Hussein's Chicken Biriani Masala

Recipe Ingredients

3 cups	480g / 16oz	Basmati rice
4		Chicken breasts**
1/2		Onion - minced (large)
2		Garlic - minced
3 tablespoons	45ml	Vegetable oil or ghee
8 oz	227g	Plain yogurt
1		Saffron threads
1/4 cup	59ml	Milk
		Spice Mixture
1 teaspoon	5ml	Red chile powder* - medium heat
1/4 teaspoon	1.3ml	Black peppercorns
1 teaspoon	5ml	Ginger - powdered
1 tablespoon	15ml	Turmeric
1/2 teaspoon	2.5ml	Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon	1.3ml	Mace
1/2		Salt - (or to taste)
6		Cardamom seeds - peeled
4		Bay leaves - dried, crushed
1		Lump tamarind pulp - marble-sized
1/2 teaspoon	2.5ml	Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon	2.5ml	Cloves

Recipe Instructions

* Do not use chili powder, which contains other spices. Use a pure powdered chile from cayenne or New Mexico chiles.

** skinless and boneless and cut into 3/4" pieces

Put the milk into a cup and add the saffron and stir. Set aside at least 30 minutes before using.

Place all spice ingredients (including salt and tamarind pulp) in spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.

Soak the rice in cold water for 30 minutes and then drain and rinse until clear water comes off rice. Cook rice in large pan in 8 cups of water. Cook for 10-12 minutes.

In a frying pan, heat oil or ghee and saute the onion and garlic until golden. Add chicken and spice powder and stir-fry until chicken is done, about 6 minutes.

Drain rice and place back in large pan. Add the saffron-milk mixture and mix rice until uniform color. Add the chicken, onion, garlic and spice mixture and the yogurt to the pan and mix gently until well-blended with all the rice.

Place the rice into a glass baking dish and bake in a 350F oven for 40 minutes.

Serve immediately as a main course or side dish.

Note: Hussein was the head cook at the Qadirpur Gas Plant Camp, in the Sindh province of Pakistan, when I worked there in 1996. This is the best Biriani I have ever had and several Pakistanis and Indians living in the US who tried the recipe have said the same.

Source:
Hussein, cook at the Qadirpur Gas Plant Camp, Pakistan

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