Wedding Style Lagoon Biryani Laghorn / Malabar Kalyana Veedu Leghorn Chicken Biriyani

LEGHORN CHICKEN BIRYANI

 Biriyani is a delicious mixed rice dish famous in Kerala. Lagoon chicken biriyani is different from other

biriyani recipes in its unique flavour and method of preparation. This tasty biriyani recipe is passed

on from my sister in law. The secret in this recipe is the freshly powdered whole spice mix. Lagoon

chicken is healthier than other chicken with fatty skin. It is good for controlling cholesterol, reducing

blood pressure etc. Lagoon chicken biriyani is traditionally prepared for marriage functions and has

its own fan base. Lagoon chicken biriyani will be loved by everyone.

Ingredients

Lagoon chicken – 2 nos.

Rice ( preferably Jeerakasala rice) – 1 kg

Salt

Vinegar – 1 teaspoon

Pepper powder – 1 teaspoon ( Use more if you prefer spicier)

Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon

Water – 500 ml

Coconut oil

Green chilly – depending on the amount of spiciness required

Fennel seeds – 1 teaspoon

Cumin seeds

Onions – 5 big ones

Tomato – 5 medium-sized ones

Sunflower oil – 1 teaspoon

Garam masala powder - 1 teaspoon

Vinegar – 1 teaspoon

Dum

Ghee – 2 - 3 tablespoons

Crushed ginger and garlic

Chopped coriander leaves

Chopped mint leaves

Curd – 3 – 4 tablespoons

Vinegar – 1 teaspoon

Garam masala – 1 teaspoon/whole spices

Turmeric powder

Pepper powder

Garam masala – 1 teaspoon

Coriander leaves

Mint leaves

Sunflower oil

Preparation

Wash the chicken well with salt and vinegar. Drain the water. Cut the chicken into pieces. Add 1

teaspoon of pepper powder, 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon of vinegar. You can add

more pepper powder if you prefer to make the chicken hotter. Vinegar is added so that the chicken

is cooked quickly. Add salt as required. Mix well. Add 500 ml of water. Pressure cook till 6 whistles.

After 6 whistles, check if the chicken is cooked and cook it for some more time if needed. When the

chicken is well cooked, we will be able to remove the sock-like portion at the end of the leg piece. I

had to cook for 2 more whistles. It depends on the chicken.

Pour coconut oil into another cooker. Add green chilli, fennel seeds and cumin seeds. Saute well.

Add more green chilli if you prefer the dish to be spicier. Slice the onions and add to the pressure

cooker. Add salt and sauté. When the onion becomes soft, add tomatoes. Mix well. Add some water

and pressure cook it till 2 whistles. You can sauté the masala like that of ordinary biriyani too.

Masala is not absorbed easily by lagoon chicken. When we do this, the chicken will be well coated

with the masala.

Wash the rice well. Soak it in water for 10 minutes. If we soak for a long time, the rice will absorb the

water and biriyani won't be tasty. After 10 minutes, drain the water.

Boil some water to cook the rice. When it is boiling, add 1 teaspoon of sunflower oil, salt(as

required), 1 teaspoon of garam masala powder and 1 teaspoon of vinegar. Vinegar gives white

colour to the rice and prevents it from being sticky. Add the rice to it. The rice will be cooked in 5 – 6

minutes. Move the rice to another bowl.

Heat the pan. Add 2 – 3 tablespoons of ghee. Add the cooked tomatoes and onions. Saute well.

When the tomatoes and onions are sautéed and the raw smell is gone, add crushed ginger and

garlic. When the raw smell of ginger and garlic is gone, add a bunch of chopped coriander leaves and

mint leaves. Add the stock of chicken, i.e., the water remaining with the chicken. This will give the

biriyani a unique taste. Thicken the stock water. When the masala is well sautéed and the water

starts to dry up, add 3 – 4 tablespoons of curd, 1 teaspoon of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of garam

masala powder. Instead of garam masala, you can add whole spices while sautéing the onion at first.

