Recipe: Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Hyderabadi dum biryani

The dish primarily consists of Basmati rice which is a special form of rice and is cooked under slow flame with spices, meat, fish, eggs or vegetables. “Biryani” is derived from a Persian word meaning fried or roasted. A biryani recipe needs a lot of ingredients to cook and is time consuming.

Some key ingredients for making biryani are the spices ( which includes cardamom, cinnamon, pepper corns, cloves and black cumin) which are famous for their rich flavor and aroma.

Complexity: Easy for experienced person and moderate for a beginner.

Estimated time for preparation

Approximate total time: 1 hours.
Preparation time: 30 minutes.
For marinating: Keep the marinated mixture preferably overnight or 3-4 hrs.

Cooking time: 30 minutes.

Serves: 4-5.

Ingredients

1. Chicken – ½ kg.

2. Basmati rice – ½ kg (cooked with some spices and 1 spoon butter as mentioned in method column below).

3. Curd – 1 cup.

4. Onion – 2 finely sliced (1 for using as layers and one for making the gravy).

5. Lime juice – ½ of the lemon.

6. Butter – ¼ cup (can be used more if required)

7. Ginger – 1″ piece.

8. Garlic – 3-4 flakes.

9. Red chili powder – 1 tsp or as per taste.

10. Coriander powder – 1 tsp.

11. Freshly powdered cardamom, cinnamon, pepper corns, cloves and black cumin – 1 tsp.

12. Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp.

13. Saffron – 6-7 strands

14. Bay leaf – 2.

15. Cardamoms – 3.

16. Cinnamon – 1″ stick.

17. Cloves – 4.

18. Coriander leaves – ¼ cup chopped.

19. Mint leaves – ¼ cup chopped.

20. Salt – as per taste.

Some flour dough/aluminum foil for sealing the vessel.

Method

1. Marinate the chicken with curd, juice of lemon, some salt, red chili powder (as per taste – either you want to make it spicy or less spicy), coriander powder and turmeric powder. Keep the marinade in fridge overnight for three to four hours.

2. Heat a large vessel and cook the rice with some salt, two cloves, two pepper corns, one bay leaf, ½ spoon cumin till half done and drain the water and keep it aside.

3. Make a paste of ginger and garlic with little water and keep it aside. One can also try readymade ginger garlic paste available in shops.

4. Soak the saffron strands in one tbsp of warm milk and keep it aside. This will allow the saffron to give color and fragrance to the milk.

5. Heat some butter and fry the onion rings till golden brown. Remove and spread over a paper napkin so that excess oil gets absorbed.

6. Heat butter in pan and once the butter melts add the bay leaves, onion slices and fry well. Add cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Fry in medium heat for few minutes. Add marinated chicken pieces and powdered spices. Mix thoroughly so that the entire chicken pieces get coated with the spices and give a good color and the curd is absorbed. Once the oil starts separating, check salt. If required, season accordingly.

7. Add enough water (preferably warm) and cook.

8. Take a heavy bottomed vessel and grease with some butter. Place half of the semi-cooked rice in the heavy bottomed vessel. Spread fried onion rings and some butter between the rice layers and then add the chicken with some gravy. Sprinkle coriander and mint leaves. Again spread a layer of remaining rice (spread fried onion rings and butter in middle of rice layers) and layer it with chicken gravy. Sprinkle coriander and mint leaves. Finish with another layer of rice on top. Spread fried onion rings, butter, coriander, saffron and mint leaves. Seal with dough or aluminum foil. Check for any leakage of steam. Place some heavy weight over the cover. Cook on low flame for 30 to 45 minutes.

10. Remove from the heat.

11. Garnish with slice of lemon, fresh mint and coriander leaves.

12. Serve with some curd.

Tips

1. Add a little butter to rice while boiling. This gives nice flavor and rice doesn’t stick.

2. For crispy fried onions, simply fry them in butter.

The famous Hyderabadi chicken biryani is ready.

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