Hyderabadi Chicken biryani

I prepared this Hyderabadi chicken biryani during a weekend. I love the way it brightens up a winter day:) The main challenge lies in getting all the things ready. But once we setup the dhum process, then we can sit and relax  with our loved ones. So keep everything handy before starting.

Hyderabadi biryanis are admired for their beautiful coloration and flavor. So once in a while I use organic food colors to get that real touch. In this method there will not be any separate gravy preparation like the Tamilnadu version. The meat gets cooked with rice and hence we will get juicy moist chicken pieces. This briyani  is  prepared in  a slow cooking process called dhum cooking which involves placing hot charcoal over the dhum vessel. But I am narrating that process to do at home, with the equipments we normally have:)

 Hyderabadi Chicken biryani in vibrant coloration.

Main Ingredients for Hyderabadi chicken biryani.

Arranging the layers for Hyderabadi chicken biryani before dhum process.

A homely  dhum process. Biryani vessel tightly sealed with wheat dough and placed over hot tawa.

To cook rice:

Basmati rice - 2.5 cups (500 gm)
salt - 1 tsp
water - 6 cup
bay leaf - 3
star aniseed - 1
black cumin - 1/2 tsp
cinnamon - 1 inch
cardamom - 4
clove - 4
lemon juice- 1/4 of a fruit

Wash and clean the rice. Soak it for 30 minutes. Bring to boil some 6 cups of water.
Add the bay leaf, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, lemon juice salt, kali jeera (black cumin) and let the rice gets semi cooked. It should be very firm and almost raw. Drain the water using a colander and keep aside.

For garnishing:

cashews - 10
raisins - 20
ghee - 2 tbsp
mint leaf , cilantro (chopped)- 2 tbsp
yellow or orange food color - 1 drop ea.
(we can use saffron instead)
cooking oil - 3 tbsp
Red onion - 1 cup (chopped lengthwise)

Heat oil in a flat bottom vessel and fry the chopped onions to golden brown. Take it out and save for garnishing.
In the remaining ghee , fry the cashews and raisins. Keep aside.

For the masala:

Chicken (with bones) - 500 gm
raisins - 2 tbsp
red chilly powder - 1 tsp
salt - 1 tbsp
ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
mint - 1/4 bunch
cilantro - 1/4 bunch
green chilly - 5
turmeric - 1/4 tsp
ghee - 2 tbsp
plain yogurt (from whole milk)- 1 cup

Grind the mint, cilantro and green chillies to a fine paste.
Now ,wash and clean the chicken. Cut it into big chunks. Mix all the items mentioned above with chicken and place it in the bottom of the dhum vessel. Spread them uniformly.

For flavored water:

salt - 1/2 tsp
lemon - 1/2
sugar - 1 tsp
kewra water - 2 tbsp
(or, rose essence 2 drops + 2 tbsp water)
ghee - 2 tbsp
black pepper corn - 10
cinnamon - 1/2 inch
cardamom - 2
clove - 2
black cumin (kali jeera) - 1/2 tsp
green chilly - 2
Mace (javithri / jathipathiri) - 1 strand
nutmeg (jathikkai) - a small scraping

Run everything above in a mixer and make a fine liquid. If you don't have enough time then , leave the whole garam masalas and mix 2 tbsp of Hyderabadi biryani masala powder with the other things mentioned above. (I like shan brand biryani masala powder).

For dhum process:

wide vessel with tight lid
A dosa tawa
chapathi dough using 1 cup wheat flour

Mix the wheat flour with water to get a bread dough consistency and keep aside.
We can use an aluminum foil also, if we do not want to waste the dough. But sealing with dough is the best method and it is called dum / dhum process, which means 'slow cooking with hot steam sealed inside'. I would suggest sealing with the dough for a tasty dhum biryani.
If you are using a flat lid, then boil 2 liters of water in a vessel and place over the vessel (after sealing) for more heat generation.

Arranging the layers:

Now spread the semi cooked rice uniformly over the raw chicken masala layer.
Mix saffron with 1/4 cup warm milk (or) mix the food color with 2 tbsp water and sprinkle it over the rice. I used food color here.(Food color gives a beautiful look.so choose according to the occasion. Natuaral colors can be obtained from saffron, beetroot, carrot etc).
Place a thick dosa tawa over stove, heat it. Now place the dhum vessel over the tawa.
Over the rice, spread the fried cashews, finely chopped cilantro , mint, fried onion and sprinkle the flavored water.
Close the vessel with a tight lid.
Seal the edges with the prepared chapathi dough.
Start heating the arrangement. Keep the flame at high till the tawa gets heated and then reduce it to a minimum. Leave the whole set up for 2 hours. (Cook it in very low heat to avoid burnt smell). If you are making for a large scale, baking is the best method. Place the entire setup inside the oven and bake at 350 deg C and 90 minutes.
After that discard the dough, open the lid carefully.

Hyderabadi chicken biryani is ready!

 Hyderabadi Chicken biryani.

Serving suggestions:

Serve the biryani like a layered rice, so that every plate gets a portion of rice, chicken and colorful topping.The guest has to mix and devour:)
Serve with boiled eggs and raitha of your choice.
Serves 5 to 6 people.

Arbi Fry (Seppan kilangu varuval)

Seppan kilangu (Tamil) means colocasia or taro root(English),  Arbi (Hindi). 

 Arbi fry is the most sought fried item in my house. Thanks to hubby this fry hardly reaches the dining table . Normally I start preparing our weekend lunch by 10.30 Am. If I make this fry for lunch, then hubby may start demanding it with his 11 Am tea:) So I plan to make some extra servings or totally some other dish along with this:) I personally think this as a catchy side dish for vegetarians. This is my mom's signature dish too. Mom used to make this arbi with paruppu kulambu and rice.

Sembu or seppan kizhangu is a tiny root vegetable available throughout the year. There is another one root vegetable with similar taste, that is the elephant yam (chenai kilangu), which can also be made into attractive fries. This seppan kilangu (arbi) can be stored at room temperature for a week and can be refrigerated for a month.  The matured  round / oval roots are tastier .

Bisibelebath served with arbi fry.( Indian Arbi fried).

Ingredients:

Arbi - 6 roots (1/2 kg)
rice flour - 1 tsp
besan flour - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
black pepper powder - 1.5 tbsp
cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Cook the arbi root with skin till it is almost cooked (not mushy). Poke a skewer or knife to check if its cooked. This makes the peeling easy.

Cool and remove the skin. Cut it into 1/2 inch thick circles. (If using the South American arbi , the bigger variety, then cut it into big chunks and cook it. Again peel and cube it).

Mix salt, flours, turmeric, pepper powder with a drop of water. Add it to the pieces and mix well.

A bigger variety of taro root .

Heat enough oil to deep fry.  Fry the pieces in small batches till they turn almost golden brown (crunchy outside and softer inside).

Take out, drain oil. Dust some pepper powder over the fried arbi and shake well , so that all the pieces gets some more pepper.

Another method:

Instead of pepper + cumin powder , we can mix red chilly powder and garam masal powder along with flours and deep fry them. Tandoori mix also holds good.

Serving suggestion:

Serve as side dish with curd rice, vegetable biryani, pulav, bisibelebath or simply as a tea time snack.

Tips:

I have heard some people making this fry (baking) in oven. But I have not tried it yet. May be a good option too.
Black pepper is added to root vegetables to make them allergy-free. But this arbi root is not caustic and safer for most of the people.
The South American arbi contains less mucilage and easy to handle, but I prefer the taste of Indian arbi better.
We can boil these vegetables and keep refrigerated without peeling for a day or two. I generally do the boiling part the previous night.