Add salt as required. Saute well. Add some turmeric powder and pepper powder. Add 1 teaspoon of

garam masala, coriander leaves and mint leaves. Saute well. Add the cooked chicken to it. The

chicken should get well cooked in the masala. Keep it closed for a while. The chicken has to be

cooked for 5 - 10 minutes in the masala. Only then the masala will be absorbed well by the chicken.

This biriyani will not be tasty if the chicken is not well cooked.

When the chicken is well cooked, add coriander leaves and mint leaves. Spread sunflower oil over it.

You can add ghee too. But the biriyani will have a special taste if we add sunflower oil. Add the

biriyani rice over it as the first layer. Spread sunflower oil, coriander leaves and mint leaves over it.

Add the rice over it as the next layer. Close it with aluminium foil and close the lid. Cook for ½ an

hour over a low flame. Remove the flame after ½ an hour. Then keep it for another half an hour.

Lagoon chicken biriyani is ready.

RAMADAN SNACKS RECIPES - 2018

• SWEET BOX SNACK

• SPICY CHICKEN CAKE

• BREAD BANANA TOAST 
• For blog link - Bread and banana toast

• BANANA BALLS

• CHICKEN PASTA SANDWICH

• BREAD CHICKEN PAKODA
• BLOG LINK - Bread chicken pakoda

• VERMICELLI BANANA SWISS ROLL

• POTATO FINGERS / ALOO FINGERS

• CHICKEN SMILEY

• CHICKEN KABAB ON FRYING PAN
• BLOG LINK - CHICKEN KEBAB

• EGG KABAB / THENGA MURI

• MURTABAK / EGG CHICKEN STUFFING

• CHICKEN MULAKU BAJI

• CHEMMEEN PAKODA

• BREAD EGG LOLLIPOP / QUAIL EGG SNACK

• CHICKEN LOLLIPOP FROM WINGS

• BANANA HOT POCKETS

• BANANA AND BREAD SNACK / MAKE AND FREEZE

• NO FRYING CHICKEN SAMOSA

• EASY UNNIYAPPAM RECIPE

• EASY BANANA PARATHA / SWEET PARATHA

• PERFECT  KALTHAPPAM

• BANANA FRITTERS / PAZHAM PORI
• BLOG LINK - PAZHAM PORI

• SWEET LOVE LETTER SNACK / ELANJI
• BLOG LINK - ELANJI SNACK

• 
  

HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN CHUKKA

Hello! Welcome back to Ayesha's Kitchen!

Hope all are fine.

Today I am sharing an easy and perfect recipe of chicken chukka. We will see how to prepare perfect chicken chukka easily at home.

PREPARATION

The main ingredient for chicken chukka is fried onions. I have taken 3 onions.We will need 3 - 4 onions for 1 kg of chicken. Thinly slice 3 medium sized onions.We have to fry it. Heat oil well and fry the onions.You can add little by little and fry it to finish this quickly. I am adding some salt with it.

If we fry it with salt, it is tasty and won't be spoilt fast upon storing.

It will take about 15 minutes for frying the onion. If you don't want to prepare the fried onion each time, you can fry the onion and store it. If we store the fried onion in a box after it cools down, we can quickly prepare this chicken recipe.

Fry it over a medium flame till it becomes brown. Move it to tissue. I had wiped it with a tissue afterwards. It will be very soft while it is hot. It will be crisp later. Set it aside for a while.We can mix the the ingredients now in a bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of crushed ginger, garlic and fennel seeds. I had crushed it without removing the garlic's peel. I washed it with the peel and crushed it.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 2 tablespoons of Kashmiri chilli powder. You can add more chilli powder for more spiciness. Add 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala powder and 2 teaspoons of pepper powder.

Though we are adding these according to the spiciness, there needs to be sufficient Kashmiri chilli powder and pepper powder to get the dish in the right colour. Add salt as required.

