One Pot Chicken Biryani (New recipe)

One Pot Chicken Rice / Biryani  (made of Jeerakasala rice) - A delicious and less spicy chicken rice !!!

Tip – Please use same measuring cup to measure rice and water.

Featured here is a One Pot Chicken Rice /  Biryani made out of Jeerakasala rice / Zeera samba rice.  Jeerakasala rice is a popular variety of aromatic rice used in Tamilnadu and Kerala. As the name suggests the grains are smaller in size like jeera ( cumin seeds ). It is very tasty and fragrant when cooked (better than basmati rice). Available at whole sale rice merchants in India (Nilgiris, More, Reliance fresh,  Spencer's daily ..) and other  leading supermarkets.

Serves: 4 - 5

For the  chicken:

900 g chicken pieces, cut into medium size pieces

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon red chilli powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon thick yogurt / curd

Wash and clean chicken pieces. Drain out water thoroughly. In a wide bowl, marinate chicken pieces evenly with turmeric powder, red chilli powder, yogurt / curd and salt. Cover and keep aside for half an hour.

Other ingredients

1 tablespoon oil / ghee

3 cloves (optional)

3 cardamom

1 small bay leaf

1 stick cinnamon

3 onion, finely sliced

1 tablespoon thick  ginger – garlic paste

3 green chilles, crush roughly

3/4 teaspoon red chilli powder (or 1 teaspoon for more spicy rice)

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

1  teaspoon coriander powder

1 tomato, finely chopped (1 big size or 2 small size)

4 tablespoon finely chopped mint and coriander leaves (do not add thick stem)

Marinated chicken pieces

Extra 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder (or make a mix of 1/4 teaspoon clove powder, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder. 1/4 teaspoon nut meg powder and 2 pinches of cardamom powder)

3 cups water (600 ml -  Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml capacity) – to make chicken gravy

Extra 2 cups water (for the final stage)

2 cups (Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity)   jeerakasala (Zeera zamba) rice (3 cups water required for 2 cups jeera rice or 1: 1 1/2  (1 cup rice: 1 1/2 cup water)

2 teaspoon lime juice (do not miss this ingredient)

1 tablespoon ghee (do not miss this ingredient)

Raita / pickle for serving

Method

Dilute red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder in  2 tablespoons  of water and keep aside (spice mix).

Heat oil in a pan or karahi  (big size karahi)  on medium heat. Add whole spices (cloves, cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon) and fry on a low heat till fragrant.

Add sliced onions and fry till golden color.

Add ginger – garlic paste and stir well for 2 – 3 minutes until the raw smell goes.

Add crushes green chillies and fry for 2 - 3 minutes.

Add diluted spice powder and mix well for 2 minutes until the water dries up.

Add chopped tomato and fry well for 2 – 3 minutes until well blended.

Add chopped mint and coriander leaves, marinated chicken pieces, garam masala powder (or homemade spice mix), 3 cups water and adjust salt to taste (or 1 teaspoon). Mix all the ingredients well. Cover with a tight lid and cook on a medium to low heat for 25 minutes until 3/4^th done 

Once you add the marinated chicken, note down the timing.

At this stage (after 25 minutes) open the lid and check the quantity of the gravy (remove chicken pieces into another bowl and strain gravy through a clean iron  sieve (please do not use plastic sieve. Gravy is very hot). It may be 1  - 1 1/2 cup. Transfer all the ingredients back to karahi (chicken pieces and gravy). Now add 2 cups of  drained jeerakasala  rice and 2  cups of  water (1 ½ cup water required for 1 cup jeerakasala  rice. Here we're adding 2 cups of  water + 1 cup  gravy from the chicken curry = Total   3 cups liquid (water + gravy. If the gravy is 1 1/2 cup, add 1 1/2 cup water).

Adjust salt if required. Add lime juice and ghee. Cover again and cook on a medium to low heat for another 15 – 20 minutes or until done / rice cooked well and water dries up. Serve with raita / pickle / pappadam/ dates pickle /  korma.. Decorate with fried cashew nuts / raisins (optional).