Biryani is one of the most popular foods in the world. It is the single most ordered food on Indian online food ordering and delivery services. Biryani is a combination of long-grain basmati rice layered with spicy and flavourful mutton or chicken. Every region has a different way of making biryani, and similar dishes are also prepared in other parts of the world. No party or get-together is completed without biryani. Today, I am sharing with you my recipe for Chicken biryani. I love this Chicken biryani; it is light, full of flavours, a little sweet and spicy.
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Table of contents
1. About the recipe
2. Ingredients
3. Step-by-step method
4. Tips
1. About the recipe
I can have Biryani anytime. My kids are also Chicken biryani lovers. Today, I am sharing the easiest and tastiest recipe for this amazing delicacy. It’s a myth that making biryani at home is a difficult task. Trust me, once you try my recipe, you will not disappointed. Basically, Biryani is made by two methods. One is with marinated raw meat, which is called Kachche Gosht ki biryani, and the other one is with cooked meat, called Pakki Gosht ki biryani. Today, I am sharing with you the recipe for Pakki Gosht ki biryani, where we cook the marinated chicken first and layer them with rice.
Any Biryani is completed in a series of steps. It indeed includes marination, cooking chicken, cooking rice, layering of chicken and rice, and then dum (slow cooking). When I was a kid, the first time I watched the layering of rice, herbs, garam masala, saffron, birista and chicken, and I found it very interesting. How do all these things make a perfect and fantastic meal? In this recipe, Birista ( fried onions) is a key ingredient. It will give a sweet, rich and royal taste to the biryani. Birista is a crispy, golden-fried onion. Crispy fried onions are so loaded with flavour that will enhance the aroma and flavour of the dish.
Birista for this recipe should be golden and crisp. And if you miss turning off the flame at the right time, you may probably lose the flavourful perfect biryani. Nowadays, in many supermarkets, readymade birista is readily available. Birista particularly is the most effort indulging process of making biryani.
Serving Suggestion: 5
Preparation Time: 2 hours
Cooking Time: 1 hour
2. Ingredients
For Chicken
- 1 kg chicken ( curry cut)
- 1 cup thick yoghurt
- 2 tablespoons of ginger garlic paste
- 1 tablespoon of red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon of garam masala powder
- 1 cup birista ( fried onions)
- 200 ml refined oil
- 4 to 5 green chilli (slit or sliced)
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- Salt
- 4 to 5 clove
- Chopped coriander leaves
- Chopped mint leaves (optional)
For Rice
- 2 cups long-grain basmati rice
- 3 to 4 clove
- 1 ½ Cinnamon sticks
- 3 to 4 green cardamom
- 2-star anise
- 2 green chilli
- Ghee
- Salt
For layering the biryani
- 4 Boiled and Fried Potatoes
- Chopped coriander leaves
- Chopped mint leaves
- 1 cup Birista
- 1 tablespoon of garam masala powder
- Kewra essence
- Pinch of Saffron strand ( soaked in milk) or orange food colour
3. Step-by-step method
Marination of Chicken
- Clean and wash chicken pieces. In a large mixing bowl, add chicken, ginger garlic paste, yoghurt, lemon juice, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, birista, chopped coriander leaves, chopped green chillies, and one tablespoon of refined oil.
- Mix all the ingredients very well and keep them aside for 2 hours.
Making chicken gravy
- Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a kadhai or deep pan. Add cinnamon sticks and cloves. Fry for a few seconds.
- Now add the marinated chicken. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes. No need to add water; yoghurt is enough for chicken gravy. Cover the kadhai and cook on low flame for 20 minutes. You will notice that the oil is separating from the gravy.
- Keep stirring in between to avoid burning. You will notice that the gravy becomes thick. This is the perfect gravy for biryani. Stop cooking and keep the cooked chicken aside.
Preparation of Rice
- Long-grain basmati rice is the key ingredient for good biryani. Here, I am using good-quality long-grain basmati rice. Wash and rinse the rice and soak it for 30 minutes.
- In my biryani recipe, I prepared rice in the same way as pulao. This way, my biryani will turn out to be more flavourful, and it’s easy to handle the texture of the rice.
- Heat ghee and refined oil in a deep vessel or pot.
- Now add cinnamon sticks, cloves, and green chilli. Fry for a few seconds.
- Add 3 cups of water(use the same cup of measurement of rice and water). Add salt and bring it to a boil.
- Once the water starts boiling, strain the soaked rice and add to the boiling water. For better results, taste the water. You should feel some saltiness in the water. This means the amount of salt added is right. If the water does not feel salty, then you need to add some more salt.
- Cover the pot and cook on high flame for 1 minute. Now lower the flame and cook the rice for 7 to 8 minutes.
Note: Rice for biryani should be 70 to 80 per cent done. Do not overcook the rice, or the rice will get sticky and break in biryani.
Preparation of Frying Potatoes
- Adding potatoes to biryani is optional, but you should definitely try it because it gives a nice texture to the biryani. Some people like the idea of potatoes, and some are not.
- Boiled potatoes in a pressure cooker or oven, peel it and cut each potato into 2 to 3 pieces.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a kadhai or deep pan and fry potatoes for 3 to 4 minutes until their outer layer changes colour (turns light golden brown)
Layer the Biryani
- In a large pot in which you want to set your biryani for slow cooking (dum cooking), add one-fourth of the rice. Then add garam masala powder, fried potatoes, chopped coriander and mint leaves, birista.
- Now add chicken pieces and gravy and spread evenly.
- Then, add another layer of rice over the chicken evenly. Repeat the same process until rice, fried potatoes and cooked chicken are used.
- On the final layer, sprinkle garam masala powder,4 to 5 drops of kewra essence, soaked saffron milk or orange food colour and a handful of birista.
Saffron in Milk
Final Layering of Biryani
- Cover the pan tightly with a lid and slow cook biryani for 20 minutes, first 2 minutes on high flame and then simmer for 18 minutes.
- Once the biryani is done, allow it to rest for 10 minutes.
- Carefully dish out the yummy chicken biryani and serve with your choice of raita and salad.
4. Tips
- Always use good quality aged long-grain basmati rice. The longer the grains of rice, the better the biryani.
- Always marinate the chicken with masala and yoghurt before cooking. Marination is the soul of any of the biryani recipes. You can marinate overnight for more flavours and texture.
- Curry cut is best for biryani. It gives a nice texture when cooked perfectly.
- Always use a heavy bottom pan for dum cooking(final slow cooking). It helps in generating steam well for final cooking.
- You can use cashews or pistachios in biryani for more nutty flavours.
- Sprinkle good quality garam masala in each layer of biryani. After dum cooking, the aroma of garam masala will make you more hungry.