Thinly slice one medium-sized tomato and add to it. I am not adding coriander powder. It is not required for this recipe. Mix the masala and tomato well with hands. We are adding washed and drained 1 kg of chicken to this paste. Marinate the chicken well with the masala. Add the fried onion to it.

The fried onion, which was soft, is very crisp now. You can keep it outside for a while after mixing. But I am frying it now itself. If you are preparing fried onion and keeping it in a bottle, take more onion.

Add salt and mix well. When we are frying water will come out of the onion. Squeeze that water and fry in hot oil. Then the onion will be fried faster. Add 2 teaspoon of oil to the same pan. I removed the used oil. If you are using coconut oil for frying, remove a part of it.

No need to fry this in much oil. When oil is hot add curry leaves. Add the marinated chicken to this. Don't add much water to this. We can cook without water. I am adding less than 1/4 cup of water to cook this. Water will be there in chicken. If we add more water, then the marination will be gone.

So add some water and close this. Cook this in medium low flame. That is it. I am preparing Ghee rice in between. When the pan is hot add coconut oil instead of ghee. Add whole spices, garam masala, is added without grinding.

Add a sliced onion. Add crushed ginger, garlic and fennel seeds. Then ghee rice will have a special taste and aroma. Add water only after it is sautéed and raw smell is gone. Add 5 and 1/2 a cup of water for 3 cup of rice. The rest is the same as we do for ghee rice. When water boils add salt. Add washed and drained rice to it.

This is a chicken dish with less gravy. But that gravy is enough for any food with this chicken dish. Masala will be well coated in each chicken piece and have a good taste and flavour. If we want to prepare a chicken dish when we are busy, keep more quantity of fried onion in a bottle.

As I said earlier, slice the onion and add some salt. If we keep it for some time, water will come out of it. Squeeze it and fry is hot oil.  Keep the fried onion in an airtight container after it is cooled.  We can use it when we need it.  The water for ghee rice is boiling. Add salt.  Add washed rice to this.  Drain the rice well before adding it. Else the water will be more.  Close it and keep in medium flame for 5 to 8 minutes Then the ghee rice will be ready.  Our curry is ready. It is having good color and oil has separated.

Our chicken chukka is ready.  Water can be dried more for those who like dried chicken curry.  I am preparing it with some gravy.  We are having it with ghee rice. So some gravy is needed.  The highlight of this chicken dish is fried onion.  Use fried onion. If we use sautéed onion this color won't be there.

This dish has a good smell and is very tasty. Earlier I have shared this recipe on the blog.  Many have tried and liked this recipe very much.

All of you do try.  The colour of chicken chukka shows how much masala is coated in chicken pieces.

This dish is much tasty and flavorful.

How to make Chicken Chukka- A Preparation Video in Malayalam:

HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN STOCK AT HOME

HOW TO MAKE MAGGI STYLE CHICKEN STOCK/ CUBE AT HOME 

Today I am sharing a very useful Recipe.

In this blog, I am sharing how to easily prepare the chicken stock which we use for many recipes.

We won't have to buy chicken stock anymore.

We can prepare it easily at home. Let us see how to do that.

PREPARATION

Let us see how to prepare chicken stock.

I have taken 400 g of chicken.

These are the measurements for that.

We need two medium sized onions.

If the onion is big, take one only.

I have taken two small ones.

So either take two small onions or take one big onion.

Take one medium sized tomato.

Take one handful of garlic.

It is okay if you take more garlic.

Take one piece of ginger.

Take half piece of a carrot.

Peel it and cut it to 4 big pieces.

I have taken two colour capsicum. It gives an aroma.

Try to add it. It is okay if you don't use it too.

Take care to cut the carrot to big pieces.

Take 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds, 1 teaspoon pepper and 2 - 3 cardamoms.

All these measurements are for 400 g chicken.

I have taken 400 g chicken. There are pieces with skin and without skin.

When we prepare chicken, we won't need the wings.

I have taken 4 wings.

This looks like this since it is frozen chicken.

I have taken 2 thighs.

There is 400 g chicken in total.

