Chicken Dum Biryani

Ingredients:
Raw chicken - 2 pounds
Yogurt
lime juice
basmati rice - 2 cups

ginger garlic paste
whole spices for marination - cloves, bay leaves, shajeera, elaichi, whole pepper corn
Spices for marination - Red chilli powder, salt, pepper powder, cumin powder, garam masala, turmeric powder, jeera powder 
Fresh corriander & mint leaves
Onions
Food color

Method of preparation:
1. Marinate chicken with oil, yogurt, lime juice, ginger garlic paste, all the ground and whole spices. Leave this marinade overnight in the refrigerator . Use a lot of yogurt and oil, this is the base for the biryani.
2. Soak basmati rice in water for half an hour. Half-boil rice in about 4 cups of water with a few whole spices, salt and oil. Make sure rice is not too over boiled, each rice grain should be a little hard. Drain out all the water.
3. Fry onions, mint and coriander leaves in a lot of oil. 
4. Take a tray and line it with oil. Arrange chicken in the bottom layer, then a layer of oil/mint leaves, layer rice and again oil/mint leaves.
5. Dissolve food color in a lil milk. pour it randomly over the layers of rice and chicken.
6. Seal the tray with aluminum foil, make sure the tray is air tight. Place in the oven at 450 F for 20 minutes and then turn the heat down to 350 F and let it cook for another hour.

That's it!!

Another nostalgic day

Here's Another day in my life filled with nostalgia. A major Hindu festival today - Dassera....miss all the fun, food n family....
Dassera is somehow different from the other festivals. Everything about this festival seems exxagerated - food, drinking, merriment all around....it just has a different feel! I spent almost every single dassera of my life in my uncle's house, in a town called Nalgonda. We would go stay with them for like 10 days during this time of year, dassera was just an excuse :). My uncle bought me new clothes every year for the longest time I've known. Bathkamma is another festival that I always used to look forward to....esp dressin up, I mean really dressing up!!! Was an 'all female' festival....another part!Dress up, go to the temple, tons of gossip!!! Yayy!!!

And my bathkamma today....hmmm....where do I even start? It was just I, me, myself n my hubby catching some pics...

Life changed soooo much! I miss all the great times I had back home. I probably did not appreciate all this back then, I probay did not understand the value of spending quality time with family....but now I do. I miss not just my parents but my uncles, aunts, cousins, neices, nephews.....all of them. Calling n talking gives me just a lil solace but nothing like being there.

When will I get my old days back?will I ever??? Am I hoping for a miracle to happen...????

Happy Dassera.........