It's almost time to say Eid Mubarak! Even if you are health-conscious, you can't really skip eating chicken biryani on Eid. But you can certainly give it a healthy twist. Marika Johansson, a celebrity nutritionist and owner of 6packmeals.com, shares her recipe of this dish.
1 kg chicken breast boneless cut in 2 inches pieces
1 tbsp garam masala
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
3 tbsp raw papaya paste
4 tbsp hung slim/fat-free curd
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
For the biryani masala
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4 onions, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped
th cup skim milk, warm
Saffron strands
Olive Oil
Rose water
Kewra essence
4 green chillies
Method
Marinating chicken
To the chicken, add the beaten curd, ginger-garlic paste, raw papaya paste, chilli powder, salt, lemon juice, garam masala.
Allow the chicken to marinate for 3 hours.
Making air-fried onions
Slice 2 onions very thinly. Separate the slices.
Add a pinch of sea salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Toss till all the slices have separated.
Place them in the air fryer at 180 degrees for about 8-10 mins. Make sure they are dark brown in colour.
Once done, remove in a plate. This fried onion is known as barista which is one of the essential garnishes of biryani.
If you do not have an air fryer, you can even roast the onions in the oven at the same temperature for the same time.
Cooking chicken
Add 2 tbsp of olive oil to a pan and heat it up.
Add remaining sliced onions and green chillies. Cook, stirring continuously, till onions are light golden-brown.
Add ginger paste and garlic paste and mix well.
Add marinated chicken and cook on high heat for seven to eight minutes.
Add coriander powder, cumin powder and red chilli powder. Mix thoroughly.
Stir in three cups of water, bring it to a boil, reduce heat and cook covered till chicken is almost cooked.
Add tomatoes, salt, garam masala powder and fresh coriander leaves.
Cook for 15 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally. The oil would be separated from the spices and there should not be any watery gravy in the meat.
Preparing rice
Use only good quality long grain brown rice. Soak the rice for 20 minutes in water. Wash well till the water runs clear. Drain all the water.
In a small piece of cloth take cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, javitri, jaiphal, black peppercorn, shahi jeera, and star anise and tie a knot to make a bag (potli).
Bring 750 ml water to boil, add rice, bay leaf, salt and potli, cover and cook till rice is done 1/3rd.
Drain the water and remove the whole masala potli.
Preparing saffron-milk
Take 1/4th cup warm, skim milk in a cup and dissolve saffron strands in the milk.
Cover and wait for 20 minutes. Add rose water and kewra essence in the milk. Mix well and cover. Keep aside.
Layering the biryani
Take a large heavy bottom pan with tight fitting lid.
Grease the pan with olive oil.
Add a layer of cooked rice, and then cooked meat pieces, sprinkle saffron water, add fried onion slices and ghee.
Again add a layer of rice, then chicken... Go on like this till you are done. Top and bottom layer will be of rice.
Cover with chopped pudina and coriander, air-fried onion and slit green chillies and juice of half a lemon
For smoking the biryani
Place 3 chunks of coal and put it on fire till it is hot and becomes red in colour.
In the meanwhile, take a small stainless steel bowl/katori and add 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cardamom pods and 3-4 cloves.
Use a pair of tongs and place the hot pieces of coal in this katori with spices. Press the katori in the centre of the biryani pan and add 1 tbsp of ghee over it. Cover it immediately and place a heavy object on the lid, this ensures the smoke does not escape.
This is to be done swiftly as the coal starts to smoke when ghee is added. Allow it smoke for 10-15 minutes till the entire smokey flavour blends in the biryani.
Serve hot.
For raita
Take 5 tbsp hung slim/fat-free yoghurt.
Add 2 tsp of toasted flaxseeds, 2 tsp of toasted sunflower seeds.
Now add half a bowl of pomegranate, salt and 1 tsp cumin powder.
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