Recipe for kuska, tamil hotel style kuska rice recipe. Kuska gravy made with homemade chicken stock made from scratch.
Kuska / kushka – The tamil style kuska recipe is usually understood as biryani minus the meat. In many restaurants its often referred as MT-Biryani (empty biryani). This kuska recipe uses homemade chicken stock to flavour the rice. The stock is used for making kuska while the meat is shredded and made into pichi potta kozhi or pepper chicken. I think this is Tamilnadu’s answer to Hainanese chicken and rice. This is one of our regular Sunday lunch favorites.
Here is how to make kuska.
Note for vegetarians: This recipe uses chicken stock. For a vegetarian version, you can use vegetable stock and a cup of coconut milk to enhance the taste.
We will need to make chicken stock for this recipe. Use a bigger cooker so there is less spewing from the cooker. If the cooker is small, the stock will ooze out and make a mess. So use at-least a 5 liter cooker. Add the chicken bones in a pressure cooker and add a liter of water. Add in half a teaspoon of turmeric powder and a teaspoon of salt. Cover the pressure cooker and cook on a medium flame for 30 minutes. Cooking for a long time will make the collagen from the bones to release and will make the stock very flavourful. This stock is very nutritious too! After 30 minutes, let the pressure from the cooker settle naturally. Remove the bones from the stock and discard the bones. Set aside.
Note: If you cant get chicken bones, boil whole chicken or chicken thighs for 15 minutes in the cooker. Remove the chicken meat and boil the bones again for another 15 minutes in the cooker and proceed with the recipe. The boiled chicken can be shredded and used to make delicious pichi potta kozhi.
Wash and soak the basmati rice in water for at-least 20 minutes to half an hour. You can soak the rice and start with the the prep work.
Kuska Masala
Take all the ingredients listed under kuska masala. We will grind it to a paste.
Grind the ingredients in a mixie to a smooth paste. Add little water while grinding. Set aside.
Heat oil and ghee in a pan and add in the kalpasi (stone flower) and the bay leaves.
Add in the sliced onions and saute for five minutes till the onions are soft.
Add in the ground masala and the tomatoes. Add in half a teaspoon of salt. Remember we have also salted the stock. So go easy on the salt. We can adjust the seasoning later if need be. Saute the tomatoes for 5 minutes till the tomatoes are cooked and the mixture is almost dry.
Add in the red chilli powder and the curd. Cook for five minutes.
Note: Adjust the quantity of green chillies and red chilli powder according to your taste and spice level.
Add in the stock. Measure the stock and add. We will need four cups of liquid for this recipe.
I had about 3 cups of stock. Add a cup of water and the coriander and mint leaves. Let it all come to a boil. Add in the drained rice.
Cover the pan with a lid and let the rice cook for 10 minutes on medium flame.
Stir once in a while.
After about 10 minutes, the rice would be cooked about seventy five to eighty percent.
At this stage add in the ghee and put the kuska rice in dum.
Dum: Heat a dosa tawa on medium low flame and place the kuska pan on top of the dosa tawa. Let the kuska be on dum for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the pan and let it rest for atleast 20 minutes before serving the kuska.
Kuska is ready after the rest. Serve the kuska with boiled egg, raita and salna.
- 500 grams chicken bones
- 1 liter water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 10 cloves garlic
- 1 inch piece ginger
- 4-5 green chillies
- 4 cloves
- 2 cardamom
- half inch piece cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (sombu)
- 2 cups Basmati rice (500 ml)
- 2 tablespoon peanut oil
- 3 tablespoon ghee
- a big pinch of kalpasi
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cups sliced onions
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt (adjust seasoning later if need be)
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- ¼ cup curd
- ¼ cup chopped mint leaves
- ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
- 2 tablespoon ghee for dum
- Add the chicken bones in a pressure cooker and add a liter of water. Add in half a teaspoon of turmeric powder and a teaspoon of salt. Cover the pressure cooker and cook on a medium flame for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, let the pressure from the cooker settle naturally. Remove the bones from the stock and discard the bones. Set aside.
- Wash and soak the basmati rice in water for at-least 20 minutes to half an hour. You can soak the rice and start with the the prep work.
- Grind the ingredients in a mixie to a smooth paste. Add little water while grinding. Set aside.
- Heat oil and ghee in a pan and add in the kalpasi (stone flower) and the bay leaves.
- Add in the sliced onions and saute for five minutes till the onions are soft.
- Add in the ground masala and the tomatoes. Add in half a teaspoon of salt.
- Saute the tomatoes for 5 minutes till the tomatoes are cooked and the mixture is almost dry.
- Add in the red chilli powder and the curd. Cook for five minutes.
- Add in the stock. Measure the stock and add. We will need four cups of liquid for this recipe.
- I had about 3 cups of stock. Add a cup of water and the coriander and mint leaves. Let it all come to a boil. Add in the drained rice.
- Cover the pan with a lid and let the rice cook for 10 minutes on medium flame. Stir once in a while.
- After about 10 minutes, the rice would be cooked about seventy five to eighty percent.
- At this stage add in the ghee and put the kuska rice in dum.
- Dum: Heat a dosa tawa on medium low flame and place the kuska pan on top of the dosa tawa. Let the kuska be on dum for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the pan and let it rest for atleast 20 minutes before serving the kuska.
- Kuska is ready after the rest. Serve the kuska with boiled egg, raita and salna.
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