Dindigul chicken biriyani in cooker

Recently I learned this delicious Dindigul briyani recipe from my friend Emelda. This is one of the most popular non vegetarian foods in Tamilnadu. Only a very few people can bring that authentic taste, as it needs lot of experience . Even the popular restaurants need more care to bring this authentic taste, while a few like her can do it phenomenally. While talking about this recipe , she surprised me by saying that this Dindigul briyani is made in a pressure cooker (traditionally it is done by dum process) and gave me the instructions for that too. One would be amazed at the quality of separate rice grains we get by this process. The secret is in the timing. So follow the instructions carefully and I am sure this is the easiest way to make a delicious briyani.  I am narrating her version of Dindigul briyani and I am sure this is going to be everyone's favorite also.

Immediately transfer to a serving tray gently.

Briyani after pressure cooking.

Pressure cook it in low heat for 6-8 minutes without any whistle and switch off.

Cook the rice before closing the cooker,  till we see almost all water is absorbed and only an inch stands above rice.

After adding the required water to cooked chicken masala, bring it to rolling boil. After that only we add soaked rice.

Serve this delicious Dindigul chicken briyani with onion raita.

Ingredients:
Long Basmathi rice - 3 1/2 cups
water - 5 cups
( 3.5 cups x 2 - 2 = 5 cups)
Chicken - 3/4 kg (almost 2 lb)
(with bone / leg piece is good.)
salt - To taste
Green chilly - 3
Red onion - 1 (big)
Tomato - 4
Lemon - 1/2
ghee - 1/2 cup
turmeric - 1/2 tsp
red chilly powder - 1 tsp
garam masala powder - 2 tsp
thick curd - 1/2  cup (optional but tastes good)

Paste 1:
cilantro - 10 plants (leaves only)
mint leaf - 10 sticks (leaves only)
green chilly - 4

Paste 2:
Ginger - 2 inch
garlic - 10 pearls

For tempering:
cinnamon - 3 inch long
star aniseed - 1
Sea weed (kalpaasi) - 2 curls
Nutmeg (jathikkai) - a tiny bit
mace - 1/4 of  a flower
cardamom - 5
cloves - 6

Preparation:
Clean the chicken and cut it in to big pieces. Rinse and keep aside.
Add  a tsp of salt ,  curd, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and leave it for an hour.
(overnight marination inside fridge yields very tasty juicy chicken pieces in biryani).

Chop the onion in lengthwise.
Chop Tomato, green chilly, few cilantro, mint into small pieces.
Grind ginger and garlic together to a fine paste.
Separately grind cilantro, mint, green chilli to a very fine paste.

While we start tempering,  rinse and clean the rice. Soak it in water for 10 minutes , drain water and let it remain for 1/2 an hour (while we saute and cook the meat). Don't soak for more time. The rice may break by over-soaking.

Method:
Heat ghee in a pressure cooker.
(Now Soak the rice in room temp water for only 10  minutes).
Toss in the items given for tempering.
Immediately add the chopped onion and fry till it becomes golden brown.
Add the ginger garlic paste and stir well till the raw smell vanishes (less than a minute, don't let it get  red).
Now add the finely chopped tomato and cilantro paste (paste 1). Saute till the tomato gets mashed and oil starts showing off. 
Now put the chicken pieces and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.
After the pressure is released, open the cooker.
Add water and bring to a boil.
Check salt and taste. Add more salt if needed.
Add the soaked rice and continue cooking without closing the lid.
Continue cooking in medium flame until the rice absorbs water and almost 1 inch of water stands above rice.
Now sprinkle juice of 1/2 lemon and close the pressure cooker.
Put the pressure valve and reduce flame to minimum.
Cook in this low flame for 6 - 8 minutes ( don't allow for a whistle).
Switch off.
After the pressure is released , open the cooker.
Now the biriyani may seem to have some extra some water, but it will be absorbed, as soon as we keep it open.
Gently shake the pressure cooker / insert a spatula in the sides and transfer the biriyani to a serving tray (don't use spatula too much, while the biriyani is hot).
Garnish with finely chopped cilantro and mint leaves.
Dindigul chicken biriyani is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as main course meal with onion raitha.

Tomato carrot soup

The best section in any grocery store in my view is the produce (fruit and Veg) department. I try to beautify my shopping cart with colorful veggies as if it is an advertisement for veggies:). That too, if a seasonal vegetable is in sale, it would definitely come with us:) Then coming home, I would wonder how to make use of them efficiently :) Making soups is another nice way to include all those goodies and here is my version of tomato carrot soup. Hope you all enjoy this in this cool weather !

Tomato carrot soup

(for making 6 servings)
Ingredients:
Tomato -  1/2 kg
Carrot - 2
green peas  or sweet corn - handful
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
cilantro , mint leaf - handful.
Butter - 1 tbsp
All purpose flour / corn starch - 2 tbsp
cinnamon - 1 inch
bay leaf - 1
shallot - 3
garlic - 1 whole
whole black pepper - 2 tbsp
cumin - 1 tbsp

Method:
1.Wash and keep the tomato as whole. Peel and chop carrot to small pieces.
Grind garlic, black pepper and cumin to a coarse mixture.
In a pressure cooker add whole tomato, carrot, peas / corn, turmeric powder , chopped cilantro, mint leaf, prepared garlic masala.
Pour 10 cups of water, close the pressure cooker. After 1 whistle reduce flame to medium and cook for 5 minutes. (In ordinary stockpot : cook covered till the vegetables are cooked tender).
After releasing the pressure, add salt. Take out the tomatoes and remove the skin and puree.
2. Heat 1 or 2  tbsp butter in a pan.
Put bay leaf, cinnamon and after 5 seconds. Then fry chopped shallot till it gets golden brown. Then add the all purpose flour or corn starch and fry for a few seconds till raw smell goes.
3. Pour this to the cooked vegetable stock and bring to a boil.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Tomato carrot soup is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve with garlic bread.