It is better to cook items like this in a pressure cooker since we have to cook for a long time.

We can prepare without using the pressure cooker too.

Pressure cooker is better to cook quickly.

Add chicken to the pressure cooker.

VIDEO OF HOW TO MAKE THE MAGGI STYLE CHICKEN STOCK

Chop the tomato into big pieces and add to it. We don't have to slice it finely.

Chop tomato to big pieces and add to it.

We can add vinegar instead of tomato.

If you are adding vinegar, don't add it now.

Then, prepare this without tomato and add vinegar when we thicken it in the end.

I am adding tomato only.

We need tomato to get a country style taste.

Slice the ginger and add to it.

I have added the garlic without chopping.

I have added four pieces of carrot.

Add the carrot as big pieces.

Add the capsicum too.

Add cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, pepper and cardamom.

Add some salt only.

The salt is for namesake only. Since we are adding it to curries, the salty flavour shouldn't be excessive.

Add water upto the top of all of it.

We need some stock and we have to dry it up.

So add water upto this level.

Pressure cook it till 3 whistles.

Keep it over a medium flame and wait for 3 whistles.

If we are not using the pressure cooker, we have to cook it in an ordinary pan for 1 - 2 hours.

I am opening it after the pressure from 3 whistles is gone.

There is this much water.

The chicken is well cooked.

I am switching on the flame and cooking it again.

When we are preparing soup, we take this water out before mashing all these.

We prepare fresh soup with that water.

Since we have to store this, we need the flavour of the chicken well in it.

So boil it well over a high flame for 10 minutes.

The chicken will be well cooked by now. Still, we have to boil it.

Remove the carrot pieces before that.

If we cook carrot for a long time, it will be mashed.

Then the stock will have the colour of the carrot.

We have to remove the carrot.

We have to cook everything else over a high flame for 10 minutes.

There is no problem if we add the carrot to it.

The chicken stock will have the flavour of the carrot. That's all.

Boil it well.

Mix well with a spatula.

The chicken is well cooked.

It will have an aroma since we added capsicum.

The chicken stock is ready.

Move it to a bowl through a sieve.

Squeeze all the juice out of it. Just the juice is enough.

We don't need the remaining parts.

Some might blend it and add.

We don't have to do that.

Then the stock won't come out well.

It is better to take the liquid alone.

Squeeze it as much as possible.

I have squeezed it well through the sieve.

We got this much stock.

There will be a lot of water content in it.

We have to thicken it. Since we will be storing it, we have to cook it well.

I am heating a pan for it.

We have to pour oil to it.

Don't add coconut oil. The flavour of coconut oil will be present.

Use sunflower oil or corn oil. I am using corn oil.

I am using corn oil because I buy corn oil these days. I don't buy sunflower oil.

You can add sunflower oil if you have it.

Keep the flame at the lowest after the pan is heated and we pour the oil.

We are adding some powders to it. It shouldn't burn. So keep the flame low.

Add 3 teaspoons of cornflour to the oil.

When we add the cornflour, it shouldn't be thick

If it is thick, pour some more oil.

We need it like this.

I have added 3 teaspoons of corn flour.

Mix the corn flour well with the oil.

Since it is a low flame, we won't feel like it is heated.

It is okay. Mix well. It doesn't have to boil.

Add 1 teaspoon of garam masala.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of pepper powder.

Mix well.

We have to add garam masala in more quantity than others.

All these measurements depend on the quantity of the chicken.

When there is the flavour of garam masala, it will have a unique taste.

We have mixed it over a low flame.

We are adding the stock to it.

Then we can increase the flame.

Mix well.

It will be slightly thick only.

There is a lot of water in it. The water should evaporate and this should thicken.

I am adding some more garam masala since I added less garam masala at first.

Mix well.

We are cooking it over a medium flame.

Don't keep it over a high flame. Then it will stick to the bottom.

We have to cook it for 20 minutes.

We don't have to keep stirring. But check it once in a while.

If there isn't much water, it will thicken quickly.

