Awadhi/Lucknowi Biryani

A very flavorful and a aromatic biryani recipes from the city of Nawabs. This is traditionally made from mutton but I tried the chicken version of it which tastes delicious too.
Unlike the Hyderabadi Biryani which uses a lot of ground spices, the Awadi Biryani is uses wholes spices which are discarded in the later stages of cooking.

Ingredients

• 3 Onions (sliced)

• 1 kg Chicken (cleaned and washed)

•  3-4 tbsp of Ghee

• 2 cups of Rice

• 3-4 Cardamom

• 1 inch of Cinnamon

• 7-8 Peppercorns

• 7-8 Cloves

•  2 black Cardamom

• 2 Bay leaves

• 2 Mace

• 1-1/2 tsp Shahi Jeera

• 2 Green chilies

• 1 -1/2 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste

• 1 cup Yogurt

• 1 -1/2 tsp of Cardamom powder

• 1-1/2 tsp of Nutmeg powder

• 1-1/2 tsp of Chili powder

•  1/2 tsp of Turmeric powder

• 2 tbsp of Rose water

• 2 tbsp of Kewra water

• 1/2 cup Milk

• 1/2 cup Water

• A large pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp of hot milk

•  pinch of orange food color soaked in a tbsp of milk (optional )

• Salt to taste

Method

• Heat 2 tbsp of ghee in a pan and add sliced onions and sauté it till it becomes brown in colour by adding a little salt
• Once the onion turns brown remove it from the pan and keep it aside
• With the help of motor and pestle crush the dry spices a bit so that they release a nice fragrance. We do not want to blend it in a mixer.
• In the same pan add the remaining ghee and add all the whole spices (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, shahi jeera,mace,bay leaves ) and sauté it for 2-3 minutes till you get a nice aroma

• Then add half of the brown onion, chicken, ginger garlic paste and green chilies and mix everything really well and cook it till the chicken starts changing colour

• Once the chicken changes it’s color add one cup of curd and mix really well on medium flame. Keep mixing it till the curd starts bubbling a bit so as to avoid it from getting split

• Now, add the powdered spices and mix everything well
• Then add 1/2 cup milk, water, kewda and rose water to it and give it a nice mix

• Let it cook on medium flame till the chicken gets around 80% cooked
• In the meantime boil about 5-6 cups of water by adding salt to it. Once it starts boiling add washed and drained basmati rice to it and cook it for 7-8 minutes or till it’s 70% done

• Lucknow Biryani does not have any whole spices in it they are strained and the broth or the yakhni is used in the Biryani so we need to carefully remove all the chicken pieces from the gravy and strain the gravy and discard all the spices from the gravy. Once that’s done add the chicken pieces and the yakhni back to pan and layer the 70% cooked rice on top of it

• Add the remaining brown onion,saffron milk, orange good colour and a tsp of ghee on top of the rice.

• Seal the pan nicely with some dough from all sides and cook it on dum on low flame for about 15-20 minutes

• Finally, after 15-20 minutes carefully remove the dough and serve it hot with Raita or any other side that you like.