Kerala Style Chicken Biriyani

Ingredients for Kerala Style Biriyani Recipe

Basmati rice – 2 cups

Chicken – 3 lbs (1 1/2 kg)

Chilly powder – 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder – 1 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon(Karugapatta) – 10 pieces

Cloves(Grambu) – 10 nos 

Cardamom(Elakka) - 8 nos

Ginger – 1" piece

Garlic pods - 8 nos

Mint leaves(Pudhina) – 2-3 stems

Coriander leaves - 2-3 stems

Cashews - 20 nos

Raisins(Onakka munthiri) - 15 nos

Ghee/Oil/Butter - As reqd

Curd – 3 tsp

Rose essence – 1 tsp

Yellow color powder – A pinch

Onion(big) - 3 nos

Tomato - 3 nos

Green chillies - 2-3 nos

Oil for frying

For marinating:-

Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - A little

Black pepper - A little

Garlic-ginger paste - 1/2 tsp

Masala powder - A little for taste 

(Cinnamon-Cardamom-Cloves powder)

Lemon juice - 5-6 drops

Preparation Method of Kerala Style Biriyani Recipe

1)Soak rice in water and keep for an hour. Drain water from rice and keep it aside. 

2)Cut the chicken into big pieces(2 inches piece). 

:- Don`t need to cut chicken If you are using Chicken leg pieces. Just make some slits on the piece, so that masala will go in.

3)Mix together all the ingredients for marinating the chicken.

4)Marinate the chicken with the above paste for approximately an hour.(You can do/prep this previous day and refrigerate it)

5)Fry this in oil. 

:- Don’t fry the chicken pieces for long time. Otherwise, it will become very dry and hard. The purpose of doing this is to make the pieces little stronger so that it won`t split into small pieces while making curry. 

6)Heat 2 - 3 tsp of ghee in a thick bottom vessel.

7)Add 3 - 4 pieces of cinnamon, cloves and cardamom and stir for a while. 

8)Add the drained rice into it and fry for about 10 minutes. 

9)Add water.

:- For 1 cup of rice, add 1 3/4 cups of water. 

10)Turn the flame to high and cover with a lid. 

11)After a while, when water is not visible on top of the rice, open the lid and mix the rice since the rice at the bottom can get burnt.

12)After all the water has evaporated, don’t keep it on stove for a long time. 

13)When the rice is cooked, switch off the stove and keep it closed for about 30 minutes.

:- It is okay to switch off the stove even before the rice is completely cooked. Because it will get some cook time while baking.

14)Heat little oil or ghee or both together in a pan or a kadai.

15)Add 1/2 tsp of ginger-garlic paste and cut green chillies and saute` for sometime.

16)Add onions and saute` well.

17)When it is nicely done, add chilly powder, coriander powder, a little turmeric powder, a little black pepper, a little masala powder and salt and saute again.

18)Add curd and mix it well. 

19)Add fried chicken pieces to it. 

20)Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

21)Add big pieces of tomatoes, cover and cook.

:- Stir in between. The gravy will become like a paste. It should not be dry or watery. 

:- Check salt and add more, if needed.

22)Fry raisins, cashews, coriander and mint leaves etc in ghee and keep aside. 

:-If you want to reduce amount of ghee used, don’t do this step. Instead, add cashews, raisins and leaves for baking as given in the next step, without frying in ghee. 

23)For baking biriyani:-

a)For Oven Style:- 

1)Take a big flat dish. 

:- You can use Aluminium foil too instead of flat dish.

2)Coat it with ghee or butter. 

3)Put the chicken with gravy as a layer followed by a layer of rice (use half portion of cooked rice).

4)Mix yellow color powder with rose essence and sprinkle on top of the rice with a spoon carefully.

5)Sprinkle 1 tsp of ghee on top of it. 

6)Sprinkle the fried leaves.

7)Sprinkle the fried cashews and raisins on top of it and cover with aluminium foil. 

8)Bake this in the oven at 375F for about 45 minutes. 

:- If you are making more quantity, you can put that in more dishes and bake in the oven at the same time. 

b)If you don’t have Oven:- 

1)Use a big wide vessel coated with ghee or butter to make biriyani.

2)Make layers as described in the above step.

3)Cover it with a lid and heat the filled vessel on a low flame for approx 20 - 25 mins. 

:- Check the bottom of the vessel in between with a spoon or something to make sure it is not getting burnt. If it is getting burnt, reduce the heat.

24)For serving, take portions from the baked biriyani so that a serving plate will have both rice and chicken with masala. 

:- Serve chicken/nutton biriyani with lime pickle and raita. 

:- Make raita with onions, tomato, green chillies(optional), curd and salt.

:- Use the same quantity of Mutton instead of chicken to make Mutton Biriyani with the same recipe.

:- Enjoy the biriyani.

Servings 6 Adult(s)