marinating the chicken:
Make 2-3 deep slits on each piece of chicken. The slitting ensures that the flavor from the marinade goes all the way into the chicken, and also helps with quick and even cooking.
Marinade the chicken with above ingredients. Keep it aside for 1 hour.
Pre-heat oven at 200 C. Thread the chicken in the skewers. Place the skewers on an oiled oven grill & keep an oven tray underneath to catch any drippings. Grill the chicken pieces on both sides, for about 10 min per side until golden brown. Chicken tikka is ready.
Tips:
You can also do it on gas oven. Cook the chicken pieces over low flame until done ( it can take 15-20 minutes).
To give BBQ flavor – put all the chicken pieces in a deep dish, light a piece of coal and placeit on a small steel bowl in the center of the dish, then add a few drops of ghee/ clarified butter to the lit coal and cover the dish so that the smoke is retained inside and gets absorbed by the chicken. Open the dish in 2 minutes and discard the coal.
Fry the onions till golden brown.
Heat the oil in a deep pan and then temper the oil with whole spices (cinnamon, cardamom and cloves) followed by the fresh tomatoes and half the green chili.
Cook until the tomatoes are dry, then add half of the fried onions (reserve a handful for later).
Add the garlic and ginger paste.
Add salt, cumin, chili, turmeric and coriander powders. Cook together until the oil is released from the sides.
Now the whipped yoghurt and the reserved marinade as well as the drippings from the chicken and cook until the gravy is thick and cooked through. Sprinkle the sugar and mix well.
Add about 1/2 cup water to immerse the chicken pieces in. Once the water simmers, reduce the heat to low and then gently add the grilled chicken. Cover and simmer on low heat to cook the chicken through. Every once in a while, open the pot and stir gently with a flat spoon so that the gravy coats the chicken and they get turned over so that they may cook evenly on all sides. This should take about 10-15 minutes.
Once the chicken pieces are fully cooked, adjust salt, garam masala and chopped coriander.
Methods for Rice preparation:
Wash and then soak 3 cups of rice (450-500 gm) in water for about 20-30 mins. Then drained and keep aside.
Bring a big pan of water to boil. Add salt, 1 tbsp and put a bundle of 4 cardamom pods, 2-3 cinnamon sticks and 2-3 cloves.
Put the rice to this boiling water. Cook until the rice is about 1/2 done, remove and strain out all the water.
Now it’s time to assemble In a sauce pan, make a layer of rice, prepared chicken gravy and fried onion. drizzle 1-2 tbsp saffron water and add coriander leaves on the top. Cover the lid tightly and simmer for 15-20 minutes. This tends to infuse the lovely biryani flavor into the rice as it steams.
