Chicken Biryani - with home ground spices

Is anyone ever satisfied that they have the perfect biryani recipe.....until i made this biryani, i was always trying to better my biryanis but i think i have reached my perfect biryani recipe with this one!

I usually think that making freshly ground spice powders are a bit tedious.But recently i can definitely see the difference the freshly ground spices make to the dishes.
Hence forth, i know I'm not going to be using any ready made powders for my biryanis in a while :) or ever!

Home made garam masala powder

For the ground spice mixture : roast the following in a pan and grind to a fine powder
Cinnamon 3/4 large pieces
Clove 10/12 numbers
Cardamom 6nos
Aniseeds/saunf 1tbsp
Star anise 2 pieces
Pepper 1tsp
Dhaniya seeds/Coriander seeds 1 n half tsp

For marinating the chicken: 

Chicken half kg and a little more 

Yogurt 2 tablespoons

Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp each ground separately

Chilli powder 1tsp

Above spice powder 1tsp

Salt to taste

• Marinate the chicken for about an hour(or atleast for half hour) in the above marinade.Refrigerate until you cook it.
• Add about 1 tsp of oil in a frying pan and add the marinated chicken with the marinade and cover and cook until the chicken is soft.

To make the masala/wet gravy for the biryani
Ghee/oil 3 tablespoons
Onions 2 large
Tomato 3 medium/2 large
Ginger garlic paste 1 tablespoon
Green chillies 2 slit at the tops
Generous Hand full each of coriander leaves and mint leaves chopped finely
Lime juice of half a medium sized one
Saffron few strands soaked in quarter cup of milk
Yogurt 2 tablespoons
Ground spice powder 2 tsp
Salt to taste

Basmati rice 3cups soaked and drained after half an hour
Water 5 and half cups

• Heat oil/ghee in a wide mouthed vessel, add one or two pieces each of cinnamon and star anise and then add the onions and let it fry until a deep brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute well.
• Add the tomatoes and let it cook completely until mashed well.Add the yogurt to this and mix well.Add the chopped mint,coriander leaves and green chillies let them fry well.
• Add the cooked chicken with the oil and juices all from the pan into this and let this cook well.
• Add the basmati rice and saute well until dry and then add the ground spice powder.
• Add enough water for the rice to cook and add the saffron soaked milk.
• Add salt to taste and if you feel the spices are less add more of the ground spice powder.
• Add lime juice and cover and cook for about 11-12 minutes until all the water gets absorbed and the rice is nice and fluffy.Garnish with chopped mint leaves and coriander leaves.
• Serve hot chicken biryani with raitha and pickle.

Note:

1. you can use hard boiled eggs instead of chicken and make an egg biryani using the same above steps.Just skip the marinating the chicken part.
2. I have added a little more of ghee and oil as this keeps the biryani nice and juicy and moist.You can reduce the quantity as per need.
3. If you need a more spicy or hot biryani you can add more green chillies or chilli powder while adding the ground spice powder.

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