Since I poured sufficient water, I have to thicken it.

Since we have to store it, we should cook it well before making it to stock.

If we prepare it quickly, it will be spoilt soon.

It is watery now.

It should become thick. We have to cook till then.

Do the next step when the water has dried up and it has thickened slightly.

Take 1 tablespoon cornflour and mix it well with water.

Don't take too much cornflour.

1 tablespoon is enough.

We should add corn flour according to the amount of stock we take.

Add it to the stock when the water has dried up and it has thickened slightly.

Now we have to stir continuously or it will stick to the bottom.

It has thickened quickly.

When we add the cornflour and mix, it will be loose.

Then we should mix it once in a while with the spatula.

We have to mix it till it has the texture of a halwa. It should get separated from the bottom.

We have to cook it till it gets separated from the sides when we mix with the spatula.

It has thicken some more.

We still have to cook some more.

Anyway, it will take around 20 minutes for thickening well.

We have to prepare it once only. But prepare in a large quantity.

Since we haven't added preservatives, we can store it in the freezer for 30 days.

It is better to finish it quickly.

We shouldn't store it for long without preservatives.

Check if it will separate in the sides.

It is getting more separated from the pan.

It isn't coming fully right.

We have to cook some more.

As you can see now, it has the texture of halwa now.

It is getting separated from the sides easily.

We need this consistency.

The stock is ready.

It is very thick now. Remove the flame now.

I am spreading some oil in a glass tray and pouring the stock to it.

We can use any tray.

I am also using an ice tray. We can prepare as single pieces in it.

The ice tray is better. If you don't have it, use a steel/glass plate.

Spread oil in it and pour the stock into it using a spoon.

If it is like this, we will get right measurements.

When we are cooking any dish, we will need about 2 cubes.

We haven't added any preservatives or addictives.

This is fresh chicken stock.

We can add this to many dishes - noodles, biriyani, chicken curry or vegetable curry to et the chicken flavour.

I have poured to glass tray and ice tray.

We can move it to the freezer when it has cooled down.

We have to keep it in the freezer for 5 -6 hours.

Then we can pack it.

I am keeping it in the freezer and covering it with an aluminium foil.

Cover it with aluminium foil like this.

It has set well after 5 -6 hours.

Keep it in the freezer itself. Only then it will set well.

We can take it out one by one as cubes from the ice tray.

When we buy, we will get it as square pieces.

I am using this tray to get it in that shape.

When we use an ice tray, we can take it out and use it easily.

It has solidified since we kept it in the freezer.

If we keep it in room temperature for a while, it will melt.

We have to use it before that.

We store it in the freezer.

We can take it out one by one as needed.

We can cut out pieces from the tray and use.

We have to use chicken stock in many recipes.

When we prepared Mandi, we added chicken stock only as masala.

Many had told then that they don't buy chicken stock as it is bad for health.

I hope this will be useful for you when you prepare dishes for which chicken stock is must and we cannot buy it.

Many had asked in the youtube video of Mandi recipe how to prepare chicken stock at home.

It is simple to prepare.

We can easily prepare it if we have some chicken.

It will be very useful if we store it like this.

We can cover it in aluminium foil and store. Then we can use each piece.

Else place butter paper in a plastic container and store it with the cubes not touching each other.

We can cover it using butter paper instead of aluminium foil.

We will need two cubes of chicken stock when we add it to dishes.

We have to add two pieces of this chicken stock instead of one piece of chicken stock we buy.

We are not adding addictives/tastemakers into it.

I hope all of you liked today's recipe.

Try the recipe and let me know your feedback.

See you soon with another recipe  Bye! Thank you!

