Chicken biryani – Malabar ishtyle.

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Chicken biryanis are no longer a lot of hardwork. This was not always the case.

There used to be a time when cooking a biryani at home meant someone special was invited or something special was happening in the house. We would wake up in anticipation of the big day. “Today we are having biryani for lunch”- I would tell this to anybody who would care to listen. Then my father would go the market with the grocery list, of course, accompanied by me. See, it’s different in India. You have to travel a bit to get good quality Basmati rice.

“What?”, you say,”You don’t stock the biyani rice?We usually just buy a big bag from Costco.”

Ah! yes! But Basmati rice is quite expensive in India and unless you are really rich, you usually just buy enough for that one meal of biryani. A few years ago, there weren’t that many supermarkets. So you had to stop at one shop for the rice, another one for the chicken and then another for the herbs and lemon. It would take atleast an hour or more to get back home after a round of shopping.

Of course, things are different now and you can get all you want at any one of the many super markets that are popping all around. Sure is convenient but then you miss the walk in the chantha ( market), with all its varied smells and great display of veggies.

If Mastercard used this theme they would have said:

Biryani rice Rs. 50

Fresh chicken Rs.100
A walk in the chantha ( market ) Priceless

Making chicken biryani is a breeze after coming to the US. Take a few cups of rice from the Costco rice bag. Cut up the chicken in the freezer. Use the herbs that you have stored in the fridge. Chicken biryani is ready in an hour or so. And this is exactly what I did last Friday – actually Satish did go to the store for chicken.

I have had a brief touch with Malabar cuisine. My mother once worked for some time in Kozhikode. She stayed there for a few months or so. We went to visit her once and I had some amazing food at one of my father’s friends. I was convinced Muslim hospitality was the best. There was a whole table of food and all their relatives were in the house to welcome us. Made us all feel real special! I was really young but this episode is still clear in my memory.

Thanks to fellow bloggers Shaheen and Shynee, we are getting to know more about this cuisine.

For the chicken biryani, I followed Shynee’s recipe. I had seen Anita mention it. Thanks Anita!!!

Once you have made biryani you will see that it is more of a method than exact measure ( except for cooking the rice).

Here are some pictures to get you inspired.

Cooking the rice:

Soak the rice in water for 30min or so prior to cooking. Drain off the water.

Add ghee( a must for authentic taste), cloves, cardamon and cinnamon. Add the rice. Stir well. Add water and salt. ( For 3 cups of rice, I used 5 3/4 water). Cook covered. When all water is evaporated, shut off the flame and keep covered for a few more minutes. In the meanwhile avoid stirring. You can fluff with a fork after it has finished cooking

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Cooking the chicken

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Layering the rice and chicken

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Frying herbs to decorate the top

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Also fry onions, raisins and cashews.

Bake for 15- 20 minutes.

Serve warm with raita, achar, ulli surka and pappadam.

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33 Responses to this post.

  1. A beautful recipe from you atlast:D

    Looks great,specially the chicken.Mouthwatering Biryani.Thanks Gini:)

    Are you saying my other recipes weren’t beautiful?:) Just kidding.
    Thanks for your kind words.

    Reply

  2. Gini – the biryani looks amazing. Thanks for sharing. For Green Blog Project entry, leave your trackback or link in the comments or send me an e-mail.

    I will..I will. As soon as this semester is over.

    Reply

  3. oh my! oh my! oh my! that looks sooooooooo good Gini! As for the basmati rice at Costco, it sure rocks!

    I really like Costco! Thanks Nabeela and thanks for including me in your list of fav food blogs. Appreciate it!!

    Reply

  4. Looks yummy!!
    Nice pics.

    Thanks Bhargavi. Your garlic toast looks super too!!

    Reply

  5. Gini,
    Thanks for the recipe – I love Kerala-style Biriyani. I’ve tasted another Kerala-style Biriyani that had pineapples and nuts – do you just add pineapples to this recipe or is that a totally different style? If you have the recipe for the one with pineapples, would you mind posting it. I had it some 20 years ago in a Kerala restaurant in the middle-east but I am yet to find something close to that in taste.

    Faffer, I think pineapples are added to mutton biryani. I made it once. The pineapples got lost in the mutton gravy. I have to dig up the recipe. I might have even lost it when my old computer crashed. Damn!! I will let you know if I get the recipe from my friend.

    Reply

  6. WOW!!! Looks absolutely delicious and inspiring. I have never had kerala biryani and would love to try this one out… The photos are so tempting…

    Try it. It is pretty easy if you know how to cook the rice the correct way. Hope you like it.

    Reply

  7. This looks like it is to die for! Will make it this weekend as we are all feeling chicken deprived!

    Did you make it?
    It was pretty good. I am sure you will like it.

