Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's Goat Biryani recipe in "From Curries to Kebabs"
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1/2 tsp saffron threads
1/2 cup warm milk
2 cups basmati rice (or jasmine rice - see directions)
3/4 vegetable oil (or for somewhat lighter recipe, enough to coat bottom of pan, and ignore direction #4)
3 medium onions, sliced into fine half-rings
1/2 in piece of ginger (or about 1.5 tsp fresh ginger paste)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 pods cardamom, lightly crushed but left whole
1 3-in stick of cinnamon
2 black cardamoms (these are large and quite distinct flavor from the small green kind)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
Either use a spice grinder for previous 6 spices (our preferred), or tie in a square of cheesecloth and remove later (Madhur Jaffrey's suggestion).
1-2.5 lbs chicken thighs (bone-in and skin-on)
1.5 tsp plus 2.5 tsp salk
1.5 tsp cayenne pepper (or spicier and redder chili pepper)
1 can drained diced tomatoes
1.5 T tomato paste
Directions
1. Put the saffron threads in the warm milk. Cover and set aside.
2. If using jasmine rice, cook almost all the way (if cooked all the way, biryani will be somewhat soggy, but that's better than crunchy rice). If using basmati rice, wash the rice in several changes of water, then drain and leave to soak in water that covers in generously for at least 30 minutes but no longer than 3 hours, then drain and cook.
3. Pour the oil into a large, wide, ovenproof, lidded pan and set over medium-high heat. Add half the sliced onions and fry, stirring, turning the heat down as needed, until the onions are both a rich medium reddish-brown color and crisp. Remove all the onions with a slotted spoon or mesh spatula and spread out on a tray lined with paper towels.
4. (If using a lot of oil) Carefully remove about 1/4 cup of the hot oil and set aside near the saffron milk.
5. Add the remaining sliced onions to the remaining oil. Also put in the ginger, garlic, cardamom, cinnamon, black cardamom, bay leaves, and the cheesecloth bundle. Stir and fry until the onions turn golden with hints of brown. Add the chicken thighs, 2.5 tsp of the salt, and the cayenne pepper, and stir and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Add 3/4 cup water and continue to stir and cook for a further 10 minutes. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring now and then.
7. Remove the lid and stir in the tomatoes. Add the tomato paste and keep stirring for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, relace the lid, and cook for a further 15 minutes, or until the meat is tender, stirring occassionally and adding a little water if needed.
8. Preheat the oven to 300 F.
9. When the meat is tender and the sauce very reduced and thick, remove the spice bundle. Put the whole covered pan in the over to keep it warm.
10. Once the rice is about 3/4 done and drained, work quickly to do the following: Put a T of the reserved oil into the rice pan. Cover with a third of the rice. Cover this with a little less than half of the meat and juices. Sprinkle a third of the browned onions over the top. Cover all this with another third of the rice, then a tsp of oil (if using, not necessary), then most of the remaining meat, a then a third of the onions. Cover with the final layer of rice, the last of the oil, meat and juices, the onions, and finally all the saffron milk.
11. Cover, first with foil, and then with a lid. Put the pan briefly over medium-high heat so the oil at the bottom heats up, and then put the pan in the oven for 25 minutes. Stir gently before serving.
