My favourite ritual whenever I travel to an Asian country is to try their version of the "chicken and rice", aka "biryani". From Nasi Biryani Alam (Malaysia), to Khao Mok Gai (Thailand), to all the regional variants of biryani found in India. Some are prepared in the 'kacchi' style where meat and rice are cooked together, and 'pakki' style meat and rice are cooked separately, and eaten together. From kacchi, to pakki, there are more than fifty regional variations, and this has been a gastronomical exploration I religiously take up, whenever I'm visiting a new south east asian city.

The word 'biryani' itself is derived from the persian word for 'rice'. The persian word, birian means to "fry before cooking", which succinctly sums up the basic method of cooking biryani. The term might have persian origins, but the earliest record of a biryani type dish is the meaty, spicy Tamil rice dish 'oon soru' from 2 A.D. Some historians even suspect that this might have been brought to India's Malabar coast by Arab traders.

And speaking of the Malabar coast, that's where Thalassery Chicken Dum Biryani was born. It's like the coast took this ancient idea and made something new and amazing with it. The Thalassery dum biryani holds a special place in my heart, prompting me to share my personal take on how I prepare it.

Biryani might have originated from the Arab traders who had invaded the Malabar coast. Most people still credit the Mughals for the biryani.

My latest attempt turned out exceptionally well, and I feel compelled to document this experience while it's fresh in my mind.

I first start with sautéing the onions (4 to 5 pieces) with cooking oil (either sunflower or coconul oil) in a pan. To give a more fatty flavour, I add 4 tbsp of ghee to it. Once the onions are sautéd, separate the oil and keep it aside. This oil with the essence of the onions fried, would be used as a basis for the remaining set of preparations.

After the separation of the onions, also fry some cashews and raisins separately with the same oil. You now have all the garnishing ready.

Now, take a cooker, and grease it with the same oil. Add your fine diced onions into the mix. Sauté them as much as possible, until they come to Level 3 of transparency. To fasten this, add salt to the mix. Once the aroma starts coming up, add green chillies, ginger and garlic in the ratio of 1:1:1. This is a good point to add chicken breasts into the mix. Add 1 tomato (chopped) as well. Now, take a cup of greek yoghurt and mix it with chicken masala to a fine consistency. After this is complete, add it to the sautéd chicken mix and stir it well. You don't have to add any more water, as the chicken and yoghurt have enough water content which would be used to cook the ingredients by itself. Keep the cooker lid open, and stir it delicately in low flame.

Now, take another cooker and add 2 tbsp of the same flavoured oil to the mix. Add 1 inch cinnamon, 3 cardamoms, and 3 cloves. Once the aroma starts kicking in, add salt to proportion. Take the next half of the caramelized onions into the pot for more flavour. Many spices need to be heated in order to fully release their flavours. Once they slowly start kicking in, it's a good time to add rice.

For the rice, we will be using kaima rice. These are short grained rice, and are fluffy when cooked, preventing the dish from becoming sticky. The texture is ideal for biryani, as each grain of rice should be well-defined. Kaima rice can also soak up the spices and meat flavours well, ideal for the biryani preparation.

Rice and water are added to the pot in the ratio of 1:2. Now, add a pinch of biryani masala, and salt proportionately. This is also a good time to do a gut-check of the salt levels, to see if they're okay or not. After stirring them well, keep the cooker closed with a lid, and let it cook for atleast 10-15 minutes on full flame.

Meanwhile, To the chicken gravy, add a pinch of lime juice, 2 tbsp garam masala, and some generous amounts of chopped coriander and mint leaves. Once ready, this will serve as the bottom layer of the 'dum' preparation, which involves slow cooking food in a heavy-bottom vessel, allowing the ingredients to cook on their own and soak up all the flavours. We will now be adding a layer of cooked rice on top of the chicken gravy layer. Add another layer of onions over it. Add another layer of rice, and another layer of sautéd raisins, cashews and onions to top it up.

After wrapping the cooker with an aluminium foil, heat the cooker on low flame for 10-15 minutes as necessary. This is a baking method, and with this approach, it gets cooked more evenly from the top and the bottom.

The biryani was yumm (might still have to work on the presentation of it)

Serve with yogurt chutney or tomato chutney, or the best way - all by itself.