Soft and Juicy Chicken 65

Soft, juicy and spicy Chicken 65 - The ultimate starter recipe

Have you all come across this thought - Why does chicken 65 in restaurant alone is so soft, juicy and full of flavours?! Well I have had this thought atleast a dozen times. Earlier mostly we buy readymade chicken 65 masala powder. Though it was flavouful and good, it wasn't as soft and juicy as we get in restaurants.

One day my friend Indhu gave me a wonderful tip of marinating the chicken in lemon juice first which eventually led to these ultimate Chicken 65. 

There are two main things that I consider important to get a perfect soft and juicy Chicken 65

• First marinate the chicken in lemon juice and salt up to 4 hours ( minimum 1 hour )
• Fry the chicken in medium high flame until it is just cooked. Cooking for too long can also make the chicken run out of all the moisture.

And one more thing, this is the recipe I use in my Chicken 65 Biryani - one of the popular posts in our space!!!

 

Chicken 65

Soft, juicy and spicy Chicken 65!!!
Prep time: 4 hour 30 min| Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 4 hour 45 min| Yield: serves 3 to 4


INGREDIENTS:
Bite-sized / cubed Chicken pieces: 3/4 Kg 
Big Lemon: 1 
Salt: to taste
Red Chilli Powder: 2 and 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder: 1 and 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder: 3/4 tsp
Pepper Powder: 3/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste: 1 tbsp
All Purpose Flour: 2 tbsp 
Corn Flour: 4 tbsp
Oil: for frying

METHOD:

1) Clean the chicken pieces by washing with water at least twice. Drain all the water and make sure they are dry. Add lemon juice and little salt.
2)  Mix well and keep aside for 4 hours. After 4 hours, add ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, pepper powder, turmeric powder, all purpose flour, cornflour and the remaining salt.
3) Mix well and keep aside for another 1/2 hour. Heat oil in a kadai and drop the chicken pieces one by one ( Do it in batches without crowding too much as it will reduce the oil temperature )
4) Fry the Chicken pieces in medium high flame. After one side of the chicken pieces are cooked flip over and cook on the other side too. Cook till they are evenly browned. Drain the chicken pieces in a tissue paper.
 I always do a taste test with a small piece to check if they are done and note the timings for the next batch ( This way I need not test  for each and every batch which will eventually lead me to eating the whole lot :) )

That's it soft, juicy and flavourful chicken 65 is ready for grab!!! Serve hot with onions and lemon wedges...

NOTES:

1) Marinate the chicken pieces in lemon juice and salt for a minimum of 1 hour as it will yield the best soft and juicy chicken.

2) Cooking time is very essential in getting perfect chicken 65. It may vary depending on the size of chicken pieces and the heat of your stove. But don't worry, you will definitely get it right. Just do some taste test and see which you like the best.

3) The colour of the chicken mainly depends on the colour of your red chilli powder.

Check out my top favorite Chicken 65 Biryani recipe here !!!

Cheers,
Sindhiya.S

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Chicken 65 Biryani

I love biryani and Chicken 65 biryani is my top most favorite. For every other biryani, I definitely require a side dish but not for this one. It is too good on its own.  And here I have to mention one thing about my SILs, though I love to eat biryani soooo much, I never learned to do it mainly because whenever my 3 SILs visit us or if I visit them, they will do their style biryani for me ( yes!! specially for me :) ) Even after I learned from them, during their visits biryani is always done by them. They will say "I will do, you just enjoy it hot!!" Yep, thats how I like my biryani very hot straight from the stove ( aavi paraka!! ) Love my SILs :)

This Chicken 65 Biryani was introduced to me by 3rd SIL Gomathi. You may think whats so special about adding chicken 65 pieces to a biryani?? But trust me it is special!!! Somehow the chicken 65 pieces combined with this biryani masala makes it so awesome. Normally where chicken pieces in biryani are left back, here people will be hunting for some more :) OK now without any further ado onto the recipe...

You can check out my Chicken 65 recipe here

INGREDIENTS:
Chicken 65 pieces - 3/ 4 kg
Seraga Samba rice - 2 1/2 cups
Water - 5 cups
Onion - 3 ( sliced )
Tomato -1 ( small )
Green Chilli - 9 ( 5+4)
Shallots - 3/4 cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
Coriander Leaves - 1 handful ( finely chopped )
Mint leaves - 20 ( finely chopped )
Oil - 2 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Bay Leaf - 2
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
To Grind:
Fennel Seeds - 1 tbsp
Cashew - 5
Kasa kasa ( poppy seed ) - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 1/2" stick
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 1
Coconut - 1 small piece ( as shown in pic )
METHOD:
1) Grind all the ingredients under the title To Grind  to a smooth paste. I used my ammi ( grinding stone ) you can use your mixer too.

