The Biryani Incident

       I have been meaning to write this blog for the past 3yrs, since the day the whole process of getting arranged married began. I feel it is pertinent to explain that I am an Indian Bahu who has been married for 2.5yrs now but there are still so many times(read most times when around in laws) that I feel like the bumbling blundering newlywed that I was 2.5yrs ago.

      So what changed in 2.5yrs? Well I am more patient with the daily taunts and don't let the small things bother me anymore, I can smile through it when one of them points out my incompetencies as a daughter in law and don't work myself up to impress them too much anymore as now I am very sure that nothing is enough no matter how hard you try. Because we are always the daughters in law and not the daughters. So rules are always different for us.

      So the other day I was given some chicken and ordered to make biryani out of it. Now let me tell you what happens when ur an only daughter of an upper middle class nuclear family. You are convent educated, attend an engineering college, get served delicious food made by a mother who loves you more than life and are showered with love and gifts by your dad for being the daddy's princess that you are and in turn you give them good grades, study hard, be friends with but don't fool around with boys and make mummy and daddy proud of what a jewel they have raised. Nowhere in all this education is included how to make a biryani, which side of the plate the rice is served or how much are you to talk in front of the sister in laws husband.

      So, back to the biryani. I was in a fix but as usual, I turn to technology when I need a solution, the engineer that I am, so youtube came to my rescue. After watching a couple of recipes, I decided to chuck it and made my own with some store bought masala. Here's how..
Ingredients:
1/2 kg chicken boneless or with bones
1packet everest biryani masala
4 large onions roughly chopped
4 tbsp garam masala
4 tbsp dhania powder
4 tbsp jeera powder
4 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp red chilli powder
500 grm dahi
250 grm oil
1 tspn haldi powder
4 tbsp jeera
4 tbsp ghee( desi ghee or vanaspati)
2.5 cups basmati rice
10 approx Pudina leaves
Salt to taste
Kesar water optional

Process:
1) Wash chicken pieces thoroughly and put in a larg bowl.
2) Add as much dahi to cover all the chicken. Now add dhania powder, jeera powder, garam masala, 6tbsps biryani masala, ginger garlic paste, crushed pudina leaves, 1 spn ghee, red chilli powder, haldi powder and salt. Mix well till every inch of all the chicken pieces are coated well. Poke the pieces with a fork to make tiny holes in them so the marination can penetrate inside well.
3) Keep it aside for as much time as you can. If your marinating it for more than 2hrs please put it in the fridge else it might go bad in our hot Indian weather.
4) At the time of preparation ,In a pressure cooker, add all the marinated chicken along with the gravy and add 6tbspns of oil to it and half a glass of water.
5) Cook for 6 to 7 whistles. Open slowly and put a knife through one of the pieces to open and check if it is thoroughly cooked. If not then add a little water and take a fee more whistles. Make sure it doesn't burn from the bottom.
6)While the chicken cooks, heat the remaining ghee in a large kadhai. Slow the gas and add the jeera. After it has crackled, add the rinsed basmati rice to it. Careful because the water remaining in the rice may cause the ghee to splatter so do this using a long spoon and on a slow gas.
6) Keep churing the rice carefully amd slowly so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the kadhai and the long grain of the rice doesn't break.
7) When you think the rice has become a bit hard and fried or just that its been around two mins since you are churing the rice, add enough water to cover the rice twice over.
8) Add a table spoon of salt.
9) Cover the rice and let it boil. Check every 5 mins. Pick up a grain and see if it can be crushed entirely between two fingers. If it can than switch off gas. Dont overcoom the rice, biryani rice is always a bit al dante.
10) Drain the rice water ( keep a little for later) and keep the rice aside in a closed box.
11) In a kadhai add 2 tbspn of oil and all the chopped onions and stir them on medium flame until they are slightly brown.
11)In a serving pot, put a thin layer of rice, add all the gravy and chicken on top of it as second layer,add all the onions as third layer and all the remaining rice as layer of rice to top it of. Pour some kesar and edibe rose water on the top if you have it.

      That's it. 2 hours of slogging and you serve the biryani and all you get is, you gave me only one piece, implying that I intended to eat the rest of the biryani myself and serve only a measly piece to them. But after 2.5yrs of marriage, you take that as a compliment that the biryani turned out so well that the critics from hell are actually asking for more. Oh well.. all in the days work..