Chicken Keema Biriyani

About this Recipe...

     I love biriyani a lot, so always trying new variations of biriyani. So made this biriyani with minced chicken. The best part of this biriyani is, it doesn't take much time and pre cooking efforts like marinating the meat for hours. It cooks really fast and also you will get the true flavors of traditional dam biriyani in a complete new look.
     Here I have used minced chicken but you can use minced mutton or scrambled egg. And if you are a vegetarian then you can use scrambled paneer or tofu. It tastes good in either way.

Ingredients

For marinating the Chicken Keema

• 1 lb Minced chicken
• 1 Tbsp Ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp Garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp Green chilli paste
• Salt to taste
• 2 Tbsp Biriyani masala powder
• 1 tsp Cumin powder
• 1 tsp Coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp Black pepper powder
• 1 Tbsp Red chilli powder

For making the Rice for Biriyani

• 2 Cups Basmati rice soaked in water for 1 hour
• 1 Tbsp Oil
• 1 tsp Shah jeera or black cumin
• 2-3 Bay leaf
• 2-3 green cardamom
• 5-6 Cloves
• 5-6 Black pepper corn
• 3 Pieces One inch long cinnamon stick
• 1 Tbsp Salt for seasoning the rice
• Water to boil the rice

For layering the biriyani

• 1/2 Cup Plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp Lemon juice
• 1 handful Chopped mint and coriander leaves
• One medium size thinly sliced onion fried
• 2 Boiled eggs cut into half slices
• 1/4 tsp Saffron soaked in warm milk
• 2 Tbsp Clarified butter
• 1 tsp Garam masala powder

Directions

1. First of all marinate the minced chicken with ginger-garlic-green chili paste, salt, biriyani masala powder, cumin-coriander powder, red chili powder and black pepper powder. Keep it aside for 30 minutes.
2. Now heat oil in a pan and fry the minced chicken. It will take approximately 10-15 minutes to fry.
3. When the meat will start frying, try to break it with the spatula to avoid big chunks of minced chicken.
4. While frying the minced chicken, take another large pot with water to make the rice. Add salt, oil, black cumin seeds, cardamom, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, black pepper corn and cloves.
5. When the water will start boiling, add the soaked basmati rice and cook it till it is 80% done. Drain the water from the rice.
6. On the other hand, when the minced chicken will fried properly it releases nice aroma. At that point of time whisk the yoghurt with lemon juice and little water. Add the yoghurt mixture on the pan. Now add half of the chopped coriander mint leaves and half of the fried onion.
7. Now place half of the cooked rice on top of it. Keep the slices of boiled eggs and sprinkle some saffron milk.
8. Now place the remaining cooked rice and layer it nicely on top of it. Add the remaining fried onions, mint coriander leaves. Sprinkle some garam masala powder, clarified butter and the remaining soaked saffron milk.
9. Now cover the lid tightly or you can use chapati dough to seal the lid.
10. Cook it in high flame for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes lower the heat by medium and cook it for another 5 minutes. After 10 minutes of total cooking keep the temperature in low for another 5 minutes and then switch off the flame.
11. After switching off the flame, give it a rest for another 10-15 minutes before serving the biriyani. Now serve it hot with raita and enjoy it.