Ambur Chicken Biriyani
Do you all like Biriyani? Ambur Biriyani is a must try one. I love all types of biriyani.
To make Ambur Chicken Biriyani, you need Seeragasamba rice instead of basmati rice. Seeragasamba rice gives a nice and different aroma, that makes this biriyani special.
The speciality of Ambur Biriyani is, you make it with red chilli paste. You can buy the store bought or make it at home. I prefer the later, which gives fresh taste and look. Take 15-20 red chilli (I took a combination of Kashmir chilli and regular red chilli) as per your spice level and soak it for 30-1 hour. If you do not have time, soak it in hot water for 10 minutes. Now make the red chilli paste from the soaked red chilli by using the soaked water. You can also use this paste for chicken or fish fry too.
For Ambur biriyani, we will need ginger paste and garlic paste separately compared to regular biriyani. I prefer freshly ground ginger paste and garlic paste. Take a big vessel and boil water for rice.
Now take a biriyani vessel, add oil on medium to high flame. Add the spices: Bay leaves, Cinnamon sticks, Cardamon, cumin seeds, Fennel seeds and let it fry for 30 seconds. Now add 1 big (big onion that you get in US) or 2 medium size onion and saute it for 3-4 minutes. While sautéing onions, prepare the Garlic paste. Take 2-3 bulb garlic, peel it and grind to a fine paste. Now, add garlic paste to the sautéed onion and saute again for 3-4 minutes. Now peel the ginger skin and grind to a fine paste. Take equal amount on ginger and garlic to make paste. Add garlic paste and saute it well until the raw smell goes away. Now add the red chilli paste that we prepared and saute well. You can adjust the red chilli paste per your spice level and cook it for 2-3 minutes until the raw smell goes away. Add salt as required.
After 2-3 minutes, add 2 medium size chopped tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes. When tomatoes gets mushy and cooked, add finely chopped cilantro and mints leaves. The mixture will give a nice aroma and now it’s time to add more aroma. Add washed chicken and 2 tablespoon lemon juice and cook well. After 2 minutes, add half a cup of yogurt and cook it for another 5-6 minutes until chicken gets 95% cooked. When chicken is cooked add water 1:1.5 ratio and bring it to boil.
Remember we kept water to boil in another vessel for rice? Now add the soaked seeragasamba rice to that boiling water and in just 2 minutes filter the rice. We are not cooking the rice, we are just adding the rice in the boiling water, let it sit for 2 minutes and filter it.
Now add the filtered rice to the biriyani mix, give a good stir, close the pan and put dum for 20 minutes on low flame. Check for salt before putting on dum. After 20 minutes, biriyani is all ready. You can serve biriyani with raita or salaan.
Try this recipe and share your feedback!
Thank you!
