Chicken Biryani

Hmmmm, Chicken Biryani!! The name itself makes our taste buds alive and no wonder our mouth starts watering. This was a much awaited post and finally got some time to blog it. Well, the whole credit for this goes to my aunt to send me the step by step process for this recipe and I just blindly followed it. Thank-You dear Atya!! It turned out to be just awesome and hubby dear liked it very much. So, without writing much lets directly go to the recipe -
Ingredients -
1) 2 cups Basamati rice
2) 1/2 pound chicken pieces. (I used chicked breasts)
3) 3/4 cup curds
4) 4 onions (2 onions chopped finely and 2 sliced lengthwise)
5) 2 large tomatoes
6) 4-5 green chillies
7) Ginger-Garlic paste - 3 tblspn
8) Cumin-Coriander powder - 2 tblspn
9) Mint Leaves - 25 leaves
10)Coriander - a handlful
11)Pure ghee - to deep fry onions
12)Lemon
13)1 tspn turmeric powder
14)2 tspn chilli powder
15)Salt as per taste

For The Masala -
1) 5-6 cloves
2) 5-6 black pepperons
3) 4-5 cardamom
4) 2-3 cinnamon sticks
Grind all these to a fine powder

Method -
1) Wash the rice and soak it in water for about 20 minutes.
2) Wash chicken pieces. Apply turmeric powder, salt, curds and red chilli powder and marinate for about 1 hour.
3) Slice 2 onions lengthwise and deep fry in pure ghee and keep it aside.
4) Add little oil in a kadhai and fry the chopped onions and then add the marinated chicken. Stir and cook for 4-5 minutes.
5) Add chopped tomatoes and green chillies and stir and cook for 1 minute.
6) Add cumin-coriander powder and garam masala powder to the chicken and stir. See that it is not very watery and remove from stove.
7) When chicken is slightly cooled down add mint leaves and coriander and stir. Also add some lime juice.
8) In a big vessel,boil lots of water. Add little salt to it, 1 tspn ginger-garlic paste, 1 bayleaf and bring it to boil.
9) Drain the soaked rice and put it in the boiling water. Let it boil till it is half done and drain the extra water.
10) Add little saffron to luke warm milk and mix it with your finger.
11) Now, in a vessel/wok put some curds at the bottom and put a layer of cooked rice. Then put a layer of chicken and spread fried onions on it. Again put a layer of rice and repeat ending with rice on the top layer. Spread fried onion on top.
12) Spread saffron mixed milk on the top.
13) Pour ghee left over from the fried onions along the side of the vessel and in the middle.
14) Cover the vessel tightly and heat it on direct flame for 5 minutes and then keep a tava on flame and the vessel on top of the tava. Keep it like this for half an hour on medium flame.
Chicken Biryani is ready. You can serve this with Dahi Kanda(onions mixed with curd).