Guinea fowl biryani

Guinea fowl when cooked appear very similar to chicken in texture(bit hard though). But the flavour is somewhere between chicken and turkey. Biryani is a fantastic option to cook this as its meat is bit hard, yet flavourful. I cooked it for Sunday lunch and it came out really well. Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:
Guinea fowl(thigh pieces are better) - 1 kilo
onions large - 2 nos
tomatoes small - 2 nos
freshly chopped mint-coriander - 1 cup
green chillies slit lengthwise - 4 nos
chicken stock cubes - 1 nos
coconut milk - 2 cups
basmati rice(soaked for 30min) - 6 cups
cloves - 4 nos
cardamom - 3 nos
Cinnamon - 1 stick
bay leaves - 2 small
mace - 1 small
aniseed - 1/4 tsp
dalda - 4 tbsp
ghee - 1tbsp
oil - 4 tbsp
salt for taste
water - 8 cups


For the marinade:
curd - 3 tbsp
lime juice - 1 tsp
garlic paste - 1 tbsp
ginger paste - 1 tbsp
chilly powder - 2 tbsp
coriander powder - 1 tbsp
garam masala powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp


Method:
marinate Guinea fowl overnight along with yogurt, lime juice, ginger-garlic paste, and chilly powder, coriander,garam masala and turmeric powder.

Heat oil, dalda, ghee in a pressure cooker.Now add the whole spices like cloves, cardamom, Cinnamon, bay leaves, mace, aniseed until the flavours are released.Now add onion and fry till golden brown. Add tomatoes, green chillies,chopped mint and coriander and continue to fry.Once the oil starts to come out, add the marinated Guinea fowl.Add coconut milk, water and chicken stock cubes and bring to boil. Now add washed and soaked basmati rice. Add salt( it should be slightly more as the rice is also cooked in the same liquid).Cover and cook for 2 whistles.serve hot with raitha or any spicy gravies.

Note:
This biryani can be garnished with fried onions, fried cashews etc.. This biryani goes well with egg masala, brinjal gravy etc.