Chicken Parda Biriyani

Chicken Parda Biriyani is a one pot dish and is usually served with raita and salad. Since the period of Sultan Suleman it's been one of the popular recipes of Arabian countries. I have prepared chicken biriyani earlier but this one is quite different from the previous ones. Here the layers of biriyani are spread very carefully into a Potli-like structure made out of all purpose flour. Actually, this special kind of biriyani is cooked in a big sized roti folded like a potli and served by cutting the roti like a parda or curtain is getting removed. One should be very careful while making the recipe. Below I'm writing the recipe in detail.

Ingredients:

For the biriyani:

Basmati Rice - 2 cups

2 Half boiled potatoes cut into halves

For the Chicken:

½  kg Chicken , cut into medium pieces

3 Onions , finely chopped  

2 Tomatoes 

3 tablespoons ginger-garlic Paste

5 Green Chillies , slit (adjust according to your taste)

¼  cup Coriander Leaves

¾  cup Hung Curd 

2 tablespoons Coriander Powder 

¾  tablespoon Red Chilli powder

½  teaspoon Turmeric powder 

1½ teaspoon Biryani masala

Salt and sugar , to taste

Sunflower Oil , as required

Ghee , as required

1 Lemon

Saffron strands , A few strands soaked in a teaspoon of milk,

1 tablespoon Kewra Water

2 tablespoons Beresta (fried onions)

Whole spices:

2 Bay leaf 

1 Cinnamon Stick 

4 Cloves 

4 Whole Black Peppercorns

2 Cardamom  Pods/Seeds

1 Star anise

½  teaspoon shahi jeera

½  teaspoon Nutmeg powder , freshly pound

½  teaspoon Mace 

¼ teaspoons Nigella seeds

For making the Parda:

All purpose flour - 2 cups

baking soda - ¼  teaspoon

Oil - 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Method:

To begin making the Biriyani, thoroughly wash and soak the rice.

For cooking the chicken:

To make the marinade for the chicken,slice tomatoes and half of the onions into thin pieces.

Fry the onions till golden brown and grind them with tomatoes into a fine paste.

Now, in a mixing bowl, combine chicken, onion-tomato paste, curd, lemon juice, red chili powder, turmeric, coriander powder, Biriyani masala and some salt. Massage the chicken well and keep the chicken for marination for about 45 minutes before cooking.

Heat oil in a big wok or a handi on medium flame, and add bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, cardamom,star anise, nutmeg, mace, shahi jeera and once they begin to sizzle, add rest of the chopped onions and fry them till soft, this will take about 2 minutes. 

At this stage, add the ginger garlic paste and fry the mix till it the raw smell goes away. To the handi add the green chilies and and some coriander leaves and sauté for a couple of minutes. 

Once the oil starts separating, add the marinated chicken to the handi along with the marinade mix and stir well. 

Increase the flame to high and continue to cook by stirring continuously.

Adjust salt and spices to suit your taste. 

Give it a good stir and close the lid. Reduce the flame and let the chicken cook for about 5-7 minutes. 

For making the Parda:

For making this,mix all purpose flour, salt and baking soda with required amount of water knead it into a soft dough.

Make a very big Roti out of the dough. It should not be very thin.

Grease a bowl with oil and place the Roti on that bowl. Keep it aside.

For cooking the rice:

Now,let us proceed to cook the rice.

In a large vessel heat water double the quantity of rice. Add few drops of lemon juice in it along with some oil.

As soon as the water is hot, add the soaked and drained rice and allow it to cook in high flame. Add salt to the rice and let it cook till it is 80% cooked.

Drain the water and pass the rice through a colander. Spread it on a tray to separate the grains. 

Assembling the biriyani:

The next step is to assemble the Parda Biriyani. Pre heat a broad base flat iron tawa on gas and during this period evenly spread the rice on the base(different from other biriyani as for other biriyani recipes base is made with the chicken mix) of the big Roti on the bowl, then create a layer of the chicken mix and potatoes and add a spoonful of ghee over it. 

Finally, make a top layer of rest of the rice and garnish it with ghee, saffron soaked in milk, beresta, lemon juice, and kewra water. Now, hold the sides of the Roti very carefully and fold over the biriyani to create a potli-like structure.

Brush oil or grease it with some ghee on the top of the potli. Now, upset the potli on that pre-heated tawa with too much care so that the potli isn't untied or ruptured in any way. Spread the nigella seeds over the potli.

Cover it with another deep surfaced Kadai and bake it for 10-15 minutes. Then turn over the dough again very carefully from the tawa into the Kadai, cover it with the tawa and bake it for another 10 minutes.

Switch off the burner and rest it for 5 minutes.

After that invert the Parda Biriyani on a serving plate carefully.C
Cut the parda with a knife.

And serve it hot with salad and raita.