Mint Chicken Biryani

Biryani is a rice based dish made with meat, and/or vegetables and spices and traditionally cooked on slow heat to let the flavors blend in. There are several different recipes and styles popular all over India and local variants of this dish are not only popular in South Asia but also in Arabia and within various South Asian communities in Western countries. Mint chicken biryani as the name suggests is made with chicken and rice cooked with fresh mint leaves.
I have made this biryani way too many times to remember. However, every time I throw in something extra or omit something. So as you can imagine, I would never remember what worked and what not so much . This time I decided to take notes for the blog and I am glad I did as it turn out great.

You need :

1 lb chicken pieces, I used boneless thigh meat
2 medium to large onions, sliced

2 medium tomatoes, chopped
6-7 cloves garlic, chopped
3-4 tbsp oil (I use Canola)
2 black cardamoms
1 bay leaf
1 green cardamom
3-4 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves

20-30 fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1.5 tbsp MDH Chicken Curry Masala
1.5 tbsp MDH Meat Masala
1 tsp red chili powder (optional)
2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp onion seeds (kalaunji)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp cloves powder
1/3 cup milk
pinch/few saffron strands
2.5 cups long grain Basmati rice
2-3 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

1. Boil 10-12 cups of water in a large pot. Add rice, half of mint leaves and chopped cilantro leaves. Boil rice until almost done-a rice grain breaks in two when pressed between two fingers. Do not over cook, drain water.
2. Heat oil in a deep pan/karahi. Add bay leaf, cardamoms, garlic and saute for few seconds.
3. Add onions and fry until golden brown(medium heat). Take out about 1/3rd of onions and keep aside.
4.Add tomatoes, all spices, salt and tomato sauce and cook on medium heat until tomatoes are mushy and the tomato-onion mixture start to leave oil.
5. Add chicken, remaining mint leaves,1/4 cup water, cover and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add 1.5 cups water, cover and cook on medium heat for another 5 minutes. Cook for another 5 minutes-uncovered.
6. Preheat oven to 350 F
7. Take a large baking dish-9*13″ or larger. Grease its base with oil. Spread a layer of rice. Dot some rice with food coloring and spread with fingers. Spread a layer of chicken (along with the curry). Sprinkle little fried onions (saved from 3rd step)

8. Alternate layers of rice and chicken (number of layers depend on size of the baking dish used). It is up to you whether you want the top layer to be chicken or rice.

9. Mix the saffron strands in milk. Spread all over the top layer.

10. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with some sliced white onions on side

Serves – 3-4

Note: Please adjust seasoning/masala according to the ‘hot’ factor you can tolerate. See how you like mint flavor and improvise next time if you want it to be more minty or less. I know my dad won’t mind a few more sprigs!