Dindigul is a district in Tamil Nadu which is well known for it’s own Biryani called as Thalappakatti Biryani. The Thalappakatti Restaurant was started earlier in 1957 by Mr.Nagasamy Naidu. He always ensured that the Biryani served in his hotel was unique and special in terms of taste. So he included high quality masala products and meat in biryani’s making them extra ordinary.

Due to the special blend of spices used in the biryani, everyone will definitely love it. There are more than 40 outlets of this restaurant across the globe now, including Paris, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, California, etc.

Tamil Nadu Biryani recipes uses Jeerakasala rice or kaima rice for biryanis. Dindigul thalappakatti chicken biryani is an easier and quicker version of biryani recipe. Since I had only Basmati rice with me, I had taken it instead of Kaima rice. But you may use kaima rice for the actual flavour of this biryani. Kaima rice absorbs flavour more than basmati rice as per my opinion.

While preparing biryani, the most important thing to keep in your mind is to to use fresh ingredients. In this recipe, we are preparing both masala and paste by grinding the ingredients. We are using shallot as the main ingredient in this recipe. This is not a spicy version of biryani. You can adjust the level of spices based on the taste of your family.

Before starting to prepare this biryani,make sure you check the ingredients and keep it ready aside. You can soak the rice, peel off the shallots, arrange the spices, clean the chicken pieces, before you start with. I love to have eggs with all kinds of biryani. So I had pre boiled the eggs also. If you are too busy and you need a best biryani, you can easily go with this recipe.

Ingredients:

• Chicken – 1/2 kg
• Kaima rice or Jeerakasala rice- 2 cups
• Water – 3 cups
• Sunflower oil – 2 tablespoon
• Ghee – 3 tablespoon
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
• Curd – 4 tablespoon
• Lemon juice – 1 tablespoon

(a) For biryani masala :

• Fennel seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Coriander seeds – 2 teaspoon
• Pepper – 1/2 teaspoon
• Cinnamon – 5 pieces of 1 inch size
• Cloves – 8 to 10
• Bayleaves – 1
• Star anise – 1
• Cardamom – 3
• Cashewnut – 8
• Mint leaves – 1 tablespoon

(b) For paste :

• Shallots – 250 g
• Garlic – 8 pods
• Ginger – 2 inch size piece
• Green chillies – 2
• Coriander leaves – 2 tablespoon
• Mint leaves – 2 tablespoon

Method of preparation:

• Wash, clean and soak the rice for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, drain off the water and keep the rice aside.
• Clean and cut the chicken pieces also.
• Grind the masala for biryani mentioned under (a)
• Grind the shallots along with other ingredients mentioned under (b) to form a coarse paste
• In a heavy bottom kadai, heat oil and ghee
• Add shallot paste to the oil and saute well
• Now add the prepared biryani masala,turmeric powder and chilli powder
• Saute all powders till the raw smell are gone completely
• Add curd and mix well
• Then add chicken pieces to the prepared masala
• Make sure that the chicken pieces are coated with the masala
• Add 1 cup of water to the chicken and cook it in medium flame for 10 minutes
• After 10 minutes, add 3 more cups of water
• When the curry comes to a rolling boil, add the kaima rice which is kept aside
• Add 1 tablespoon mint leaves and lemon juice also
• Cover and cook the rice for 20 minutes in low flame
• After 20 minutes, you can see that the rice is cooked well
• You can serve the rice with raitha’s, pickles, etc.