Chicken Biriyani
Living in India for awhile and learning how to cook an Indian food is a whole new experience. First few months was a struggle and believe me there was a time when I get all confused with all the spices there is. There were lots of adjustment on the way it needs to be cooked and what amount should be put to stay true to the taste but at the same time suit our liking. The first few months were full of hit and misses and of course hubby ends up as the guinea pig for the taste test 
One of my favorite Indian foods is Chicken Biriyani, and so I tried different ways to take off some elements that I don’t like (a couple of times accidentally eating the cloves and cardamoms or biting some small chicken bones) so I tried to come up with the same taste that we enjoyed but prepare it in a much simpler way.
Ok, so first we need to prepare 3 ingredients that will be added later.
1. Cook 2 cups of Basmati rice. Put aside to be mix later.
2. Cook 2 skinless, boneless Chicken breasts into 2 cups of boiling water. Add salt. Cook for 20 minutes. Then take the chicken off the water. Do not throw the broth as we will add that later. Let the chicken cool down then cut into bite sizes or even flake it to really small pieces (that is what I do)Usually chicken meat with bones is used to cook Biriyani but I thought it will be a nice idea to cook it without bones.
3. Boil or microwave 3-4 medium size, chopped potatoes (or vegetable of your choice). Set aside.
Then prepare following ingredients:
2-3 tbsp. oil
1 medium size onion, chopped
1 tsp. mustard seeds
3-4 tsp. Biriyani Powder (Can be bought in Asian Markets)
1 tsp. ginger paste
2 tsp. garlic paste (or 4 finely crushed garlic cloves)
Few curry leaves (Can be found also in Asian Markets)
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup fresh mushroom (or canned), chopped
3 medium size tomatoes, chopped
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a preheated large frying pan. Add the onions, fry for 3 minutes before adding the mustard seeds. (Traditionally, one should fry the mustard seeds first but I had an incident when it almost hit my eyes while it cracks so I wanted the onions to serve as stopper on the mustard seeds)
2. Once the onions are golden brown, put the Biriyani powder. Stir for 1 minute.
3. Add the ginger paste and garlic paste, stir and add the curry leaves.
4. Add the chicken pieces, stir and add the lemon juice.
5. Place the mushroom, cooked potatoes, tomatoes plus the chicken broth, mix well. Cover tightly and cook over high heat for 10 minutes.
6. After 10 minutes, taste and put salt. Add rice and mix well before serving.
Serves 3-4 persons
Enjoy!
