Poricha Kozhi Biryani (Malabar Fried Chicken Biryani)

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Poricha Kozhi Biryani is a Malabar-style -Fried Chicken Biryani. Marinated, fried chicken is added to the masala, and cooked along with fragrant Malabar Kaima Ghee rice. The unique blend of spices and fried ingredients are combined in the layered  Biryani dish. It’s lip-smacking yum.

Video is available for you to follow.

Total time is not inclusive of – Marination time 1-hour up to overnight, and resting time 20 minutes.

The Recipe Intro↓ has more information, related links as well as Recipe Video. If you’d like to check it out.

♦Prep time: 30 min ♦Cook time:1 hour 30 minutes  ♦Yield: 12 servings

You can strike through ingredients, as you prep them, by clicking on the ingredient.

Ingredients:

Chicken pieces (skinless, bone-in pieces cut into medium-sized pieces)		1 1/4 - 1/2 kg
Kaima/ Jeerakasala rice		5 cups
Boiled eggs (optional)		6
Red Onions		6 medium-sized
Garlic (small Indian Garlic cloves)		1/2 cup
Fresh Ginger, peeled		a little less than the weight of Garlic
Small hot green chillies		10-15
Ripe, fresh Tomatoes		3 medium-sized
Ghee		4 Tbsp plus 2 tsp (for topping)
Turmeric powder		a little over 1/4 tsp
Black pepper powder		1/2 -3/4 tsp
Regular set yoghurt (not too sour)		4 Tbsp
Fresh Mint leaves		1/2 cup
Fresh Coriander leaves (plus extra for layering/garnish)		1/2 cup
Fresh Curry leaves		1 sprig
Coconut Oil (for shallow frying the Chicken)		3/4 -1 cup
Salt		To taste (1/2 tsp)
Rosewater(optional)		2-3 tsp

(1 cup=240 ml measure)

Quick Spice Mix:

Cloves		8
Green Cardamom pods		10
Fennel seeds		2 tsp
Cinnamon stick		2 very small broken pieces
Star Anise		6 segments of the whole spice
Black peppercorns		3/4 tsp

Use fresh and fragrant spices

To Marinate the Chicken:

Garlic (Indian Garlic, cloves are much smaller in size better in flavor for Malabar Biryanis)		18 small cloves
Fresh peeled Ginger, cut into small pieces		About the same weight as Garlic
Thick set Yoghurt		2 1/2 Tbsp
Prepared ' Quick Spice Mix⇑'		Use 3 tsp here
Kashmiri Chilli powder		1 1/2 tsp
Hot Chilli powder/ Cayenne		1  tsp
Black Pepper powder		just under 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder		1/4 tsp
Coconut oil (used to tenderise and give flavour)		2 Tbsp
Salt		1  1/4 tsp (or to taste)

For Cooking the Rice:

Ghee		5 Tbsp
Boiled (hot)Water		9 1/4  cups (pre measured)
Cloves		8
Green Cardamom pods		8
of Cinnamon stick		6 small broken pieces
Star Anise		6 segments of the whole spice
Fennel seeds		1/2 tsp
Black Peppercorns		1/2 tsp
Lime juice		2 tsp
Kismis/Golden Sultanas		1/4 cup

Method:

