What is a celebration without good food?
Diwali, Eid, Christmas, all have one thing in common..lots of mouth watering food and a distinct disregard for the consequences of over eating. Here the holiday season is now officially on and eating is the highlight till Jan 1st. 

What is your favorite holiday food? Is it the sweets or the appetizers? I for one thrive on the appetizers and then peck on the main course unless its something very different. And of course dessert rules supreme so have to make some space for that too. But a biryani defies these rules and It's something to try, even if its just one bite.

Few weeks back i actually had a sudden craving for biriyani, and by biriyani, i mean not the north indian style one. The biriyani that i'm talking about has its own identity of its own when it comes to the southern part of India especially Kerala. Well i'm talking about the famous malabari chicken biriyani, which is quite different from the rest of the biriyani category.

Well after googling about how different it is from the rest, i came to know that the main difference between a malabari biryani and other biriyanis is that it uses only Khaima/Jeerakasala rice—a short-grain, thin rice which is also called biryani rice in Kerala. The dish does not use basmati rice, which makes it stand out from the rest of the biriyanis. But since the non-availability of the malabari or kerala rice, i did it using the normal basmti rice. So chill, you guys can still get the taste of how a malabari biriyani is or at least something close enough. It's just you need to follow my recipe or head to Kerala to enjoy the authentic biriyani.

I had a lot of requests to post the recipe ever since i shared the picture on Instagram but as always due to lack of time i got left behind. Let me tell you, this biriyani has got a completely different aroma and taste but it is just as good as the other ones so give it a shot.

(This recipe is enough to serve around 6-8 people)

Chicken - 1 chicken of about 1 1/2 kgs 
Onion – 4 medium ones
Tomato - 2 medium sized ones
Small Hot Green chillies – Around 8
Ginger - 2 inch piece
Garlic pods – 6 cloves(big)
Pepper Powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Plain Yogurt - 3/4 cup (thick)
Fennel Seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
Poppy Seeds (Khus khus) - 1 1/2 tsp
Mint leaves (Pudina) - 1 cup chopped
Coriander leaves - 1 cup chopped
Curry leaves- a handful
Lemon juice- 2 tsp or juice of 1 lemon.(not lime)
Biryani Masala-1 tablespoon.(I'd suggest Eastern Biriyani Masala)
Clarified butter (Ghee) - almost 1 cup
Cashew nuts – 20 gm or a small handful
Raisins- 20 gm or a handful

For the rice:
Basmati rice - 1 kg/ 4 cups
Cinnamon - 1 stick of 3 inch
Cloves - 4 
Cardamom - 4 
One bay leaf, salt.
Lemon juice- 1 1/2 tsp or juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste

Preparation:
1. Clean the chicken and cut into medium sized pieces. Wash and drain well. 

2. Soak the fennel seeds and poppy seeds in a bowl with water for an hour at least and grind with very little water to a very fine creamy paste. If it still feels grainy, add a tablespoon of grated coconut or a couple of cashew nuts to it to grind it well. Keep aside.

3. Grind together the ginger, garlic and green chilies into a very coarse paste. Pulsing them instead of non stop grinding works better. Chop the tomatoes into cubes and slice the onions. One onion should be sliced extra fine. This one is for the fried onion garnish.

4. Marinate the chicken with the poppy seed mixture, ginger, garlic, chili, and all the other spices and ingredients except the onions, biryani masala and herb leaves. Add salt too and keep covered for two hours at least. Marinating is very important in the case of chicken to help it to absorb the flavors. (But don't marinate the chicken over night as the texture will change. If you have to marinate overnight, omit the salt, lemon juice and yogurt and add that the 1 hr before cooking.) 

5. Heat three fourth of the ghee/oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add the garnish portion of the sliced onions and fry, till they turn golden brown and crisp. Add a sprinkling of sugar to speed up the process. This should take about 10 minutes on medium low heat.. Remove the onions and stir fry the cashew nuts on medium heat till it turns brown on all sides. Drain and remove. Add the raisins now and stir till they plump up. Remove onto paper towels. This ghee/oil is used for flavoring the rice so save it.

6. Heat up the remaining oil and add the rest of the sliced onions and saute it till it becomes translucent. Add just the marinated chicken, and saute it on all sides for 3-4 minutes on high heat. Add the rest of the marinade and the biryani masala and the coriander, mint and curry leaves and mix thoroughly. Cook it uncovered on medium high heat while stirring constantly till the visible liquid is reduced to half. 

Then keep it covered and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes. Check frequently to prevent burning and wait till the oil starts to separate. There should be some gravy left and the chicken should be almost cooked, not-coming-apart cooked. Add water only if there is no liquid for the chicken to cook. Check taste and add more salt or lime, pepper etc if needed.

7. Clean and soak rice for 10 minutes. Keep aside. Heat 3 tbsp of the remaining onion ghee/oil and add the whole spices- cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves. Sauté for a second and add the drained rice. Stir fry the rice till it turns opaque and add 6 cups water (three fourth of the quantity required for ghee rice). When the water-rice mix comes to a boil, cover and cook on slow heat till all the water is absorbed. This would take about 4-7 minutes.

8. In a dish, spread half of the chicken masala(it should have some thick gravy)and place half of rice over it. Sprinkle some lemon juice to prevent the rice from sticking. Spread the remaining masala and top it with rice followed by lemon juice. Pour the ghee/oil(leftover from frying the onions) on top of it and sprinkle some garam masala, fried onion, nuts and raisins. 

Cook it on low flame for about 20 mins by closing it with a layer of aluminum foil or you can follow the traditional "dum" technique. Remove and let rest for another 5-10 minutes before opening. 

9. You can garnish with some more fried onions if you like before serving with Pickled onions, Yogurt and Papad.

Well i can guarantee you that it's gonna be one flavorful and super tasty n tempting biriyani that's gonna lighten up your mood as well as your tummy. So do give it a try.