Thalassery Chicken Biryani

Ingredients

• 1 kg bone-in chicken, cut into medium pieces
• 800 g kaima (jeerakasala) rice
• 1.25 litres boiling water
• 6 tbsp ghee
• 500 g onions, sliced, for the masala
• 2 onions, very finely sliced, for frying
• 120 ml oil, for frying the onions
• 3 tbsp cashews
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 40 g garlic, crushed
• 40 g ginger, crushed
• 6 green chillies, crushed
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tbsp yoghurt
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• a handful of mint leaves
• a handful of coriander leaves
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp rose water
• 3 cloves
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1/4 tsp caraway seeds
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tsp poppy seeds
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• a small piece of mace
• 1 star anise segment

Before you cook

• Crush the garlic, ginger and green chillies together to a rough paste.
• Slice 500 g of onions for the masala and slice 2 more onions as finely as you can for frying.
• Rinse the kaima rice once and drain it in a colander.
• Stir the rose water into 2 tablespoons of water with a pinch of turmeric.

Steps

1. Toast the cloves, cardamom, fennel, peppercorns, caraway, cinnamon, poppy seeds, nutmeg, mace and star anise in a dry pan over medium heat for two minutes, until fragrant.
2. Cool the spices and grind them to a fine powder.
3. Heat the 120 ml of oil in a small pan and fry the finely sliced onions over medium heat for eight minutes, until evenly golden, then drain them on paper.
4. Fry the cashews in the same oil until gold and the raisins until they swell, and drain them alongside the onions.
5. Heat three tablespoons of ghee in a wide heavy pot and fry the 500 g of sliced onions for ten minutes, until soft and lightly coloured.
6. Add the crushed garlic, ginger and chilli paste and fry for three minutes, until the raw edge is gone.
7. Add the chicken and turn it over high heat for four minutes, until it loses its pink colour.
8. Stir in the turmeric and one and a half tablespoons of the ground biryani masala.
9. Add the tomatoes, one and a half teaspoons of salt, the mint and the coriander, and cook for three minutes, until the tomatoes soften.
10. Stir in the yoghurt and lime juice, cover the pot and cook on low heat for twelve minutes, until the chicken is done and sitting in a thick masala.
11. Uncover and simmer hard for five minutes, until the gravy clings to the chicken and no liquid runs loose in the pot.
12. Crush half the fried onions between your fingers, stir them through the chicken and take the pot off the heat.
13. Fry the drained rice in three tablespoons of ghee in a second pot for three minutes, stirring gently so the grains stay whole.
14. Pour in the 1.25 litres of boiling water with the remaining salt and cook uncovered for ten minutes, until the water has gone and the grains are just tender.
15. Spread three-quarters of the rice over the chicken masala in the heavy pot.
16. Sprinkle over half the rose water, a teaspoon of the biryani masala and some of the fried onions, cashews and raisins.
17. Cover with the remaining rice, then finish with the rest of the rose water, fried onions, cashews and raisins.
18. Seal the pot with a tight lid, weigh it down, and set it over a flat tawa on the lowest heat for fifteen minutes.
19. Rest the biryani off the heat for ten minutes.
20. Dig down to the base with a flat spoon and lift the layers together onto plates, so each serving gets rice and masala.