'the Really easy' Dum Biriyani

This requires chicken to be marinaded. Rice used for the biriyani is half cooked separately and then cooked along with the marinaded chicken

What you need

Chicken (1kg), Basamati rice, Pudhina leaves, Coriander leaves, Ginger – garlic paste, Green chillies, Garam masala, Lemon juice, Curd, Salt, , Cloves, Elaichi, Cinnamon, Bay leaves, Onions, Saffron. And nothing more. Dont fret about the quantities. Scroll down....for the three simple steps

STEP 1 :Marinading the chicken:

1 kg of chicken and the following ingredients:

Pudhina( Fresh mint) leaves	1/2 cup
Coriander leaves	1 cup
Ginger – garlic paste	2 tsp
Green chillies	2
Garam masala	2 tsp
Lemon juice	1 tblsp
Curd	3 tblsp
Salt	1tsp ( adjusted to taste)

Clean and cut chicken into chunky pieces.

Make a paste of all the ingredients, mix with the cleaned chicken pieces and set aside for atleast 4 hours in the refrigerator

STEP 2 : Getting the rice ready

Basamati rice	3 cups, washed
Cloves	2
Elaichi	1
Cinnamon	2 sticks
Salt	1 – 2 tsp
Bay leaves	2

Set the rice to boil in 10 cups of water along with the spices. Keep checking the consistency of the rice and stop short of completely softening the grain. Drain excess water . Divide into two portions and keep aside

STEP 3 : The final step

Onions cut into thin slices	3, medium sized
Saffron	1 pinch soaked in a tsp of milk
Ghee ( Clarified butter )	2 tblsp

Brown the onion in the ghee , divide into three portions and set aside

Traditionally whatever we ve made so far is put together in a pot, which is sealed with the help of wheat flour paste and cooked over a flame. Similar results can be achieved even in a pressure cooker, which is what we ll do!

1. Pack the marinaded chicken in the bottom of the pressure cooker. I mean really pack!
2. Layer the first portion of fried onions over this. Layer the two portions of rice with the remaining two portions of fried onions alternating with each other. If you ve done this right, the top layer is that of fried onions.
   
3. Pour the saffron-milk over this.
   
4. Pressure cook on a high flame for the first five minutes, and then lower the flame. Cooking continues till the pressure builds up just short of setting up the whistle. This takes about 15 min. on low flame.
5. Take the cooker off the flame just before the whistle goes off!
   

The cooking is done. Hold on. Atleast till the cooker quitens down. Gently mix it up in the serving bowl and enjoy.

Whats so special about this recipe :

• Most recipes require the chicken to be cooked seperately. We ve done away with that step by smartly marinading the chicken for four hours
• This may be the least greasy biriyani you ll have in your life !!