Grind together the ingredients for marinating the chicken into a fine paste.
Marinate the chicken with the above paste for 2 to 3 hours.
Cook the rice with lots of water. Do not over cook it.
Before straining the water off, add 1 tbsp of lemon juice along with enough salt.
Heat oil in a thick bottom pan.
When the oil is warm, add finely chopped onions and sautT till it turns brown.
Add cardamom, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and cloves.
When the smell of the whole spices comes, add ginger and garlic and sautT it for a while.
Add the marinated chicken.
When the chicken is cooked and the gravy gets to thicken, add coriander leaves and split green chillies and remove it from the fire.
Heat ghee in another pan.
Fry cashew nuts, raisins and the onions. Keep them aside.
In the same ghee, add the thinly chopped carrots and sautT for a while.
Add the carrots to the cooked rice and mix well.
Soak the saffron in warm milk for a while.
Grease a big vessel with butter and layer the rice and cooked chicken.
Pour the soaked saffron over the rice.
Bake it for 20 minutes at 180 C.
Garnish with fried cashews, raisins and onions.
Finally, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves.
:- Serve hot.