle turmeric, and add two teaspoons of ghee.
Now mix the ingredients really well and set the chicken to marinate for half an hour.

The chicken marinate, curd lends it a wonderful texture

Preparing the rice:

Wash the rice twice and let it soak for about 10 minutes.
Place all the spices in a muslin cloth (a piece of an old white quilt cover will do) and tie it up, making a small pouch.

Well, I was never good at wrapping up parcels.

Set two cups of water to boil and soak the pouch in it.
Add one teaspoon of jeera to the water, and salt to taste.
Now put in the soaked rice slowly into the water.
Stir gently for about 8 minutes, until the rice is 3/4th cooked.
Once the rice begins to fluff up and shows signs of crumbling, take it off the stove.
Remove the spice pouch, and drain off excess water in a colander.

The part where we mix the two:

Grease the bottom of a flat karai or pan with a little ghee (a few drops will do).
Place all the chicken as the first layer.
Over it, put half the semi-cooked rice.
Once the rice is layered well, drop in some browned onions, coriander and garam masala.
Place the second layer of rice on top.
Repeat the process of putting in browned onions, garam masala and coriander. Top it off with two teaspoons of ghee.
Divide the dough into four small balls, roll them out and paste them on to four sides of the karai.

Note the dough rolls stuck to the sides

Now put the karai lid or a plate firmly on top of the dough.
Check that no steam escapes.
Let the Biryani steam for 15 minutes on a medium flame, and 10 minutes on a small one.
Wait with plate and spoon as a dizzying aroma spreads throughout the house.
After 25 minutes, remove the lid, slowly stir the chicken pieces into the rice, and devour!

And here it is, all begging to be eaten.