Chicken Chettinad Biryani

Marinate the chicken pieces in the biryani masala, little of the ginger and garlic paste for an hour and season with salt. Wash the rice and let it soak for 30mins

When you have all the ingredients together, melt the butter in a deep pot (that can eventually hold the rice and chicken pieces, so a good deep pot is helpful). You can also use a big cooker that will allow the rice and chicken to cook and not make it too stickey

Blitz the green chillies, mint and coriander leaves with the ginger and garlic paste until smooth

Add the oil, cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom pods and onion and saute until the onions have softened and the flavours come through. Next add the mint & coriander mixture and the marinated chicken pieces and let it cook

After letting it cook for a few minutes, add the tumeric powder and a bit more biryani masala if you like (not needed), the tomatoes, and about a cup of water and let the chicken cook. Season with salt if needed

When the chicken is about 50% done, add the 3 cups of rice, 2 cups of the coconut milk, 2 cups of water - making it 2 cups of coconut milk and 3 cups of water = 5 cups of liquid for the 3 cups of rice

Cover and cook on medium low until the rice is cooked. Once cooked fluff the rice with a serving spoon, tranfer it to a serving bowl and serve it hot with some raita. It's quite typical to have a hard boiled eggs hidden in an indian biryani, so I buried some in this biryani