This is an invention by only hearing about the dish…Yeah I know I can go nuts when it comes down to trying to make a new dish. This happens to be one that I really planned out well and craved to make it.
Like I always say, every dish has a story. This one has one too. While speaking to a close friend about different Biryanis that we get at famous and not so famous eateries in India, I was told that a popular restaurant served something that was close to Biryani, but not Biryani. That really got my interest. Giving me further details, that its mildly flavored bed of Rice served under these awesomely juicy grilled chicken. I mean who wouldn’t want to act on this description and try and make it. It’s actually not just the details of the dish, but the way it was described and the fact that it topped the list of Chicken and Rice. I had not even seen the dish, yet I was head over heels in love with the dish and felt challenged to make it.
When you are aware of a dish, you tend to study it by searching about different chefs who have made it or by trying the dish out at different restaurants or even making the dish a couple of times to achieve the desired flavor or result. But when its a dish, you have never heard of until now, tried, seen or tasted, and you crave to cook it, you are definitely a crazy chef…LOLzzz. I think I fit the bill.
So, I am not aware of the Chicken served is with bones or without, but going according to my Biryani basics, I picked Chicken with Bones and marinated the chicken with spices and Yogurt for around 2-3 hours. Though my chicken came out delicious, I still recommend that a chicken is more flavorful if marinated overnight or for at least 6-8 hours, though in today’s time and age, things happen unplanned and we have a little time before we decide what we need to cook. For all those times, marinate, cover, and place the chicken in the refrigerator. Refrigeration helps blend the flavors faster and better. Once I was ready to cook them, I took them out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 400F or 180C. I placed them on the grill with a tray underneath to catch the dripping. The cooking time was around 25-30 minutes, with an extra 5 minutes of high heat grill, since I wanted them to look well done. If you want, you can cook them in the oven and do the latter process in a pan, or on naked fire. Any which way will give you great outcomes.
I made a gravy as well to spike up the layers of Rice. The gravy was made very similar to Biryani Yakhni shorba. For initial whole spices, I added fennel seeds along with cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom, and cumin seeds. I further fried the onions, taking half of it out for garnishing and using them while layering the Rice. That was followed by Ginger garlic paste and spice powders. Further adding tomatoes and Yogurt, combined with green chilies, mint leaves, and coriander leaves. I also added the marination left behind after the chicken is taken out, so it gets a little flavor from the chicken as well since we aren’t cooking the chicken in the gravy.
This is a lovely recipe for a weekend Brunch or to display your cooking skills to those uninvited guests, when you don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen. It’s a pretty quick fix to traditional Biryani and modern-day Chicken over Rice. One of my self invented and the best recipes ever…Enjoy!!!
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 50 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 4 No. Chicken Legs Thigh and leg [whole with bone]
- 1 tsp Tandoori Masala Powder
- 1 tsp Red chili powder 1/2 tsp for Chicken Marination and 1/2 tsp for the gravy
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder 1/4 tsp for Chicken Marination and 1/4 tsp for the gravy
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 1 tsp Fennel seed powder
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice
- 4 tbsp Butter
- 1 cup Greek Yogurt 1/2 cup for Chicken marination and 1/2 cup for gravy
- 3 tbsp Ginger garlic paste 1.5 tbsp for Chicken marination and 1.5 tbsp for gravy
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
- 2 No. Green Cardamoms
- 2 No. cloves
- 1 No. Cinnamon
- 1/4 tbsp olive oil Or any other oil of your choice
- 2 No. Onions Medium sized, sliced
- 2 No. Tomatoes chopped
- 1/2 cup Coriander leaves
- 8 No. Green chilies small, sliced to half
- Salt According to taste
- 2 cups Long grain Basmati Rice Boiled and water drained
- 3 tsp screwpine water Mix in a pinch of orange food color [optional]
Ingredients
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- Make slits on the chicken legs [as shown].
- Add Tandoori Powder, Fennel powder, Red chili powder, Turmeric Powder, Salt, Yogurt and Lemon juice to the mixing bowl along with chicken legs.
- Mix everything well, cover, and refrigerate for 3 hours.
- For cooking, keep the legs in a preheated oven at 400F. Place the legs on a grill with a tray underneath to catch the drippings. Baste with melted butter on both sides. Cook for 30-35 minutes, turning around once in between. If you like them more well done, I would suggest cooking for 30 seconds, both sides on the naked stovetop before serving.
- To prepare the gravy, add oil to a pan. Add cumin seeds, fennel seeds, green cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon stick to it. Saute on low flame for 2-3 minutes.
- Add sliced onions to the pan. Keep cooking till the turn Golden brown.
- Take half of the onions out and add Ginger garlic paste to the pan with the other half of the fried onions.
- Add around half a cup of water. Adding water stops any further cooking of the onions. Add half of the coriander leaves.
- Add Red chili powder, Turmeric powder, Salt, and coriander powder. Cook for 5-7 minutes till the water dries up and the oil separates.
- Add tomatoes and green chilies. Cook for 7-8 minutes till the tomatoes are mushy.
- Add the leftover marination from the chicken to the pan.
- Add the remaining half of the coriander leaves and Yogurt. Cook while stirring constantly.
- The gravy is ready once the oil separates.
- Layer the gravy with boiled rice. Makes around 2-3 layers, depending on the size of the pan you are using.
- Add fried onions on the top.
- If you are using screwpine water and food color, add it on top. Now cover the rice pan and place it in a preheated oven at 350F for 20 minutes.
- Once out, place the Grilled chicken on top, decorate with sliced onions and serve.
