As usual, my quest for trying our different biriyanis made me try this one, which featured in the local Friday magazine as a part of the biriyani series during last Eid ul Adha. Somehow, the recipe sounded to me like a crossover between the Thalassery Chicken Biriyani and Malabar Chicken Biriyani, both of which have already featured on this blog. While having a casual chat with my colleagues, one of them informed me that he had tasted this biriyani during one of the local weddings at his place. As per the description given for this biriyani, it did mention that this biriyani is featured during the Mopla (meaning Muslim) weddings in the north of Kerala. Actually speaking, this is one of the easiest biriyani I have made, and tasted really good as well. It is interesting to note that there is no “dum” involved in it, it’s a cook and mix kind of a biriyani. Off to the way that I made it…
Mopla Kozhi Biriyani ~ Mappila Chicken Biriyani
Ingredients
- FOR MASALA:
- 500 gm chicken
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder increase for spiciness!
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 medium onions sliced thinly
- 1 large tomato chopped
- 1 green chilli chopped (increase for spiciness!)
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped
- 2 tbsp mint leaves chopped
- Salt to taste
- FOR RICE:
- 2 cups basmati rice washed and drained
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp whole spices
- 800 ml hot water
- FOR GARNISH:
- 1 small onion sliced and fried
- 5-6 cashews and 10 raisins fried
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken in turmeric and red chilli, along with salt for around 15 minutes.
- Heat oil in a saucepan and add the chicken. Fry till both sides become browned, but not necessarily cooked. Drain and set aside.
- In the same oil, add the ingredients from onion to mint leaves and cook on low flame till the tomatoes are all mashed up.
- Add the fried chicken and continue cooking till the chicken is well done.
- In another saucepan, add the ghee. Fry the whole spices for a minute.
- Add the drained rice and roast till crisp, around 5 minutes.
- Add in the hot water, adjust salt. Keep on high flame till the water boils. Reduce the flame and cook on closed lid till the rice is done.
- Fluff up the cooked rice with a fork, and add on top of the chicken masala.
- Mix well to incorporate. Serve with the garnishings, along with raita, pickle and whatever you want!
Notes
Kaima rice - which is a small variety of rice used for biriyanis in Northern Kerala - is recommended for this biriyani, however my family, including myself, are not very fond of this rice, so used basmati rice.
I fried the onions, cashews and raisins for the garnishing and used the same ghee for doing the rice.
You can serve with an egg as well. I boiled the eggs and forgot it at the time of serving as well as clicking the pics! 😉
yumm, love biryani
Thank you so much Nammi…
Beautifully captured….
Thank you so much Razina…
We had biryani only just now! And I still salivate when I look at this, see how powerful is this biryani ! I love the variations that u give, and one day when i have time i will try all of your varieties 🙂
Yes for sure dear… 🙂 I love to try different variations whenever possible… Thanks a lot for those lovely comments, dear…
I can finish this yummy biryani in no time…yumm yumm
Thank you so much Gloria…
Lovely Chicken Biryani. Tasty and rich in flavour. Superb dish for guests
Thank you so much Eliza…
Such a delicious looking briyani.. and i love the perfect picture..
Thank you so much Rumana…
yumm.. lovely biryani.
Thank you so much Lisha…
omg! this is one treat to eyes and tongue…so tempting gal 🙂
Thank you so much Shweta… 🙂
That looks so lovely…beautifully presented! I'm a fan of biryani and checked out your ingredients. I'd love to make it your way.:)
Thank you so much Kanak… 🙂
Love your version of birriyani…looks delicious. .thanks for sharing this easy biyani recipe. ……….
Thank you so much Lotus… long time…
Whenever i make i dont make the right color..it will always be red…..u got it right..
I am going to try your way..
Thanks for the recipe!!!!
Thank you so much Jaspinder…
perfectly captured…I just wish it was served to me right now…looks so good
Thank you so much Anupa…
another new one 🙂 WOW looks delicious Rafee!
Thank you so much Rekha… 🙂
GOODNESS that plate looks amazing. Great job with the presentation and photography.
Thank you so much Aiza…
In tamil mappila means son in law or bridegroom, then ur intro cleared my doubt, briyani looks fabulous sis.
Yes, even in Malayalam mappila means bridegroom… but Muslim community in the North of Kerala are referred to as Mopla… thanks a lot akka…