Chicken Biriyani

Ingredients:  

1. Basmati rice:          2 cups 
2. Chicken:                 1 Kg 
3. Large potatoe:       4 numbers 
4. Onion paste:          2 tbsp 
5. Onion sliced:          2 large 
6. Ginger paste:        2 tsp 
7. Garlic paste:          2 tsp 
8. Curd:                     1 tbsp 
9. Red chilli powder:  1 tsp 
10. Salt:                       To taste 
11. Garam masala:      2 tsp (whole)
12. Garam masala:      2 tsp (powder)
13. Ghee:                    2 tbsp 
14. Milk:                      1/2 cup 
15. Vegetable oil:       3 tbsp 
16. Green chillies:       6 numbers 

1. Marination: Clean and wash chicken pieces and dry them with a kitchen towel. Prick all the pieces with a fork. Apply salt ginger garlic paste (1 tsp each) and the curd. See that all the pieces mixes well with the spices. Marinate for at least for 3 hours (better to keep over night)
2. Rice: Clean and wash rice and soak it in 2 cups of water along with 1 tsp whole garam masala and a little salt. Let it stand for one hour. 
3. Potatoes: Peal and half each potato, wash and prick all over with a fork. Boil them in salt water till 3/4 th done. Now apply ghee and red chilli powder on them and fry in oil till golden. Keep aside. 
4. Fry the sliced onions with a little salt till they ar crispy and brown in colour. Remove with a slotted spoon and place them on a kitchen paper. Fry the onion paste in the same oil for 2 minutes. Add ginger and garlic paste, the marinated chicken, 
5. red chilli powder and salt and continue to fry till the oil separates out. Now pressure cook the chicken till 3/4 th done and the moisture is absorbed. 
6. Add potatoes to the chicken and mix them with the gravy.Cook the rice in the same water used for soaking, till 3/4 th done. 
7. Spread the cooked rice on a tray and separate the grains with a fork. Take a big sauce pan, apply ghee on its bottom and sides. Spread a layer of rice and place half of the chicken and potatoes on it, sprinkle garam masala powder and a little salt. 
8. Pour half of the milk and a little ghee and cover it with a layer of rice. Repeat it for another set of layer. Pour the rest of the ghee on the top and cover the saucepan (fix the lid of the sacepan with some dough). Place the saucepan on a heated tawa and cook on slow fire for 45 minutes. Serve with fried onions and green chillies. 

1. This can be cooked in a microwave oven. Write to know more about it. 
2. Be careful with the salt since it is added at different stages of the recipe. 
3. You may use saffron to add colour. In that case, soak 1 tsp saffron in 1/4 th cup milk and use it to colour half of the rice and place it in one of the layers..