This recipe is from the land of Kerala. Thalassery food has a distinct flavor. Thalassery town of Northern Kerala, that has a blend in Arabian, Persian, Indian and European styles of cooking as a result of its long history as a maritime trading post. Thalassery is very popular for its delicious Biryani. Unlike other biryani dishes, Thalassery Biryani, originally uses jeerakshala/kaima rice instead of the usual long grained Basmati Rice. I used Basmati Rice since I cannot see my Biryani any other way. My Mother in law still prefers the kaima rice over Basmati rice, even for Biryani. Kaima rice has its own exclusive flavor and they have a wonderful fragrance as well, but I just come from a very Mughlia thought and prefer my Rice grain to be beautifully long
The influence of Arabian/Mughal culture is evident, especially in the dishes of the Muslim community of Kerala and Thalassery Biryani happens to be one of those dishes that shows it Mughlia flavors and is still enjoyed by all.
We, personally as a family love the food made in Kerala, vegetarian and Non vegetarian. You will find us taking time out if any of the hotels are celebrating “Kerala food festival week” during our stay in India. The best thing I enjoy about Kerala cuisine is the fact that the flavor of each ingredient comes out distinct in its own way making the dish complete. The way the cuisine has its ingredients listed and the process in which you add the spice changes the flavor of a dish. With Kerala cuisine , they make sure that no one ingredient over powers the flavor of the other ingredient. In fact, they blend in symphony making the dish delicious and exclusive.
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Thalassery Chicken Biryani
Biryani with the flavors from the land of Kerela
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Instructions
Marinate the chicken with yoghurt with little salt and turmeric powder for 2 hours.
Take some oil in a pan. Add shahi zeera, whole black pepper, cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and star anise. Cook for 1 minute.
Add ginger garlic paste. Cook for another minute, till the raw smell goes away.
Add sliced Onions to the pan and fry . Saute the onions till they are slightly golden brown. Take around 2 tbsp of fried onion out and keep it separately for garnishing the biryani later.
Add the sliced tomatoes and cook for around 10 minutes till they become soft and mushy.
Add Chicken along with the yogurt marinade. Also add red chili powder, zeera powder, green chilies, mint leaves and coriander leaves.
Cover and let the Yakhni cook on medium to low flame for 10 minutes.
Now in another pan, add ghee, followed by shahi zeera, cardamom powder and bay leaf. Add 12 cups of water. Add salt and kewra water. Once the water boils, add a handful of mint leaves.
Add the rice and cook till the rice is half done. Usually it takes 7-8 minutes. Once the rice is half cooked, drain it in a colander.
Now layer the biryani with half rice in the bottom then chicken yakhni. Add rose water.
Cover with the remaining rice.
Garnish with fried onions, coriander leaves and mint leaves. Put it in the oven for dumm at 350F or 180C for 50 mins.
If you are using the gas stove, put the Biryani pan on a flat pan or Tava. Cook on high flame for 5 minutes and on low for another 30 minutes. Do not put your Biryani pan directly on the flame or the rice in the bottom will burn, messing up your Biryani.
Enjoy with cucumber raita or Mirch ka salan.
Dear Haala, I’m delighted to have found this recipe after reminiscing about the many wonderful biryanis I have enjoyed when visiting Thalassery. I can’t wait to try it! One quick question please… you don’t mention adding the chicken… I can see it’s after stage 6, but my question is whether the chicken is fried separately before adding, and if not, whether the yogurt marinade is added along with the chicken? Hope to hear from you! Many thanks in advance.
Hey Andrea…Thank you for the kind words. The chicken is added along with the Yogurt marinade. If you see the first picture, it shows and mentions that the chicken is marinated in Yogurt and Turmeric powder. It should be added once the tomatoes soften. Hope this helps. This is one of the best recipes I have tried.
Thank you Haala for clarifying – can’t wait to try this.
Please do let me know how it comes along. Hope you like it.