2) Pulse the shallots and 5 green chilli just once or twice ( here a gain I used my ammi, you can do it in your mixer ) No need to do a fine paste ( refer picture ) Wash and soak the rice in water for 10 to 15 minutes.

3) Drain the rice and keep it aside. In a pressure cooker, Heat oil and ghee and toss the bay leaf ( I normally tear it before tossing in oil to get maximum flavour ) Add in the onions and fry for about a minute. Add the pulsed onion and green chilli mixture.

4) Add the remaining 4 green chilli ( slit vertically ) Fry for a minute and add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell leaves. Next add the tomato and fry till it turns mushy.

5) Add the ground masala and fry for 1 - 2 minutes and add the chilli powder. Next add the chopped coriander and mint leaves and mix well.

6) Finally add 5 cups water. After it comes to a boil add the drained rice.

7) When the rice is more than 50 % cooked ( refer above picture ) add the chicken pieces and mix well. Close the pressure cooker without the whistle.

8) When the steam starts to come out put on the whistle and keep it in the lowest flame for 10 minutes. Then transfer the cooker to a heated tawa for 10 more minutes in the lowest flame.

After the pressure releases enjoy your super hot and super tasty Chicken 65 Biryani!!!!

NOTES:
1) For Chicken 65, you can use ready made masala or prepare yourself. I have tried both the versions and both are so good. Here I used homemade version which I will post soon.
2) Normally for biryani we use 1 : 1.5 ratio for rice and water. But here in this biryani it is 1:2 which is totally perfect for this biryani. I have tried the same biryani with 1:1.5 ratio too but liked the former better.
3) Using this tawa method totally works for me, there is no burnt rice at the bottom :)
4) You can also use basmati rice instead of seraga samba rice.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#48

Cheers,
Sindhiya.S

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Easy Muttton Biryani (Pressure cooker method)

Hi, how about having a plate full of mutton biryani and raita on a rainy Sunday afternoon with kids. Are you ready for that. This can be made within an hour .check it out and it is a no fail recipe. Go on with my instructions and your yummy biryani is ready for your family.

Ingredients:

Mutton - 1/2 kg
Onion -2 (medium sized ,slice it lengthwise)
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Tomato -1
Mint leaves - a handful
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Sakthi biryani powder - 2 tsp( my hubby likes this masala)
Basmati rice - 1 1/2 cups( is use double deer basmati rice)
Water - 1 + 3 cups( 1 cup for mutton to cook)
Salt - to taste
Coriander leaves - few
Fried cashews - few
Oil - 2 tsp
Ghee- 1 tsp
To temper:
Cardamom -1
Cloves -2
Cinnamon - a small piece

Procedure:
Step 1:
Wash the mutton thoroughly and strain it in a strainer.
Wash the basmati rice once and soak for 10-15 minutes(until it has bulged a little) and strain it in a strainer.
Cut the onions and tomatoes.
Clean and wash the mint leaves.
Step 2:
Heat a pressure cooker add oil and ghee and add items under tempering.
Now add onions and fry until translucent.


Next add your ginger garlic paste and fry until raw smell leaves.
Next go on with mint leaves and then tomato.
Fry until tomato turns mushy.


Step 3:
Now time to add turmeric and sakthi Briyani powder and give a toss.
Now add your mutton pieces and little salt(for the mutton ) and toss it for 3-4 minutes in that .


Now add one cup of water and mix.
Close the cooker and give for 4 whistles.
Step 4:
After pressure releases open the cooker and again cook until all the water in it gets evaporated and gets a gravy consistency.
Now add your drained rice and give a toss.


Next add in 2 cups of remaining water and the salt(for the rice)
Check for salt and spicy ness.
Step 5:
Now let it boil for sometime. You will find a stage where the water and the rice are inseparable( c picture)
At this stage reduce the flame to lowest, close the cooker ,put on the weight and cook on slowest flame(dum) for just 8 minutes.
Step6:
Open the cooker only after the pressure releases. Then fluff it with a fork and serve hot along with raita.
Garnish with coriander and fried cashews.

Notes:
Do not open the cooker before pressure releases.
Before adding rice the cooked mutton should be in gravy consistency.
Always fluff it with a fork.

Another method is to pressure cook directly,for that follow until step 4 and close the cooker and give for 2 whistles and switch off the flame and open the cooker after the pressure releases by itself and fluff it with a fork and serve hot.

Cheers,
Jayanthi B

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