Mysore Chicken Biryani - Style 1

The old Mysore Province has some exotic Muslim cuisine that was perhaps developed by the chefs from Tippu Sultan's kitchen. The Mughalai touch to the tasty biryanis, kebabs, curries, daal and sherwa ensure that the flavour lingers on for hours. Bhoona, Yakhni and Dum style of cooking seal the flavour in the food.

Mysore Biryanis are mostly made with tender broiler Chicken and juicy Chickmagalur lamb. In some places, Bannur mutton is used but Bannur mutton is fat rich. The old Mysore province consisted of Mysore, Bangalore, Kolar, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Shimoga Chickmagalur and  Hassan districts. Even today you can find a similarity in the way Muslims cook Biryani in these parts of Karnataka State.

Meena being from Mysore, used to make Chicken and Mutton biryanis the yakhni style as they traditionally make it. After she settled down in Mangalore, for a couple of years she made biryani like that but I was more accustom to dum and bhoona style biryani. Recently I saw a recipe in Vah Chef's channel that is Bangalore Akhni Biryani. The recipe looked similar to Mysore Yakhni Biryani. I asked Meena to follow that recipe. She however, felt more comfortable with her signature biryani, like she used to cook many years ago.

Akhni and yakhni mean the same. Yakhni means meat broth. When meat is cooked along with spices, the thick broth contains all the goodness of the meat, the marrow and of course the fat that comes with it. Calculated quantity of meat is marinated and then cooked along with whole spices and Jeerak Samba or Sannakki rice to get an aromatic biryani in which, each grain of rice absorbs the masala equally and becomes succulent. The meat pieces are soft and juicy and are eaten along with the rice for that heavenly feeling! A generous squeeze of lemon and an accompaniment of spiced daal, sherwa and kachumber makes full justice to this sumptuous meal.

I first tasted such biryani in Chamarajanagar in 1979. They called it mutton palaav and chicken palaav. Some Military Hotels made such biryani. Similar biryani can be found at Imperial on Residency Road, Taj Restaurant, Ghousia Cafe or Renowned City Restaurant in Kalasipalyam or Shivaji Nagar Bangalore, Biryani Paradise in Mysore, Moghul Darbar in Chickmagalur or even at Ghousia Hotel in Koppa. This biryani is not made pungent or too spicy. More importance is given to the generous portion of rice and meat that is served at lower price. These restaurants were started to serve the poor and the middle class people mostly, but one can not miss seeing an expensive SUV or MPV parked in front of these restaurants for lunch or dinner, or even a take away to nearby towns.

We didn't have Jeerak Samba in stock but we had par boiled Basmati Rice which somebody said is good for making biryani. Meena used that in this recipe. I didn't like the texture of that basmati rice but the biryani tasted very good. At some other date, we plan to make the authentic biryani with sannakki or jeerak samba rice but here's how we made Mysore Yakhni Biryani. This one is easy to make and doesn't require any grinding.

Ingredients:
Broiler Chicken fleshy pieces - 500 Grams cut into medium pieces
Red Chilli Powder - 1-2 Teaspoons(According taste)       
Turmeric powder - 1/4 Teaspoons
Rice (Basmati or Jeerak Samba) - 400 Grams(About 2 cups)
Salt - To taste
Lemon -    1
Oil/Ghee - 20+20 Ml
Whole Garam Masala - 3 green cardamoms, 4 cloves, 1" cinnamon, 1 bay leaf, 1 star anise, 2 marata moggu, A pinch of mace, A pinch of nutmeg powder
Onion  - 2 sliced thin
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 Teaspoons
Green Chillies - 3 slit
Tomato - 2 sliced thin
Curd - 1 Tablepoon
Coriander Leaves - A handful chopped
Mint Leaves - A handful chopped

Method:
Marinate the chicken with salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and 1/2 lemon juice for 30 minutes.
Wash and soak rice for 15 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
Heat 20 Ml Oil in a Large Vessel and fry the whole spices followed by onions with green chilies and 1/4 teaspoon salt till the onions turn golden.
Add Ginger garlic paste and fry well.
Now add the tomato and fry well till the Oil leaves the sides.
Add the chicken with marinade, curd and half portion of coriander and mint leaves.
Fry for 5 minutes.
Add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.
Now add the soaked drained rice, mix gently, squeeze other half of the lemon, add salt to taste, cover and cook on slow fire for 10 minutes.
Open the lid and sprinkle the remaining Mint leaves and Coriander leaves on top of the rice and drizzle the 20Ml ghee over it.
Close the lid and let it cook for another 10-15 minutes or till all the water has been absorbed by the rice and the rice is properly cooked.
Switch off the flame, keep for 10 minutes and then gently mix the rice and serve with kachumber raita.