Shanti, Shanti and Yum!

This is a wonderful dish from America's Test Kitchen. It's easy, but a little time consuming. I'd recommend this for the weekend and not particularly for a weeknight when you've come home from work and want dinner.

The flavors of this Indian dish are rally amazing. Saffron, Mint, Cilantro, Jalapeno, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cardamom. WOW! The whole thing starts with simmering and steeping some spices in water to make the rice. Then the onions, garlic and Jalapeno....and the herbs!

All the ingredients are then layered together and put over low heat until the rice it prefect and tender and chicken is cooked through and juicy. Try this one!

Chicken Biryani
Serves 4

This recipe requires a 3 1/2- to 4-quart saucepan about 8 inches in diameter. Do not use a large, wide Dutch oven, as it will adversely affect both the layering of the dish and the final cooking times. Begin simmering the spices in the water prior to preparing the remaining ingredients; the more time the spices have to infuse the water (up to half an hour), the more flavor they will give to the rice. Biryani is traditionally served with a cooling yogurt sauce; ideally, you should make it before starting the biryani to allow the flavors in the sauce to meld.10 cardamom pods, preferably green, smashed with chef's knife

• 10 cardamom pods, preferrably green, smashed with a knife
  
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 inch piece fresh ginger, cut into 1/2 -inch-thick coins and smashed with knife
• ½ tsp cumin seed
• 3 quarts water
• table salt
  
• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds), trimmed of excess skin and fat and patted dry with paper towels
• ground black pepper
• 3 TB unsalted butter
• 2 medium onions, sliced thin (about 4 cups)
• 2 medium jalapeño chiles, one seeded and chopped fine, the other chopped fine with seeds
• 4 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
• 1 ¼ cups basmati rice
• ½ tsp saffron threads , lightly crumbled
• ¼ cup dried currants or raisins
• 2 TB chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 TB chopped fresh mint leaves

1. Wrap cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, ginger, and cumin seed in small piece of cheesecloth and secure with kitchen twine. In 3 ½- to 4-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan about 8 inches in diameter, bring water, spice bundle, and 1 ½ teaspoons salt to boil over medium-high heat; reduce to medium and simmer, partially covered, until spices have infused water, at least 15 minutes (but no longer than 30 minutes).

2. Meanwhile, season both sides of chicken thighs with salt and pepper and set aside. Heat butter in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until foaming subsides; add onions and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and dark brown about edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Add jalapeños and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer onion mixture to bowl, season lightly with salt, and set aside. Wipe out skillet with paper towels, return heat to medium-high, and place chicken thighs skin-side down in skillet; cook, without moving chicken, until well browned, about 5 minutes. Flip chicken and brown second side, 4 to 5 minutes longer; transfer chicken to plate and remove and discard skin. Tent with foil to keep warm.

3. If necessary, return spice-infused water to boil over high heat; stir in rice and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain rice through fine-mesh strainer, reserving ¾ cup cooking liquid; discard spice bundle. Transfer rice to medium bowl; stir in saffron and currants (rice will turn splotchy yellow). Spread half of rice evenly in bottom of now-empty saucepan using rubber spatula. Scatter half of onion mixture over rice, then place chicken thighs, skinned-side up, on top of onions; add any accumulated chicken juices. Evenly sprinkle with cilantro and mint, scatter remaining onions over herbs, then cover with remaining rice; pour reserved cooking liquid evenly over rice.

4. Cover saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until rice is tender and chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes (if large amount of steam is escaping from pot, reduce heat to low). Run heatproof rubber spatula around inside rim of saucepan to loosen any affixed rice; using large serving spoon, spoon biryani into individual bowls, scooping from bottom of pot and serving 1 chicken thigh per person.

Here you'll see the par-cooked rice and the sauted chicken thighs, with the skin removed. Everything else is prepped and ready to go for the layering.

Here we've mixed the raisings and saffron into the par-cooked rice.

The first layer of rice, onions, chicken and herbs are down. The finish, you top with the remaining onion mixture and the last of the rice.

It's done. This is what it looks like after it's simmered on low for nearly 30 minutes. The rice has plumped up and the chicken is cooked through underneath.

Plated up!

Serve with a yummy yogurt sauce to cool the heat and bring it all together.

Yogurt Sauce

This recipe goes very well with Chicken Biryani. Double the ingredients if making Chicken Biryani for a Crowd.

Makes about 1 ¼ cups

1 cup whole milk or low-fat plain yogurt
1 medium clove garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
2 TB minced fresh cilantro leaves
2 TB minced fresh mint leaves
Table salt and ground black pepper

Combine first four ingredients in small bowl; season to taste with salt and pepper. Let stand at least 30 minutes to blend flavors.