Chicken Biryani

There is this show on Times Now called Foodie which is simply fantastic. The host Kunal Vijaykar takes you through a tour to some place , shows you some local recipes and then hogs and hogs and hogs. Every time we watch this show, we have a strong craving for these delicacies and thus one fine day we were tempted to try the Chicken Biryani.
This was our first take on the recipe and we were quite skeptical about the end result. But to our surprise, it turned out to be exceptionally well with just one drawback- the saffron we used was not very good and it didnt color the rice as orange as we had excepted. Apart this all was perfect and we completely relished the biryani.
So here goes the recipe for the Chicken Biryani
For the Chicken:
Marinate the chicken(we used around 1 and 1/2 lb) with a cup of thick yogurt, salt, turmeric, ginger and chili paste. Keep the marinated chicken for an hour. In a kadai, temper oil with whole spices (little jeera, a few pods of cardomom, Bay leaves, a few cloves). Add a cup of chopped onions. When onion turns brown, add coriander powder, turmeric, and ginger garlic paste ,saute for a minute or two. Now add chopped or pureed tomatoes. Season with salt and keep frying till oil separates. Now add the marinated chicken and cook stirring occasionally. Add a little garam masala I cooked the chicken till it was completely done. Do not add any water as the chicken would release its own juices while getting cooked.
Meanwhile for the rice:
Soak rice (1 and 1/2 cup) for half an hour, drain the excess water. Boil 5-6 cups of water in a pot. Add whole spices : javitri(mace), badi ilaichi, a stick of cinnamon , bay leaves to the boiling water. Smear a spoon of ghee on the rice and add the rice to the the boiling water. Let it cook till it is 3/4 done. Drain the excess water and keep aside.
Now in a heavy bottom pan, arrange the chicken in a layer(I actually smeared the bottom of the pan with ghee to avoid the chicken from sticking ). Now arrange a layer of rice. Add few mint leaves. Sprinkle saffron water and a little ghee or butter. Top with fried onions. You can repeat the layers of chicken and rice again if you are left with them. Now seal the pan with aluminium foil. Cook it on very low flame for 20 mins. Serve with raita.