Today I would like to share my favorite dish.   I have received lot of compliments from my friends.   I hope you will like it.  This is a very lengthy process but it is worth trying.

Biryani is one of the most popular dishes in Hyderabad, India.  To make Hyderabadi Biryani, the meat and the rice are cooked in an air tight pot on very low flame, so that the rice is cooked in the flavors of meat and gets the aroma of the meat. The meat gets the direct heat from the flame and the rice is cooked with steam generated by the air tight method of cooking, also known as Dum method.

Ingredients:
For Marinade 
2 lbs Chicken cut up into 2 inch pieces (chicken thighs is better)
½ cup Yogurt
1 1/2 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
2 - 3 tsp Chili Powder
2 tsp Coriander Powder
12 small Chilies  & 1 cup chopped Cilantro (Make it paste)
1 cup chopped Mint Leaves
½ tsp Turmeric
Garam Masala Powder(10 Pepper Corns,10 Cloves,½ tsp Cardamom Seeds,½ tsp Sahajeera or Black Cumin,1 inch Cinnamon Stick)
Juice of 1 lime
Salt to Taste

4 cups Basmati Rice soaked for 30 minutes
Spices for boiling rice
6 Cardamoms
3 Cloves
2 Bay Leaves
1 tbsp of Oil
Fist  Full of Salt

1 Large Onion sliced
1 cup Oil
½ tsp of saffron strands
½ cup milk

Method: Clean the chicken and cut it into 2inch  pieces. Wash the chicken and squeeze all the water from it.  This is very important that you squeeze all the water away from the pieces or put it in a colander to let water drain away. 

Grind all the ingredients listed under garam masala to a fine powder.   Mix all the ingredients of the marinade and marinate for at least 2 hour or overnight in the fridge.

Soak the saffron strands in warm milk.

In a big pot bring water to a boil, add all the spices (6 Cardamoms, 3 Cloves, 2 BayLeaves, 1 tbsp of Oil, Fist  Full of Salt ).  Add rice and continue to cook until you get a one good boil, i.e rice should roll over with boiling water.
It takes about 2 ½ - 3 minutes on my stove. Drain the rice and keep aside.

In pan heat oil and fry the onions until light golden brown.Take out little fried onions from it. To the remaining onions, add the marinade chicken to it and cook it on high flame untill 3/4th is done. Make sure it does not have lot of water.

Now its time to arrange chicken and rice in layers, one layer of chicken and two layers of rice.  Arrange one layer of chicken in an Aluminium Tray (can also use thick bottom pressure cooker)
Arrange half  boiled rice on the chicken pieces, sprinkle some oil, ½ the fried onions and ½ the saffron milk.
Repeat the above step for the last layer, I.e, arrange the last layer of rice. Spread the rest of the rice, sprinkle
all the oil, fried onions and the saffron milk.
Now, we need to seal the the container and make it air tight so that the steam doesn't escape when we cook.
Take 2 sheets of aluminum foil and cover the Aluminium Tray.(If using cooker close the pressure cooker with the lid)
Bake it in the oven at 375 degrees fro 40 min(if cooking in pressure cooker,cook on stove stop on low for 40 min)

Let it sit for 10-15 minutes before opening it. 
Mix the rice and serve it hot with raita or chicken shorva or mutton shorva.
 

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