Chicken/Egg/Vegetable Biryani

Ingrdients:

4 cups basmathi rice
1/2 cup curd
4-5 tbsp oil/ ghee
3 tbsp salt

Whole Spices:
10 cloves
8 green cardamom
4 cinnamon sticks
6 tsps cumin seeds/ almonds

For gravy:
3 inch peice of ginger
2 whole garlics
8 green chillis
2 big onions
2 big tomatoes
1 buch corriander leaves
3/4 th bunch mint leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
8 tsps corriander powder
2 tsps chilli powder
3-4 tsps gharam masala
salt to taste

For Chicken byriyani, use 1 kg chicken, cut to medium peices and cooked

For Veg byriani use 3-4 cups of  mixed vegetables cut to small(not very small) pieces and cooked: more of green peas and carrots, and half as much beans, potatoes and cauliflower florets, and 1 capsicum if desired.

For egg byriyani use 6 full-boiled eggs or as required, cut in half

For garnishing:

10-15 big onions
1 cup raisins, or more if desired
1 cup cashewnus, or more if desired
1 bunch corriander leaves

Method of Preparation:


Marionate the chiken pieces/ eggs/ cooked vegetable with curd, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and a little salt. Remember you will be adding salt to the gravy, so you can adjust the salt accordingly.

Wash the basmathi rice and soak in warm water for 20 mins and then drain out the water.

In the time the rice is saoked and drained, prepare the gravy:
Roughly cut all the ingredients under the 'Gravy', except mustard seeds and powder, and grind them into a paste in mixer with 3 tbsps of water.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in kadai, splutter mustard seeds, and pour the contents of the mixer and stir.
When lumps begin to form, add chilli pd, corriander pd, turmeric pd, gharam masala and salt to taste.
Stir well into a sticky paste so that curry will not spoil quickly.

Keep 8 cups of water to boil(twice as much cups of water as the cups of rice)
In an aluminium/ brass vessel, hast 3 tbs oil/ghee, add the 10 onions slicked, 2-3tbs salt andfry the onions to dark brown. The addition of salt will remove the water from the onions faster.
Drain out the oil from the onions and remove the fried onions onto a plate. This is for the garnishing.
Fry the raisins and the cashews together till the cashews turn light brown, and remove them to another plate.
Dry roast the whole spices and grind them(if you don't like to bite them whole in the rice)
Fry the rice in the remaining oil/ghee till it turns a light pinkish-brown.
Mix a little of the gravy to the rice to give it an aroma.
Add the eight cups of boiled water to the rice and add 2 tsps turmeric powder, mix.
Keep it closed and place a weight on it. Allow it to cook on medium flame, with occational stirring.

While the rice is getting cooked, add the marionated chicken pieces/ eggs/ vegetable to the gravy.
You can now add required amount of water and boil to reach a gravy-like consistency.

Assembling the dish:
Assemble biriyani in a wide vessel by placing rice, gravy with pieces, sprinkling raising, nuts and corriander leaves alternatively till all gravy and rice is used up. Garnish the top with remaining nuts, raisins and corriander leaves.
You could also serve the gravy separately, in which case you'd have to only assemble the rice, nuts, raisings and corriander leaves.
Serve with onion salard(in curd), and your favourite pickle!