Chicken Kheema Biryani

Biryani is what Sundays are for us. It might be something as simple as my easy peasy pressure cooker biryani or when amma comes by then it might be something as rich and exotic as the dum biryani, but it has to be biryani Sunday. We take a break once in a while and keep it simple with some whole wheat naan and pepper chicken but you get the thing right, we need chicken on Sundays. This kheema biryani happened, yes happened just like that when the huss was asking for something spicy for a weeknight dinner and all I had was a pack of ground chicken in the freezer.

When he says spicy he needs something really hot and I can quench that thirst only with a plate of piping 'hot' biryani and some onion raitha. I took my base biryani recipe and replaced the chicken chunks with ground chicken. Infact the ground chicken blended well with the spices and added more flavor and texture to the rice. I served it with plain raitha and the huss was totally impressed with the flavors. That impressed that he asked me to repeat it for that Sunday. This time I served it up with some Chicken roast.

~*What U Need*~ Basmatic rice - 1 1/2 cup Water - 2 cups, scant Chicken kheema - 1 lb or 1/2 kg Onions - 1 cup, sliced Tomatoes - 3/4 cup, chopped Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp Coriander powder - 1 tsp Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp Biryani masala powder - 1 tsp or more Ghee - 3-4 tbsp Salt To temper: Cinnamon - 1" stick Cloves - 2 Cardamom - 2, crushed Bay leaf - 1 To grind Coconut - 1/4 cup Cashews - 3-4 Green chilli - 1, or to taste Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup Mint leaves - 1/2 cup How I Made it: Soak the rice in water for 20 mins. Take all the ingredients under 'to grind' and grind to a paste. Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pressure cook and when hot add the tempering items. When fried, add the onions and fry till soft and brown. Add ginger garlic paste once done. Add the tomatoes and cook till mushy. Add the spice powders and after 2 mins of cooking add the ground chicken. Once the chicken is half cooked, add the ground paste and cook for another 2 mins. Add water and the soaked drained rice and then top with chopped coriander leaves, mint leaves and the remaining ghee. Cook for 2 whistles. Once the pressure is released fluff with fork.

Serve warm with raitha or side dish of choice.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!