Calcutta Style Chicken Biryani Recipe

This Calcutta Style Chicken Biryani is quite distinct in flavor from the rest and stands out with the use of potato in the biryani. I have personally come to love meat and potato together and the Calcutta Style Chicken Biryani appeals to me on that level.  Course : Lunch Ingridients : 500 grams Boneless chicken , cut into pieces of uniform size 3 cups Basmati rice 4 Potatoes (Aloo) 1 cup Curd (Dahi / Yogurt) 1 teaspoon Red Chilli powder 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 2 Onions , finely chopped 1 inch Ginger 8 Garlic , pods 5 Green Chillies 3 Black cardamom (Badi Elaichi) 1 Bay leaves (tej patta) 2 Cardamom (Elaichi) Pods/Seeds 2 inch Cinnamon Stick (Dalchini) 5 Cloves (Laung) 8-10 Whole Black Peppercorns 1 tablespoon Kewra Water Salt , to taste 4 tablespoons Ghee Instructions To start preparing this delicious Calcutta Style Chicken Biryani Recipe, marinate the chicken pieces with curd, red chilli powder, turmeric and salt for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Partially cook the rice along with black cardamom and bay leaves. The rice needs to be boiled till 50% done.Drain away the water and set aside the rice for later use.Dry roast the rest of the whole spices namely, peppercorns, cloves, green cardamom and cinnamon for 30 seconds or till fragrant. Let it cool and then grind it into a fine powder in a mixer grinder.Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a deep & heavy bottomed pan. Add chopped onions and sauté till soft and lightly browned.Mash the ginger, garlic, and green chillies together using a mortar & pestle.Add the ginger-garlic-chilli paste to the onions once they are lightly browned. Sauté for 2-3 minutes.Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and sauté further for a minute.Add the marinated chicken to the above, and mix well till the chicken is well-covered with spices. Cover and cook for 10-12 minutes on low flame. Add a little water if required.While the chicken is cooking, chop the potatoes into four pieces and fry them till crisp and cooked.Now take a heavy bottomed non-stick Biryani pot or earthen pot and grease it with ghee. Spread one layer of rice and top it with a layer of chicken gravy and 2 potatoes.Repeat this three times ending with a layer of rice. Heat the rest of the ghee and pour it on the top layer.Seal the mouth of the pot with wheat flour dough to tighten the lid if using earthen pot and place a heavy weight like mortar on top of it. Cook this on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes and let it stand for another 30 minutes before opening.Serve Calcutta Style Chicken Biryani Recipe hot with Burani raita or Tomato Onion & Cucumber raita and non-veg gravy like Laal Maas or Creamy Butter Chicken.