Every die hard non vegetarian loves Biryani and every single person has attempted to cook the perfect one once in their lifetime. Many people are smitten by the tradtional Hyderabadi dum biryani from India while some would prefer to have anything that tastes closely to biryani. I’m a big fan of dum biryani and I usually prepare it without using any ready made mixes. The taste is bang on and nobody can tell if its ordered from outside or made at home. Do try out my chicken biryani recipe and let me know in the comments section how you found it. You could also try out my simple chicken curry recipe if it’s your first attempt at making one. I’m sure you would love that one too 🙂

Ingredients

For Biryani Masala

6 pods of green cardamom
10 cloves
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
10 peppercorns
2 inch cinnamon sitck
1 big black cardamom
2 bay leaves

Other ingredients

750 g chicken
1/2 a kg basmati rice soaked in water for 20 – 30 mins
750 g onion
250 g tomatoes
2 medium sized potatoes ( optional)
125 g fresh, sour curd/yoghurt
1.5 tbsp of fresh ginger garlic paste
2-3 green chillies
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
oil to fry
salt to taste
few strands of kesar/saffron soaked in 4 tbsps of milk
2 tbsps of ghee/oil

For paraboiling the rice

1 bay leaf
2-3 pepper corns
3-4 pods of green cardamom
1/2 inch cinnamom stick
3-4 cloves
1.5 litre of water
2 tbsps of oil

Marinating the chicken: min 2 hrs

To fry onions : 30 – 40 mins

Paraboiling the rice : about 30 mins

Serves : 6-7

Chicken biryani

Procedure to make Chicken Biryani

Making the biryani masala
Grind together all the ingredients under biryani masala to a fine powder.
Fried Onion or Birista are thin onion slices deep fried in oil till golden brown and crisp.
Slice the onions and deep fry until brown and crisp. Drain and set aside on a kitchen absorbant towel.
Marinating the chicken
Clean, wash and pat dry the chicken. Now add the ginger garlic paste, salt, yoghurt/curd, red chilli powder, turmeric, the ground biryani masala to it and mix well.
Paraboiling the rice
Heat 2 tbsps of oil in a deep bottomed pan and fry the whole spices in it until aromatic, then add 1.5 litres of water to it and bring to boil. Now add in the rice and just cook until half done (al denté). You can do a check test by taking one grain of rice and see if it breaks with your fingernails. If it does, then remove from flame and drain through a sieve and set aside.
Making the chicken biryani
In a large cooking pot add some oil, the marianted chicken and fry for 3-4 mins. Once the chicken starts leaving oil, add in fried onions and tomatoes and cook until soft and mushy. (Optional – You could also add 1 cup of chopped mint and coriander to it.)
Now spread the paraboiled rice evenly on top of the chicken and pour in the saffron and milk mixture from the top and cover with a lid and cook on low flame for about 30 minutes. (Just before serving add hot ghee from the top and let it rested covered for another 5-10 mins.)
Your humble meal is ready to be feasted on.