Kerala Muslim Style Chicken Biriyani

It was a lazy sunday morning when both of us got the starnge craving for good Biriyani!! But instead of going to Paradise(a famous outlet in Secunderabad for Biriyani's) we decided to make it at home. Everyone says that being in Hyderabad why do you have to cook biriyani?? Whenever you feel like eating one, hop on to the nearest joint and you can get a decent one!! But very ironically the so much hyped Hyderabadi Biriyani didnot please neither my hubby's nor my taste buds!! After trying out from the best places here, my search for Biriyanis in this city's restuarants ended!! Thus I started my endeavor with lots of hope to recreate the taste of the Chicken Biriyani from my own homeland, Kerala!! The taste of the sumptuous Chicken Biriyani of Sagar Hotel in Calicut (which I had a decade ago) or the modest Kaikka's Biriyani from Mattanchery made me search the internet for the most authentic recipe.. In such a search I stuck against Mishmash's recipe!!
http://kitchenmishmash.blogspot.com/2007/09/chicken-biryani-indian-rice-flavored.html

It was this recipe on Shn's blog which enticed me to try it out no matter how much ever hard work I had to put in!! With almost half the quantity of rice and chicken it took me long 3 hours in the kitchen!! Was wondering how much time Shn took :D. Anyways, Shn, thanks a ton for sharing this recipe..

With certain minor changes in the procedure and ingredients I recreated the taste which I have been lingering to have!!

I started with the cooking of rice using the traditional stove top method and for the first time I got the most perfectly cooked basmati rice. The chicken kurma had the perfect color it should have had, I guess!! And the very instance I tasted the kurma, I became so sure that the Biriyani is going to be a hit!!

I did the closing ceremony by using the dum method as Shn had mentioned that it is a better way of making biriyani. For which, I greased a large vessel with lots of ghee (do not use steel vessel – the biriyani might get burnt). Randomly placed some chicken pieces along with gravy in the bottom of the dish; then spread some cooked rice, and sprinkled some ground aromatic masala mix; some fried cashew, raisins, fried onions and finely chopped coriander leaves, some ghee and some beaten curd.(Adding ghee and curd made it moist.) Repeated this layering process until the chicken kurma and rice got over. The layering should end with rice which should be topped with fried nuts, raisins, fried onions and finely chopped coriander leaves.
Then sealad the lid with the atta dough and cooked over low heat for 20-30 minutes. Once the gas was turned off I let it remain unopened for around 1 hour.

But the tragedy was that, by the time I was done with the Biriyani my hubby got all impatient and hungry that we pounced on to it and I forgot to take the end products picture. The picture which I have uploaded was the left over which I reheated and had the next day!! Hope to upload a pic next time I make it.. For then, Eat loads and enjoy!!