• Place a 5-litre capacity pan on the big burner – Turn on the flame to LOW mode.
• Once the pan gets hot, pour refined sunflower oil – 250 ml.
• Now, lets add the below to the pan with oil in it –
  • chopped tomatoes – 500 grams
  • Pepper – 1/2 tablespoon
  • Cumin – 1/2 tablespoon
  • Star anise – 1
  • Cinnamon – 3
  • Cardamom – 5
  • Clove – 5
• Turn the flame to HIGH mode now and start stirring the contents in pan. The tomatoes should get smashed and cooked well. This will take approximately 5 minutes.
• Now, lets add ‘Ginger-garlic paste’ – 2 tablespoons. Stir well to mix. Turn the flame to LOW mode now.
• Add the below two and stir to mix them well. (If we don’t have ‘Kashmiri chilli powder’, then we can add the normal red chili powder – 3/4 tablespoon is enough)
  • ‘Dried plums’ – 7 and stir a little.
  • ‘Kashmiri chilli powder’ – 1 tablespoon.
• Now let’s add the below to pan and stir to mix well.
  • Salt – 1.5 tablespoon
  • Curd – 250 ml
• Take the below 4 in a mixer grinder machine and powder it –
  • Cinnamon – 3
  • Nutmeg – 1/2
  • Black cumin – 1/2 tablespoon
  • Mace – 1 (we call it as jaathee-pathree in Tamil)
  • Then, add the powder to the pan and stir well for 20 seconds, with flame in low mode.
• Take green chillies – 5 (medium sized ones) in a mixer jar and grind it to a dry paste. Add it to the pan. Stir well for 5 seconds.
• Now, add the potatoes (500 grams, chopped into big pieces).
• Pour water – 1 litre. Stir a little. Then follow the below steps –
  • Close the pan with a lid.
  • Turn the flame to HIGH mode.
  • Let the water and contents boil in high flame for 2 minutes.
• After 2 minutes, we can see steam oozing out of lid’s sides.
  • Then, turn the flame to LOW mode.
  • Let the contents cook in low flame for another 5 minutes (with lids closed).
• After 5 minutes of cooking, remove the lid. Stir a little for 5 seconds. Then start adding the chicken pieces one by one.
• After adding chicken pieces, turn the flame to HIGH mode and wait till we see water again boiling and bubbles coming up.
• Immediately, turn the flame to LOW mode and close the pan with a lid. Let the contents get cooked in LOW flame for 5 minutes.

TO BOIL RICE

• Meanwhile, lets take another pan and place it on the small burner.
  • Pour 2 litres of water into this pan.
  • Turn the flame to HIGH mode.
  • Let water get boiled nicely for 5 to 6 minutes.
• Once the water boils well, lets add the below –
  • Star anise – 1
  • Bay leaf – 3 (break and put it)
  • Salt – 2.5 tablespoons
• Drain water from the rice. Then add the rice to the pan with boiling water. Stir gently once for every 30 seconds. The rice will get cooked to 75% in 3 to 4 minutes.
• Once rice gets cooked to 75%, turn off the flame. Then, using a big steel strainer, we can drain the water from rice. Let the rice be kept aside as of now.
• Now, remove the lid from the pan that has chicken and potatoes. Stir a little for 10 seconds.
• Now let’s add the below 2 to the pan with chicken content –
  • Coriander leaves – a handful (just ¼ of a bunch)
  • Mint leaves – a handful (just ¼ of a bunch)
  • Put thin slices of lemon one by one on each corner of pan.
  • Rice – drained off water.
• Using a wooden spatula, gently stir a little. The flame should be in LOW mode. Close the pan with a lid. Let the contents get cooked for 20 to 25 minutes in low flame.(This is called the “Dum Process” – cooking in low flame with a closed lid).
• After 25 minutes of cooking in low flame, remove the lid. From the side, insert spatula and see to check if any water is left at the bottom.
• If we have water left at the bottom, then we need to close the pan with lid, and make sure dum process happens for another 3 to 5 minutes.
• If there is no water left at bottom, it means our biryani is ready. Serve it with a piece of chicken and potato (available in the biryani).

Enjoy it folks.