Tirunelveli Chicken Dum Biriyani

Chicken Dum Briyani of Tirunelveli. This quantity if for 6 adults (or) 8 people (if served with curd rice). I have written about a wedding special chicken dum briyani in many years ago, in this blog. Time taken : 2.30 hours (approx if completely done by one person)

Preparing the ingredients: 1 hour

Cooking time 45 minutes.

Dum cooking time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:
Basmati rice - 3  cups (600 gm)
Chicken (thigh, leg) - 1 1/4 kg (twice the rice)

thick curd - 1/2  cup
salt - To taste

Turmeric - 1 tsp

Tempering:

Green chilly - 5 
Red onion - 3 (400 gm)
Tomato - 5 (400 gm)
Lemon - 1/2
Ghee - 3 tbsp

Peanut oil - 1/4 cup
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Rose essence - 1 drop

Cilantro - handful
Mint leaf - handful

Cashew - 10

Raisin - 10

Paste 1:

Ginger - 2 inch
garlic - 10 pearls

Green chili - 5

Paste 2:

cilantro - 10 plants (leaves only)
mint leaf - 10 sticks (leaves only)

Spices:
Fennel - 1 tsp

Cinnamon - 3 inch long

Bay leaf - 2
Star aniseed - 1
Sea weed (kalpaasi) - 2 curls
Nutmeg (jathikkai) - a tiny bit
Mace - 1/4 of  a flower
Cardamom - 6
Cloves - 10

Marathi Mokku - 1

Garam masala powder

To dry roast and powder:

Fennel - 1 tbsp

Cinnamon - 3 inch long

Bay leaf - 2
Star aniseed - 1
Sea weed (kalpaasi) - 2 curls
Nutmeg (jathikkai) - a tiny bit
Mace - 1/4 of  a flower
Cardamom - 6
Cloves - 10

Marathi Mokku - 1

Black pepper - 1 tbsp

Dry rose bud -1

Preparation:
Clean the chicken and cut it in to big pieces. Rinse and keep aside.
Add  a tsp of salt, curd, turmeric powder  and marinate for 1 hour.

(overnight marination inside fridge is also good. But add 1 tbsp vinegar if doing so).
Chop the onion, green chily in lengthwise.
Chop Tomato,  few cilantro, mint into small pieces.
Grind green chili, ginger and garlic together to a fine paste.
Separately grind cilantro, mint to a very fine paste.

Green chili can be ground with either ginger garlic or mint cilantro. Doesn't matter.

Allocate 1 tbsp of each paste for 1 cup rice. Therefore 3 tbsp GG paste and 3 Tbsp green paste are needed.

Keep everything in the ingredient list handy before starting the cooking procees.

Within that time the chicken would have marinated for an hour.

Soaking the rice:
While we start tempering,  rinse and clean the rice. Soak it in water for 10 minutes , drain water and let it remain for 10 to 15 minutes only (while we saute and cook the meat). Don't soak for more time. 

Method:
Heat oil + ghee in a  broad bottom vessel.
Soak the rice in room temp water for only 10 to 15  minutes.
Add all the items given under spices.
Immediately add the chopped onion + little salt and fry.

Add cashew , raisin.

The sugar in the raisin will speeden up the process.

Fry till onion becomes golden brown. This takes nearly 5 minutes.
Add the ginger garlic paste and stir for 30 secs .
Now add the finely chopped tomato and cilantro paste. Saute till the tomato gets mashed and oil starts showing off. 
Now put the chicken pieces along with some more salt, powdered masala and cook it covered for 10 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.

Cooking the rice:

Bring 1.5 liter of water to boil. Add 1 tsp salt.

While water is boiling , add soaked rice and cook for 5 minutes only or until the rice is 50 % cooked. The rice would have gotten bigger in size but not cooked. If we press the rice it should not be soft, but it should break into two. Immediately drain the water and keep aside.

Dhum process:

Into the cooked chicken add the semi cooked rice. Squeeze 1/2 or 1 lemon.

Add some chopped cilantro mint , green chily (if needed), a drop of rose essence.

Mix gently without breaking the rice grains.

Now add water just enough to immerse the rice and meat completely.  

We can add coconut milk also to make it more tasty.

Mix and check salt.

It should taste a tiny bit salty.

If not add required fine salt (not coarse salt) and mix once.

As soon as the water starts boiling, we can see some holes start appearing on rice. close the vessel with a tight lid.

Reduce flame to minimum.

Keep a pan filled with hot water over the lid.

keep this setup for 30 minutes.

Then open it.

Garnish with minced cilantro, mint.

Spread 1 or 2 tbsp ghee over the biriyani.

Mix well once carefully.

Tirunelveli Muslim style chicken Dum Biriyani is ready !

Serving suggestions:
In Tirunelveli Muslim marriages they Serve it with Thakkali jam(a kind of Tomato jam) , onion - carrot raitha , any spicy non veg curry , of course a semiya javvarisi payasam and a special dish called dhalsa (a thick dhal curry made with some mutton).

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Ingredients in Tamil:

6 பேருக்கு சிக்கன் பிரியாணி 

பாசுமதி அரிசி  - 3  கப் (600 gm)

கோழி   - 1 1/4 kg 

தயிர்  - 1/2  cup

உப்பு  - 4 tsp to சுவைக்கு 

மஞ்சள்  - 1 tsp

தாளிக்க :

பச்சை மிளகாய்  - 5 

வெங்காயம்  - 3 (400 gm)

தக்காளி  - 5 (400 gm)

எலுமிச்சை  - 1/2

நெய் - 3 tbsp

கடலைஎண்ணெய் - 1/4 cup

மிளகாய் தூள் - 1 tsp

கரம்மசாலா தூள் - 1 tsp

ரோஸ் எசென்ஸ்  - 1 துளி 

மல்லி இலை  - 1 சின்ன கட்டு 

புதினா  - 1 சின்ன கட்டு 

முந்திரி  - 10

கிஸ்மிஸ் - 10

அரைக்க 1:

இஞ்சி  - 2 inch (50 gm )

பூண்டு - 1 (50 gm)

பச்சை மிளகாய்  - 5

அரைக்க 2:

மல்லி இலை  - 1 சின்ன கட்டு 

புதினா  - 1 சின்ன கட்டு 

வாசனை பொருட்கள்:

சோம்பு  - 1 tsp

பட்டை  - 3 inch long

பிரிஞ்சி இலை - 2

அன்னாசி பூ  - 1

கல்பாசி - 2 சுருள் 

ஜாதிக்காய்  - சிறிய துண்டு 

ஜாதிபத்திரி  - 1/4 பூ 

ஏலக்காய்  - 6

கிராம்பு  - 10

மராத்தி மொக்கு  - 1

கரம் மசாலா பொடி :

(வறுத்து பொடிக்க)

சோம்பு  - 1 tbsp

பட்டை  - 3 inch long

பிரிஞ்சி இலை - 2

அன்னாசி பூ  - 1

கல்பாசி - 2 சுருள் 

ஜாதிக்காய்  - சிறிய துண்டு 

ஜாதிபத்திரி  - 1/4 பூ 

ஏலக்காய்  - 6

கிராம்பு  - 10

மராத்தி மொக்கு  - 1

மிளகு - 1 tbsp 

ரோஜா மொட்டு - 1