Thank you for the clearing the cloud.
Please help me in understanding one more step. Recipe described in
Post #5 states under cooking log that
I was under impression, this one hour duration would overcook rice.
May I try this recipe in a different way: May I first cook the chicken till it becomes tender then start the layering part and cook them for fifteen minutes.
Please guide as this is to be done on Wednesday
The rice cooking depends on two things
1. The time
2. The water
Given infinite water, time determines when the rice is properly cooked, that is when it absorbs enough water to be palatable to you. I may like soft texture, you may want a slightly firmer texture. So we adjust the cooking time accordingly. In case of limited water, the rice will swell just that much. After that if on open fire it will dry up, if in Dum then it will remain so for quite some time.
In the Kachchi Biryani, the amount of water is regulated
- By half cooking the rice
- By ensuring only that much water is there in the vessel (marinade + water in the meat), as will be required to cook the rice perfectly (on the firmer side, rather than on the softer side). Once the water that can be absorbed by rice is finished, it will not get softer.
There fore the duration that the Biryani is cooked for, is determined by the cooking time of the meat (1 to 1 1/2 hours for chicken and 2 to 3 hours for mutton) and not by the cooking time of rice.
In the Lucknowi style, the meat is cooked to 90% and the rice to 50%, hence after mixing the time taken cooks both these ingredients to perfection is same.
The beauty of Kachchi Biryani is that all the juices and aroma of the meat and the spices are absorbed by the rice, so that there is a taste and flavour in each grain of rice (it even penetrates inside!).
Just ensure that the rice is 50% done (when it just starts to change colour and swells a bit), stick to the timing and you will get perfect Biryani.
One thing to note is that this style of cooking requires very little preparation time (frying onions, cooking rice to 50% and layering. In general the preparation takes one hour. Once on the Dum, with just enough heat o maintain the steam inside, no intervention is needed or warranted. Yours hands are free - no checking, no turning no tasting, and most important no fear of it either over or under cooking.
- - - Updated - - -
Thanks for the guidance,
gulloo!
I would try to follow the advise given by you and
aroy!
As I have already marinated chicken today, I would inform the outcome day after tomorrow!
Ensure
1. The chicken is 1 to 1 1/2 layer thick in the pan, densely packed. So choose your pan accordingly.
2. In case the marinade goes over the chicken layer, cook the rice less.
3. In case there is very little marinade, add a bit of water and mix thoroughly. Ideally the marinade should be at the level of the one layer thick chicken in the pan.
