Lamb or Chicken Biryani recipe by Athena Fernandes

2 lbs of meat(lamb or chicken cut into pieces)
Boil the meat with a sliced onion, tomato, salt and pepper and about 1 1/2 cup water.

4-5 onions sliced thin
2 tomatoes diced
2-3 green chillies sliced
1 /3 to 1/2 pkt Shan Bombay Biriyani masala (Beware, it is quite spicy...so add less and you can always add more)
1 cup yoghurt
Lemon juice

Make a masala with:
A handful coriander leaves
about 8-10 mint leaves
1 cup coconut
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste or some garlic and ginger

Heat oil. Add onions and fry till light brown.
Add the ground masala and tomatoes
fry for 3-4 mins
Add Yoghurt, shan masala and chillies.
Add the meat (without the water) and cook till done. Add a little of the meat water if needed.
Keep the meat gravy think.
Add salt, vinegar and lemon juice to taste. Add a little more Shaan masala if needed.

Rice:
3 cups Basmati rice
5 cups water inclusive of the remaining boiled meat water
a soup cube
a stick cinnamon
2 pods cardamom
4-5 cloves
6-8 pepper corns

Cook the rice till almost done.
Pour the rice over the cooked meat masala.
Sprinkle with little lemon juice and some melted butter or ghee.
Can add fried onions/cashews/raisins/saffron and food coloring if needed
Cover tightly with Aluminium foil and bake for about 20-30 mins at 250F

Enjoy!

PS: You can make the meat separately and store in containers in the freezer and then defrost and make a fresh batch of rice to layer it with as needed.

Lovina's Chicken Biryani- Inspired by Karen Pereira

Ingredients

4 cups Basmati Rice
10-12 Chicken legs or pieces
2 Potatoes
6 Onions
1 Tomato
1 Packet Shaan Bombay Biryani masala
or put your own spices
½ cup yogurt
5 peppercorns
½ tsp Jeera
¼ tsp garam masala
3 cardamom whole
Ghee 5 spoons
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the chicken and keep aside. Take a hundy and heat some ghee (3 spoons), fry 6 cut onions till medium brown. Keep aside half the onions. Add chicken pieces and slightly fry. Add 1 cut tomato, add Shaan biryani masala 1 packet or little less if you don’t want very spicy, ½ cup yogurt and fry a little, add salt to taste and also the potato pieces and cook well.

In a separate hundy, put 2 tsps ghee, add some jeera (1/2 tsp) and fry. Add some peppercorns (5), 3-4 cardamoms and 1/4 tsp garam masala and add basmatic rice and salt. Fry it a little and then add double the quantity of water and cook partly till almost done. Preferably strain the water. Add colour to the rice if you like.

Take out half the rice, spread the cooked chicken curry which should be almost dry on top of the rice, then spread a layer of rice and a layer of chicken curry again and on top, the rest of the rice. On top of the rice, spread the fried onions which were kept aside and cover the hundy well and keep on slow flame till the rice is cooked well and it steams.

Serve hot with raita.