Soak the rice. Rinse the rice with cool water to remove some of the outermost starch, and then allow it to continue soaking in the water. Let the rice soak between 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Bring 8 cups of water to a boil. This is the water you are going to cook the rice in. The water must be boiling before you add the rice.

Add the rice. Along with the rice, add some other ingredients to give the rice a full flavor, and prevent the rice from sticking:
5 green cardamoms
2 black cardamoms
3 cloves
2 pieces of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 piece of mace
1 tsp of ghee
1/2 tsp of salt

Check the consistency of the rice. Since the rice should only be cooked half to a quarter of the way when you take it off the stove, the grains should be soft on the outside but still hard in the middle. This is because the rest of the rice gets cooked on dum (when you layer the chicken and rice, seal it with dough around the edges to lock in the steam, and put it on a very low flame).

Wash and Put the chicken in a bowl or pan. The bowl or pan needs to be big enough so there is enough room to mix the chicken in with the marinade, and have the marinade coat the chicken completely.

Add the spices and powders to the chicken. One by one add the marinade ingredients to the chicken:
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Green chilli paste- 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste (approximately 1 tsp)
Yogurt - 1 cup

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
Green cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Fried brown onions - 1 cup
Ghee (clarified butter) - 4 tbsp. Freshly chopped coriander leaves- 1/4 cup
Mint leaves (no stalk) 10-15
2-4 green chilies (broken or cut)
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Mix all the ingredients until they are dispersed throughly, and the chicken pieces are completely covered with the marinade mixture. Once the chicken is coated with all the spices and flavorings, let it marinade.

In a pan add oil, bay leaves and sliced onion. Fry the onion till it turns pinkish golden.

Add the marinated chicken and potatoes.let it cook till 10 minutes.After 10 minutes add a cup of mayonnaise on the chicken.

Now add the half cooked rice with cashews, raisins and almonds on the chicken mixture and cover the pan. Let it cook for another 10 to 15 minutes on slow flame.

Open the lid of the pan and add chopped coriander and mint leaves, saffron mixture on the rice.

Serve the biryani garnished with fried onion.