Chicken Biriyani...New year special..!

Ingredients and method:  (serves 6)
Chicken-1 Kg, cut into medium pieces
----for marinating chicken
Yogurt-3 tsp
Chilly powder-1.5 tsp
Coriander powder-1 tsp
Pepper powder-1/2 tsp
Chicken masala/biriyani masala-2 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Salt

Marinate the chicken with the ingredients listed above and keep in refrigerator for 2 hours(the more you keep the softer the chicken would be)


---for cooking rice
Basmati rice-3 cups
Melted butter/ghee- 1/4 cup (or mix 1/8 cup of oil and 1/8 cup of butter)
Spices:(Cardamom-6,Cloves-7,Cinnamon-1" stick,Mace(jathipatri)-2,Bay leaves-4 )
Salt
Water

Wash rice 4-5 times in water and drain. Heat butter/oil in a pan, add spices and saute for while til you get the nice spicy fragrance. Transfer the rice into cooking vessel and add the spices along with butter/oil. Add water(I used 1.5 cup per cup of rice in rice cooker) and salt. Cook rice and once it is cooked spread it in a wide plate, it will prevent sticking of rice. Take care not to overcook rice.



----for making chicken masala/gravy
Onion-3, thinly sliced
Green chilly- 10-12, crushed
Ginger-1" piece, crushed
Garlic-3, crushed
Crushed spices(Cardamom-3,Cloves-4,Cinnamon-1" stick)
masala powders(Coriander powder-2 tsp, chicken masala/biriyani masala-2 tsp)
Yogurt-1/2 cup
Cilantro-1/4 cup, chopped
Salt
Oil-2 tbsp

Crush together green chilly, ginger and garlic. Heat oil in a pan and add crushed spices followed by crushed green chilly, garlic and ginger. Stir until their raw smell has gone. Add onions and saute till they are transparent. Add masala powders, saute for a while and add marinated chicken, yogurt, cilantro and salt. Cook chicken covered till the gravy become thick.


---for garnishing and layering
Onion-1, (to make fried onion-fry thinly sliced onions in butter till they are brown in color add 1 tsp of sugar and keep aside)
Cashew nuts and raisins-1/2cup(fry them in butter/ghee)
Cilantro, chopped-1/2 cup
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp(for yellow color, heat turmeric in 2 tsp of butter, let it settle and take the supernatant liquid for giving yellow color)
Melted butter/ghee-4 tsp
Boiled eggs-4

 Apply butter on a baking dish and layer half of the chicken masala evenly (evenly spread chicken pieces). Then make a layer of cooked rice. Drizzle half of the melted butter and spread half of the cilantro. Repeat layering once again and finally garnish the top rice layer with fried cashew nuts, raisins, fried onions and cilantro. Keep boiled eggs on the top of the  rice. Drizzle the remaining butter and  yellow color(turmeric). Cover with an aluminum foil. Bake for 20 min at 350F. Serve hot with raita, pappad or pickle.


Tips:
1.If you want to warm the biriyani on stove top, prepare the layers of chicken gravy and rice in a big vessel and cover with a lid and cook in medium heat for 10-15 min until you get nice aroma of biriyani.
2. Just before baking/warming the biriyani, make few slits reaching up to the bottom of the pan/dish. Add few drops of butter/ ghee. The slits would help to warm up/ steam the biriyani fast.