Ambur Chicken Biriyani

           Hey guys! Presenting you all, the Ambur Chicken Biriyani, which is one of the most famous South Indian delicacies. Ambur Chicken Biriyani is a specialty from Nawabs of Arcot, who first created this recipe, which is most popular in, Ambur Tamil Nadu. The speciality of this Biriyani is the Rice used in it. It's a special variety of short grain rice called Seeraga Samba Rice (Jeera Samba Rice). The Rice has got a unique flavour and delicious aroma to it and that itself makes this biriyani very different from other biriyani's. And the spice factor that's used in this Biriyani, differ from others. This biryani uses red chillies, which are soaked in water and then ground. Using fresh ground red chilli paste is very important for the flavour.

            And you guys can even make this biriyani with mutton. Follow this same recipe, but just add one extra step at the beginning. Cook the mutton pieces with ginger-garlic paste, salt and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker for 2 to 3 whistles (or until mutton is 3/4th cooked). Then add the cooked mutton instead of chicken in the following recipe. And use the mutton water for cooking the biriyani.  

Now let's move on to the Chicken Biriyani recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

*Chicken- 2 1/2 lbs

*Seeraga Samba Rice- 3 cups

*Onion- one big onion sliced

*Tomato- one big tomato sliced

*Ginger garlic paste- 10 tbspns

*Green chilly- 3 

*Dry red chilly- 15

*Mint leaves- 1 handful 

*Curd- 4 tbspns

*Garam masala- 1 tbspn

*Biriyani masala(optional)- 2 tbspns

(I used Shan Chicken Biriyani Masala)

*Lemon juice- 5 tbspns

*Turmeric powder- 1/2 tspn

*Biriyani leaf- 2

,

*Cardamom- 5

*Cinnamon stick- 2 to 3 sticks about an inch

*Pepper corns- 2 tspn

*Cloves- 5

*Shah jeera - 1 1/2 tbspns

*Oil-  8 tbspns

*Ghee- 4 tbspns

*Salt- as per your taste

*Orange food colour- 1 pinch(optional)

PROCEDURE:

STEP 1:(Marinating Chicken)

*Wash the chicken pieces well and marinate them with salt, 4 tbspns of ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and biriyani masala. 

*Marinate it overnight. The least time could be like 4 hours of marination. But marinating overnight is highly recommended. The more you marinate the chicken, the more juicier it will be.

STEP 2:(Making the chilly paste)

*Soak the red chillies in hot water for about 10 to 15 minutes and grind them into a fine paste.

STEP 3:(Making the Biriyani)

*Wash the rice and soak it for about 30 to 45 minutes.

*Now take either a large cooking pot or cooker to make biriyani.

*Add oil to the pot. Once the oil is hot, add all the whole garam masalas and fry them for about 30 seconds.

*Once you get a nice aroma, add 4 tbspns of curd in the oil and mix it well. Saute it for about a minute.

*Now add green chillies and sliced onions. Fry the onions until they turn translucent and slight brown.

*Once the onions are done add rest of the ginger garlic paste and saute them until you get a nice aroma. Cook on a medium flame, so that it doesn't get burnt.

*Once the Ginger garlic paste is cooked, add the mint leaves and saute it.

*Now it's time to add the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes and saute them until it becomes mushy.

*Now that the tomatoes are nice and mushy add the coloufull Red Chilli Paste.

*Cook it on a medium flame, until the oil gets separated.

*Once the oil separates, add the marinated chicken pieces and mix well.

*Lid up the pot and cook the chicken for 10 to 15 minutes without adding water. 

(In case of pressure cooker, close the lid and do not put the cooker weight on. Just close the lid and let it cook on medium flame)

*Once the chicken is cooked 70%, add the soaked rice, add adequate water and garam masala (for 1 cup rice add 1 1/2 cups of water). I added 4 cups of water for 3 cups of rice, as the chicken already left half a cup of water.

*Now check for salt and add if required. You can even add chilli powder at this point if needed.

*Let it boil on medium high flame until you could see the rice puffing up at the top. 

*Once you could see the rice add ghee and close the lid for 10 mins on low flame.

( In case of pressure cooker close the lid and put the cooker weight on and cook it on low flame)

*After 10 mins, open the lid mix the rice without breaking it and add the food colour.

*Now again close the lid and cook it for another 10 to 15 minutes until the rice is gets cooked well.

*The delicious and aromatic Ambur Chicken Biriyani is now ready. Serve it hot with Onion Raitha, Boiled egg or any non-veg appetizer of your choice and enjoy!!!