தலப்பாக்கட்டி சிக்கன் பிரியாணி / திண்டுக்கல் தலப்பாகட்டி பிரியாணி / Dindigul thalappakatti biryani

FOR THE MASALA

• 150 gram shallots
• 20 pods garlic
• 1 big piece ginger
• 7 Green Chillies
• 2 small two inch cinnamon sticks
• 7 cardamom
• 6 cloves
• 1 javithri
• 1 marati mokku
• 6 tbsp water

MAIN INGREDIENTS
• 500 gram Seeraga Samba Rice (3 cup)
• 750 grams Chicken with bone
• Meat to Rice Ratio – 1 Rice 1.5 Meat
• Water – 1: 2 ratio

OTHER INGREDIENTS
• 3 tbsp ghee
• 100 ml Sunflower Oi
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 1 cup curd
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 hand full Mint Leaves
• 1 hand full Coriander Leaves
• Juice of one lime
• ½ tsp cinnamon stick clove powder

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Grind all the masala ingredients to a very fine smooth paste.

2. Soak the rice in water now. The rice needs to soak for half an hour.

3. Heat Oil and ghee in a heavy pan. Add bay leaf and Masala paste. Fry on medium flame until the oil separates from the mixture.

4. Add in the chilli powder and salt. Sauté well. Now add chicken. Sauté the chicken. Reduce the flame to simmer and cover it with a lid and let it cook for 15 minutes. Don’t add any water. The chicken will cook in its own juices. Just saute once in 5 minutes so the chicken doesn’t scorch in the bottom. After 15 minutes, the chicken should be done and there should be some gravy too.

5. Add curd. Sauté well.

6. Add in the chopped coriander leaves and the mint leaves. sauté well.
7. Shift the cooked meat to a bowl and roughly measure how much liquid is left behind. Mine had about 1.5 cups of liquid. Just measure roughly. It need not be accurate.

8. We are using 3 cups rice and 750 grams chicken. We require 2 times water to the quantity of rice. So we need to add 6 cups water. There was already 1.5 cups gravy that we measured before. So I added 4.5 cups water to the mixture. Let the mixture come to a boil.

9. Add back the meat and let it come to a boil again. Check for seasoning. Add more salt if necessary.

10. Drain the soaked rice and add it to the pan. Wait for it to boil. Add the lemon juice and cinnamon stick clove powder. Mix well.

11. Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 20 minutes.

12. After that time, open the lid and see if the rice has been cooked. Switch off the flame and close the pan with a lid. Do not disturb for the next 15 minutes. The rice will get swollen and absorb all the left out moisture. This time is very important. Do not rush.

13. After the rest, Enjoy! Our tastiest dindigul thalappakatti chicken biryani is ready to eat. serve with gravy and onion raita.