1. Keep the cleaned chicken pieces, thoroughly rinsed and drained.
2. Prepare the Quick Spice Mix: Add the whole spices listed under  ‘Quick Spice Mix’ into a spice grinder. Grind to a powder and set aside in a small tight bottle for later. Makes over 5 tsp powder.
3. To marinate the chicken: Add the garlic cloves(18Nos), ginger pieces(SameasGarlic) and yoghurt(2 1/2Tbsp)  into a small grinder, and grind to a smooth paste.
4. Add this paste along with (3 tsp) of the prepared  ‘Quick Spice Mix’ as well as all other ingredients ‘to Marinate the chicken’ to the chicken in a bowl.
5. Rub the ingredients into the chicken pieces for a minute, making sure all the ingredients are well incorporated.
6. Marinate for a minimum of 1 hour, (3-5)  hours is great, and overnight is fine as well. If marinating for more than 1 hour, refrigerate the chicken, tightly covered. Make sure to remove the chicken from the fridge for 30 minutes, before frying.
7. 30 minutes before cooking- I get my other ingredients ready. First, remove the chicken from the fridge.
8. Rinse the measured rice (5 cups) thoroughly till the rinsing water is absolutely clear. Drain using a colander and set aside. No soaking is required for Kaima rice here.
9. Slice 5 Onions for the Masala and slice the  3 Tomatoes. Put the garlic, ginger and green chilli into a grinder jar. Don’t grind it till you are ready to cook. Grind to a paste when you are ready.
10. Finely slice 2 large onions for frying (using a mandoline slicer). Make sure all other ingredients are ready.
11. Fry the Marinated Chicken: Add coconut oil to the non-stick pan and bring to heat. Fry the chicken in batches, in the oil till deep golden on one side. Turn over and fry the other side similarly. TIP: Although we want a deep golden fried colour, we don’t want the chicken overly fried. It still has some time to cook in the masala and later in the ‘Dum’ /Steamed layered cooking. Make sure here, NOT to over-fry the chicken. It will make the chicken ‘tough’ in the biryani. 
12. Set aside the par-fried chicken.
13. Cook the Masala: To the larger pot for cooking the masala, add ghee(4 Tbsp).  When the ghee is hot, add the fresh curry leaves(1sprig) and wait for – the aroma to hit you.
14. Follow immediately with the sliced onion(5Nos) and saute for 2 minutes, till softened.
15. Now add the freshly ground ginger-garlic-green chilli paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes more on medium heat, till the raw smell of the ginger and garlic is gone. 
16. Add the spice powders; turmeric(1/4tsp) and pepper powder(1/2tsp) and stir through for 30 seconds, before adding the sliced tomatoes(3Nos).
17. Stir well, and cook covered on reduced flame for 2 minutes. Open and stir again, mashing the softened tomatoes as you do so. Add the remaining  ‘Quick Spice Mix’ (a little over 2tsp)to this masala which has reduced well at this point to a thick pulpy mass.
18. Add the yoghurt(4Tbsp) and stir briskly till completely incorporated into the masala. Allow this masala to simmer on gentle heat or 1 minute more.
19.  Add the mint leaves(1/2 cup) and coriander leaves(1/2 cup) now, and stir through. Also, add salt to taste(1/2tsp)
20. Now, return the fried chicken pieces to the masala and gently toss through. Optional –You can reserve a few pieces of fried chicken to go over the rice layer. Kids will like that.
21. Now cover the pot tightly with a lid. Cook on LOW HEAT for 15 minutes.  As the masala cooks, start on the rice.
22. Cook the rice:    Add ghee(5Tbsp) to the pot for cooking rice and heat.
23. Add the cashew nuts and fry till golden. quickly remove with a slotted spoon/strainer.
24. Add the kismis/sultanas and fry till plump. quickly remove these as well.
25. Next, add the thinly sliced onion and stir till they become golden and crisp. Remove these as well and spread them on a strainer over kitchen paper.
26. To the remaining ghee in the pot, add all the whole spices ‘for Cooking the rice’ and wait till the spices pop.
27. Add the thoroughly drained Biryani rice (Kaima) rice now, and stir-fry for a minute. You can smell the fragrance as the rice gets fried.
28. At this point add the pre-boiled hot water(9 1/4 cups). Return to a boil, adding salt(4 1/2 tsp) and lime juice(2 tsp).
29. As soon as the water has come back to a boil, cover it with a tight lid, reduce heat to a minimum and cook for 8 minutes.
30. Meanwhile, take a handful of the fried onions and mix them separately with some freshly chopped coriander leaves.
31. When the rice has cooked for 8 minutes, open and gently toss the rice and add in the fried onion-coriander mix as you do so.
32. Cover the pot again and continue to cook for 2 more minutes.  The rice should be perfectly cooked at this point. Open again quickly and toss up gently from the bottom, so that the excess steam can escape. Place the pot under the fan for a bit before you are going to put it over the chicken masala.
33. On to the ‘Dum’: Back to the Pot with the Chicken masala⇒ move the chicken masala over to one side of the pot. This is better to make sure you don’t break up all the chicken later when you toss the rice. Just remember which side you have laid the masala on.
34. Over this, scatter the fluffed-up, cooked rice. As you do so, remove the excess whole spices and discard them. Make sure there are no big clumps of rice.
35. Once all the rice is tossed and scattered. Pat the top down gently with the back of a ladle and add some fresh ghee(1-2tsp) over the top.
36. Over this, sprinkle the optional rose water (2tsp), followed by some fried onion, cashew nuts and kismis.
37. If you had reserved fried chicken for the top, place them over the rice now.
38. Cover the pot again with its lid. Optionally, you could also use foil paper to cover the pot before placing the lid on top if your lid is not tight enough.
39. Place the pot on your smallest burner; on the lowest flame possible. If your burner is not small, place an old tawa on top and heat it up on a high flame. Then place the pot on top of the preheated tawa and reduce the flame to low.
40. Cook on this low or indirect flame for 15 minutes. Please make sure the flame is very small or you risk burning the masala on the bottom. 
41. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and leave the pot to rest for 20 minutes, without opening.
42. Serving: Open the pot and begin to fluff up the top layers of rice first. Use a light mixing action. Slowly, as you toss from the bottom the chicken masala begins to get incorporated into the rice, distributing the colour also.
43. As the chicken gets exposed, remove the pieces to a serving platter. Gently toss the remaining rice once again. You don’t want to over-mix the masala with the rice.
44. Serve the rice the one side of the chicken in the serving platter. This makes for easy serving.
45. Garnish with the fried garnish ingredients and boiled eggs.
46. Serve with simple sides for Biryani and Papads. Delicious Poricha Kozhi Biryani is ready for the whole family to enjoy.

Notes on Poricha Kozhi Biryani – Malabar style Fried Chicken Biryani:

• I specify that small sticks of cinnamon are used. Please refer to the video. Don’t use too much cinnamon or green cardamom, especially in the powdered spice mix. Try to stick to my recipe the first time around guys! Some spices can mess up the flavour if not added properly.
• Fresh chicken is always recommended for any Biryani, but especially so for Fried chicken Biryani. Frozen chicken does not do justice to this recipe.
• Indian garlic cloves are smaller in size and more fragrant. It is recommended in my Malabar biryani recipes. If you have only regular garlic use less accordingly.
• The kismis/sultanas are rinsed and soaked for a while. then drained on paper till they are dry before frying in ghee.
• The video for this recipe is currently only available on my Malayalam language channel. It still shows ingredients in English.. and you can mute and watch along with the written recipe.
• Ginger- Garlic paste is made by processing together, equal amounts of fresh ginger and garlic till a smooth paste is formed, adding as little water as possible to make it smooth. In Indian households, this is stored weekly in a big batch so that you merely have to take spoonfuls of this mixture while cooking. I have a video of how I make my biweekly stash here.

Key Ingredients: Chicken, Biryani Rice, Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Green Chilli, Tomato, Fresh Mint, Coriander Curry leaves, Yoghurt, Coconut Oil, Ghee, Whole Spices, Powdered Spices,  Lime juice, Cashew nuts, Sultanas, Boiled Egg, Salt.

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