A Trip To Umm Al Quwain Zoo

 Trip To UAQ Zoo

A zoo is the best place for kids to learn about the environment. As the mother of three young girls, I can assure you that the lush landscape, the gorgeous animals and the reaction of the kids to that is priceless. After we returned to the UAE from Kerala, we had to stay home for a few days due to the chilling climate of the UAE compared to Kerala. We came across a few Facebook and Instagram videos of a zoo and was intrigued. Though there are a lot of zoos in the UAE, this zoo is s

pecial. A zoo where you can pet a tiger cub! A zoo where you can hold tortoise hatchling or let a snake slither over your shoulder! My second daughter, Rosu, insisted on visiting the zoo. My husband and she love petting and holding animals contrary to me and my eldest daughter, Reenu. So we decided to visit “The Zoo – Wildlife Park” in Umm Al Quwain.

We visited the zoo on a weekday. The entry fee is 25 dirhams per person. It cost 100 dirhams for the four of us. The work is not yet complete but it is open to visitors from 10 am to 6 pm. The best time to visit the zoo is at the weekends. The exhibit of snakes is open during weekends only. Then we can hold the snake and let it slither on our body. But the zoo will be crowded on weekends. Due to the pandemic, it might be safer to visit during weekdays. What I loved the most about this place is that it doesn’t feel like a zoo at all. Normally in the zoo, we can watch the animals from behind a glass only. But here all the animals are so close to us and this made all of us, especially Rosu, very happy. The main attraction of the zoo is the tigers, lions and leopards. There are snakes too. But we couldn’t see those as it was a weekday. We watched the animals for a while and enjoyed the ambience of the place. It was heart-warming to watch the smile that lit up on the kids’ face. Then we reached the main highlight of the zoo. We came across a sleeping tiger cub. The most amazing fact is that we can pet the tiger cub and hold it in our lap too. I am seeing a tiger cub very close for the first time. I haven’t touched a tiger cub before too. Even though the tiger cub was sleeping and looked very calm, we were scared by the reminder that it is still a tiger. But the staff assured us that it is safe. Reenu was scared and didn’t come close. Rosu petted the tiger cub for a while. All of us were afraid at first but we got used to it soon. Since the cub was sleeping, we left to see other animals not wanting to upset the tiger. We saw a lot of tigers here. I think there are more tigers than other animals here. The tigers are very active and fun to watch.

Please check the recipe of Pull Me Up Burger here

 There were a lot of funny and interesting moments during the visit. One of them was when we went near a majestic lion. The lion kept following Rosu. When she walks, the lion will walk with her and when she stops walking, the lion will also stop walking. It was a fascinating moment. Then we went near some tortoises. Unlike other zoos, it was an open area and we are very close to the animals. By the time we finish our visit, we will be attached to this place. We had seen some tortoise hatchlings’ photos in social media. When we asked about it to the staff, they let us hold one of the hatchlings in our hand. Mainly my husband and Rosu held it. Reenu and the baby stood far away. She is scared of all these. But Rosu was so excited that it was evident from her face. When she was holding the hatchling, there was a certain glow on her face that it warmed me very much. After watching the animals including the bear, black panther etc., we went back to the tiger cub. When we reached there, the tiger cub was awake and in a playful mood. We petted it and it started playing with my husband and Rosu. While playing, it was biting my husband’s pants. Since it was jeans, there was no harm. It is mindblowing to pet a tiger cub. Though we were assured that it was safe, we know that it is a tiger cub and it is a fact that it is a carnivore. But a few minutes into petting the cub and the cub will charm us. After some time, the cub’s mood changed. Then the staff came and took it away. I think they took it for a walk. We were told not to try to touch it or click photos with it during such times.

We walked through the zoo watching animals and birds. There were a huge tortoise shell and a stuffed deer head too. The staff was very friendly and helpful. They answered all our questions and guided us. The one thing to note is we have to take care that the kids do not put their arms inside the cages. Since the work is not complete, they haven’t arranged all the protections. It is our responsibility to take care of the kids. Rosu tried to put her arms inside some cages and the staff told us not to do that. By the end of the visit, we were very happy. The zoo has an amazing ambience. “The Zoo – Wildlife Park” is a great outing spot with family. If you are in the UAE, you should definitely visit this place.

Zoo Visit Vlog