Chicken Briani

Chop and deep fry 3/4 of the onions; this can be done the night before and refrigerated to save time. Add a pinch of salt while frying to make them crispier.

Drain the fried onions, spread on a plate, and set aside.

Peel the potatoes, cut them in half, and prick with a fork.

Add salt and yellow food colouring to the potatoes and mix.

Deep fry the potatoes on high heat until well fried, more than the chicken.

Blend the remaining 1/4 of onions with a little water to make a paste; set aside.

Marinate the chicken with salt and 2 tbsp of ginger garlic paste.

Quick fry the chicken (optional) to prevent it from falling apart while cooking; do not over fry.

Wash and soak the rice for at least 30 minutes using high quality long grain rice.

Pour the onion paste into the cooking pot.

Add 5 tbsp of ginger garlic paste.

Add 4 tbsp of biryani spices (or substitute with a roasted, ground mix of 1 tbsp anise seeds, 4 cardamom, 2 cinnamon, 1 nutmeg, 4 cloves and 2 dried chillies if desired).

Add half of the fried onions.

Carefully place the chicken and potatoes in the pot.

Add 2 cups of water.

Add the green chillies.

Add the chopped mint and coriander leaves.

Add 1 cup of yoghurt and salt to taste.

Hold the pot and gently shake to mix, avoiding breaking the chicken and potatoes.

Boil water in another pot for the rice and add salt to taste.

Add the soaked rice to the boiling water along with anise seeds, cardamom and cinnamon.

Do not overboil or underboil the rice; check by pressing a grain, it should break easily.

Once the water returns to a boil, use a slotted spoon to transfer the rice into the cooking pot in layers, adding fried onions between each layer, transferring small amounts at a time so the top layer cooks more than the bottom.

Pour a little food colouring mixed with water over the rice.

Top with butter ghee and the remaining fried onions.

Cover the pot, place a heavy weight on the lid, and cook on dum (low heat) for 20 minutes, moving the pot around if using a large pot on a gas stove for even heat distribution.

Remove the weight and lid, then use a long fork to check if the spices have dried into the biryani.