Chicken beary (Mangalore muslim syle) biryani
A speciality of the Mangalorean muslim community, where the chicken for the biryani is cooked in a super fragrant, delicious coriander-mint masala paste and coconut paste, followed by cooking the assembled biryani on dum
Equipment
- Shallow cooking pot
Ingredients
- 600 g chicken on the bone
- 300 g Basmati rice soaked in water for 15 minutes
- ½ cup coconut grated
- ½ cup yoghurt whisked
- 1½ cups coriander leaves
- 1 cup mint leaves
- 6-7 chilis
- 2 cups fried onions birista
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup tomatoes chopped
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tbsp turmeric powder
- 1½ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp poppy seeds
- 2 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 3-4 green cardamom
- 1 black cardamom
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 2 star anise
- 1 blade mace javitri
- ½ tsp nutmeg powder jaiphal powder
- 8-10 cashews
- 8-10 raisins
- ½ cup ghee
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Rub the chicken with the lemon juice and turmeric powder and keep it aside until needed. Set 5 cups of water with 2 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp ghee, cinnamon, cardamoms and 1 star anise to boil. When it comes to a roll boil, add the soaked rice. Cook until the grains are 75% cooked, then drain and set aside
- Heat a tbsp of ghee and fry the cashews and raisins until golden brown, drain and set aside.
- Grind together the ginger garlic paste, mint leaves, coriander leaves, coriander seeds, chilis, cumin seeds the other star anise, 1 tbsp fennel seeds, nutmeg powder and the blade of mace to a coarse paste, with 2 tbsp water
- Heat the cooking pot, over medium, with 2-3 tbsp ghee and add the ground paste. Fry until fragrant and the masalas don't smell raw anymore
- Add the tomatoes and the yoghurt, mix well and cook until the ghee separates. Next, add the chicken, 1½ cups fried onions and cook for 6-7 minutes. Add 3-4 tbsp of water, salt, cover and cook until the chicken is completely cooked
- In the meanwhile, make a paste with the remaining fennel seeds, coconut and poppy seeds with a 2-3 tbs of water. Add this to chicken when it is cooked
- Mix well and cook for another 5-6 minutes. Add some finely chopped coriander and mint leaves and remove from flame. Check for salt here and adjust, if needed
- Take a thick bottomed pan*, smear a tbsp of ghee inside it. Layer the biryani, starting with the curried chicken, then the partially cooked rice, followed by the garam masala, ghee, remaining fried onions, fried cashews and raisins and some mint and coriander leaves
- Wrap the pot with aluminum foil and cover with a tight fitting lid. Set this to cook over a very low flame for 12-15 minutes. Once done, remove from flame and let it sit for 10 more minutes before serving
- Using a spatula, scoop out the biryani from the bottom layers and serve your delicious chicken beary (Mangalore muslim syle) biryani along side some raita and cucumber slices. Enjoy!
Notes
- *At this point, the gas/flame is turned off
- To make fried onions - slice the onions thinly, rub a teaspoon each of salt and sugar and leave it for 5 minutes. In a cooking pot dry roast them until they catch a slight colour and then add two tablespoons of oil to fry them until golden brown. This you can use for the biryani or use store bought ones as well
- You could make the biryani with red meat too. In that case, pressure the marinated meat, until cooked, before adding it in step 5
- If poppy seeds aren't available, you could use soaked almonds instead
- I have also used organic, food grade colour in step 8. This is optional
- 1 cup = 250 millilitres
- tbsp - tablespoon
- tsp - teaspoon