Keralan chicken biriyani: A treat for the soul

This is one of the best chicken biriyani recipes I've ever owned. Tastes superb each time. Takes a bit of work and hence get made in my kitchen on occasion. This recipe is sourced from my dear S I L. This one she inherited from her mom. A few changes ( very few) were made by yours truly :-)

Ingredients

1- Rice - 4 cups
cardamom - 6
cinnamon - 6
cloves - 6

2- Chicken - 2 kg

3- Ghee - 375 g or to your arteries content

4- Onion- 6 large

5- Ginger- 3 inches
Garlic - 3 whole pods
Green chilli- 8 or more to taste

6- Cinnamon - 2 inches
Clove- 6
Nutmeg- 10 g
Mace- 10g
Cardamom - 6
Cumin- 1 tsp
Fennel- 1 tsp
Shahjeera - 1/4 tsp
Peppercones - 10

7- Cashew nuts- 15, (or if u have a hubby like mine who hogs all the cashew nuts in the house, u can use almonds in its place, like I had to do on this particular occasion.)
Raisins- 30

8- Coconut- 1 cup

9- Pineapple - one small can of crushed pineapple
Yogurt- 1/2 cup
Lemon juice- of one

10- Rose water -  a few drops
Saffron- a pinch

11- salt to taste

12- Coriander and mint leaves- 1 1/2 cups

Method:

- Dry roast (6) to release oils, let them cool down, before grinding them to a biriyani masala

- Grind (5) to a coarse paste ( in the same blender, saves washing up, eh :-))

- Dry-fry grated coconut to a light brown colour and keep aside

- Fry (7) in ghee and keep aside

- fry thinly sliced onions in half the ghee to a crispy golden colour

- In the same pan sauté (5), till they are not raw any more.

- Add chicken pieces followed by (9), salt, a quarter of the fried onions and half of the powdered masala. Mix well to coat the chicken pieces.

- Mix thoroughly the fried coconut, cashew nuts and raisins with the rest of the biriyani masala.

- Add this to the chicken once it's cooked.

- Take a heavy bottomed pot and in plenty of boiling water add the spices in (1) followed by rice. Cook rice till the grains have a bite to them, add salt to taste and drain.

- Time for the classic layering which gives all its taste. In a deep pot (biriyani chempu) layer chicken at the bottom, sprinkle some of the fried onion followed by all of the mint and coriander leaves. Layer the partially cooked rice on top. Pour over the remaining ghee, rosewater and saffron strands. Be generous with ur ghee, it adds a lot of taste. :-)

- Close with a tight lid and oven bake for 20-30 minutes at about 150 degrees.

- Remove from oven, spoon out your rice and carefully remove all the leaves. Getting a bite of coriander or mint leaves with the yummy biriyani rice leaves an after taste, so better leave them out. This is something I learned from my friend A. Thanks dear. :)

Tips:

- Try to use chicken with bones in this recipe. This adds more flavour.

- For a quicker version, avoid the layering and instead mix in the chicken with cooked rice.

- If using stove-top method for the final cooking, use a flat pan (dosa kallu) to avoid direct contact with heat and use chappathi dough to seal the lid tight.

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