    Reply

  8. Looks really good…especially the chicken, finger lickin’ good.


    Thanks. Your picture of the Singapore dishes is making me very hungry. Can’t wait to visit Singapore!!

    Reply

  9. i miss the chantha too. Biryani doesn’t have the same anticipation here. But ur photos looks so good, i am hungry now.

    Thanks Shaheen. Biryani is our most common dish for guests these days. No need for a long list of sides:)

    Reply

  10. wow, nice looking and yummy

    Thanks Lakshmi

    Reply

  11. Yumm ! Absolutely delicious !

    Priya, thanks !!

    Reply

  12. The first time I had biryani was when I was 17 years old. I hated it when it bit into the sweet raisins and cashwenuts – totally unfamiliar items in rice. Then later on, oh boy! I love it! But seriously I have tried all kind of rice here, but the real long grain basmati we get and the smell, I never get here. What brand do you buy?

    I don’t know what brand, but now that you asked I will look it up. I know what you mean about the fragrant smell. I don’t think this rice has that fragrance either. My sister will pick out all the raisins from her biryani. I too have gave grown to like those in the biryani .

    Reply

  13. this is Beeeet blog :-*
    keep going ;)

    Reply

  14. Hi Gini, biryani looks wonderful! Hey, congratulations on being chosen for a Best Blog Award on WordPress! :)

    That is cool! Thanks Linda for letting me know.

    Reply

  15. Looks absolutely delicious. This looks nothing like Burmese biryani.


    I hardly know anything about Burmese cuisine. Hope to learn more. I had no clue Burma had biryanis too:)

    Reply

  16. Hey, I liked your parody of the Mastercard commercial!

    Sra, Thanks for noticing that!

    Reply

  17. Looks great! We are malabar cuisine lovers too…and I have one malabar cookbook.
    Regarding the pineapples, I don’t add it always. But when I add it, I don’t add it to the gravy. During the final stage when I layer gravy and rice, I add a layer of chopped pineapples. Then do the “dhum” in the oven.

    Reply

  18. WOW! this looks amazing. I love cashews. I will definitely have to try this.

    Reply

  19. Kya Ishtyle hai…mazaa aa gaya.

    Reply

  20. Posted by piya on December 17, 2006 at 12:03 am

    I see how to cook rice for biryani. But where is the recipe to make chicken. It shows only the picture.

    Reply

  21. Posted by piya on December 17, 2006 at 12:03 am

    Here I see the recipe of the rice. but where is the recipe for chicken. how would i make this. It shows only how to cook rice.

    I have provided the links for the recipes that I followed in the post. Click here for the recipe.

    Reply

  22. Gini cooked the biriyani when i visited them. It was soooo good. She packed some for me too…But i forgot to pick it up when i left. One of the biggest mistakes of my life…:-(


    Thanks Renju for the nice words. Appreciate it.

    Reply

  23. I prepared in different way.Anyway ill try yours also.Chicken biryani Looks yummy……..

    Reply

  24. Posted by Ranjeev on June 13, 2007 at 8:55 pm

    The biriyani indeed looks yummy. But mummy! where is the recipe for the ‘Cooking the chicken’ ? Do us bachelor boys a favour. Please load the recipe in full.

    Reply

  25. hi gini,
    your biriyani looks yummy.Nice Pics.

    Reply

  26. Posted by Rani on August 26, 2007 at 10:01 pm

    Really well organized and beautifully presented website.Good Recipes. Thanks a lot.

    Rani, Toronto, Canada

    Reply

  27. Posted by pradheep on September 6, 2007 at 1:21 pm

    wow!!!!!! i like it verymuch

    Reply

  28. Posted by priyathulsi on October 10, 2007 at 2:03 pm

    hiii gini, i luv to make this recipe…..bt only probs is i’m nt abl to get the description of “cooking the chickn” n “layering” …. some error on page is shown……pls help me……coz i luv cookng n this recipez jus awesome……….plsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

    Reply

  29. Posted by Johny Sagariga on December 5, 2007 at 10:40 am

    Chicken undakunathu ninde vere arengilum paranju tharumoo…????????????

    Reply

  30. hi,
    chicken biriyani looks great and mouthwatering. Beautiful photographs.

    Reply

  31. Posted by Deepa on February 10, 2009 at 6:20 pm

    Hi,
    Your pictures look amazing!! But i didn’t fing the recipe on how to make the biriyani after the part where it says ‘How to cook the rice’. Where can i find it?
    Thanks!

    Reply

  32. view more in Ayesha’s Kitchen http://ayeshahaq.wordpress.com

    Reply

  33. [...] 4. Gini’s Chicken Biryani- Malabar Ishtyle [...]

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