Turkey Biryani

Turkey biryani has always been a fascinating dish for me since childhood. Most of the restaurants in Madras serve Turkey biryani only once in a week , because the turkey is a rare bird in India. This biryani has a vibrant flavor and taste.
Hubby being so delicate to taste new dishes, I waited  till I got a chance to prepare it for a dinner. I did this for a thanks giving day and Christmas function. Getting smaller portion of Turkey is a challenge here .  I was looking for a small portion of cut turkey. Finally succeeded in getting turkey wings from 'shop Rite' (Many other shops sell turkey as a whole bird ). It came out very tasty and we all enjoyed it very well. Here goes the recipe.

Hotel style Turkey biryani made with jeeraga samba rice.

Ingredients:
Basmathi rice / Jeeraga samba raw rice - 3 cups
Turkey wings - 2 lbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red onion - 2 (medium size)
Tomato - 2
cilantro- 1 handful.
mint leaf -1 handful.
Ginger paste - 2 tsp
Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Fennel - 1 tsp
bay leaves - 2
star aniseed - 1,
cinnamom stick - 2 inch
cardamom - 2
cloves - 4
curd -1 cup,
ghee - 2 tbsp
olive oil - 3 tbsp
chilli powder - 2 tsp ,
green chillis - 5 (uncut).
Lemon - 1
cashew nuts -10
raisins- 10.
salt.
saffron color- 2 drops
rose essence-2 drops
milk - 2 tbsp

Note:
The meat in the biryani always tastes plain . So if we want to make them more juicy and tasty we should marinate the chicken/ turkey or any meat the day before preparing the biryani (but not earlier than that).
Then place the marinated meat tightly packed inside the refrigerator (not freezer).

Marination:
wash and clean the turkey pieces.
Cut it in to big portions. Apply 1/4 tsp turmeric over it.
Marinate the turkey with 2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp garam masal powder, 1 tsp ginger paste, 1/2 tsp garlic paste, 1 cup curd,
2 tsp salt and juice from 1/2 a lemon.
Keep it inside a Ziploc cover and place it inside a closed container . Keep it refrigerated .

Biryani gravy preparation:
Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a broad bottom vessel.
Add fennel ,star aniseed , cinnamon stick,cardamom ,cloves, bay leaf .
Then goes the chopped onion .
Fry it till golden brown and take half of it aside.
Now add the chopped tomato and cook till the oil oozes out of it.
Then add the remaining ginger garlic paste and stir well till the raw smell goes.
Now add the marinated turkey pieces and stir well. Fry it for some time.
Then pressure cook it for 4 whistles (or) keep in simmer for 5 minutes after 1 whistle.
Let all the pressure gets released and open the cooker. Check for salt. it should taste everything perfect.
Donot panic if you get some water added from steam. It will be sucked by the half cooked rice while slow cooking the biryani.

To cook rice:
wash the rice and soak it for 1/2 an hour.
Bring to boil some 10 cups of water.
Add the juice of half a lemon and 2 tsp salt.
Then add the soaked rice and 1/2 cook it (50% done).
Immediately drain water using a colander (sieve) and keep it aside.

For garnishing:
Roast the cashews and raisins in 1 tbsp ghee. keep aside.
Chop cilantro and mint leaves.

Arrange the layers:
Take an aluminium foil baking tray. Clean it and spread half of the rice.
Then spread the prepared turkey gravy over it .
Cover that with another layer of rice.
spread the chopped mint leaf, cilantro, uncut green chillies, fried onions, cashews and raisins.
Mix 2 drops of rose esssence , saffron food color (or real saffron) with 2 tbsp milk.
sprinkle this mixture over the top layer of rice.
sprinkle 1 tbsp ghee over that.

Dum or slow cooking:
Now cover the tray with an aluminium foil.
Preheat the oven to 350 deg C and cook the biryani for 1 hour (or) more, till the rice is cooked completely. My biryani got ready in 90 minutes.

Serving suggestions:
Serve turkey biryani hot with onion raitha and chicken gravy.
Serves 5 people.