Chicken Biryani Recipe

I have made so many types of biryani, but I would say that dum biryani is the real one and has the real taste to it. I love pressure cooker biryani and one-pot biryani as well but nothing can beat a dum biryani when it is properly made. I have a few dum biryani recipes in my blog.

The cool part in making dum biryani is, when you are drumming the biryani, your house will be smelling like heaven. And also when you open the biryani it is just heaven. Can’t describe it in words..You can check out my other simple veg biryani and non-veg biryani as well.

Past Saturday my uncle's family visited us, my cousin demanded me to cook lunch for him. So I decided to try a biryani since there is nothing more special than dum biryani. I made biryani, chicken 65, raita, biryani brinjal as well. They loved the meal and enjoyed it to the core.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 1.30 mins to 2 hours
Marination Time: 2 hours or overnight
Serves: 12 to 15

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice – 1 kg
Chicken – 1.5 kg with bone
Oil – 3/4 cup
Onion – 3 large sliced thinly
Saffron a pinch
Warm Milk – 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves – 1/4 cup finely chopped
Mint Leaves – 1/4 cup finely chopped
Ghee – 3 tblspn
Cashews – 50 grams
Kishmish / Sultanas – 50 grams
Kewra Essence few drops
Rose Essence a few drops
Salt to taste


For Marination:
Chilli Powder – 2 tblspn
Coriander Powder / Malli Podi – 3 tblspn
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves – 1/2 cup chopped finely
Mint Leaves – 1/2 cup chopped finely
Thick Unsour Curd – 1.5 cup
Green Chillies – 4 broken into big pieces
Ginger Garlic Paste – 3 tblspn
Special Garam Masala Powder – recipe below
Lemon Juice – 1 tblspn


For Special Garam Masala Powder:
Cloves / Kiambu – 10
Cardamom / Yelakai – 10
Bay Leaf – 3
Cinnamon / Pattai – 5 cm piece
Cumin Seeds / Jeerakam – 1 tblspn
Black Stone Flower / Kal Paasi – 4 piece
Star Anise – 1
Fennel Seeds / Sombu / Saunf – 1 tblspn

Method:

Start by marinating the chicken with all the ingredients given. Let it marinate for 2 hours but overnight is great.

Wash and soak basmati rice for an hour.

Bring lots of water with salt to a boil. Once it boils, add in the drained rice and cook it for 5 to 7 mins till it is 90 percent done. When you taste it, it should have a bite. Drain it and set aside.

Heat oil in a big pot which you are making biryani.

Add in onions and fry till golden, drain, and set aside.

Soak saffron in some warm milk, heat ghee in a saucepan and fry cashews and raisins till golden.

In the same oil add in chicken and mix well for 5 mins.

Now layer the rice over it, top with fried onions, chopped herbs, saffron milk, fried nuts along with the ghee, kewra, and rose essence. Cover the entire pot with foil and cover with a plate. Place a weight over it and let it cook on a very very low flame for 30 to 35 mins.

Now remove the weight and foil and fluff the rice carefully.

Serve.


Notes:

1)Soaking rice and marination chicken is very important, so never skip it.
2)Use good quality basmati rice for this, I used India gate basmati rice.
3)Cooking the rice perfectly is important. If you overcook it, the whole biryani will be mushy. SO stand near the rice and keep checking it, after you add rice to boiling water, it will just take 5 to 7 mins for the rice to get cooked.