Perfectly cooked rice with tender and juicy chicken that you just can't get enough of! This Hyderabadi chicken biryani is flavorful, delicious, and authentic. Make this crowd-pleasing dish for parties and gatherings and wow your guests. Biryani has two main variations - kachi biryani and pakki biryani. Some regional variations call for adding boiled eggs or big chunks of potatoes.
Ingredients
For the Chicken2 lb chicken
1 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon chili powder or cayenne
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoon ghee
2 large onions
2 inch ginger grated
5 cloves garlic grated
1 teaspoon black cumin seeds shah jeera
2-3 pieces cinnamon
5 green cardamom
5 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon pepper
Salt to taste
For the Rice3 cups Basmati rice
5 green cardamom
5 cloves
1 black cardamom
2-3 pieces cinnamon
1 star anise
2-3 mace
3 bay leaves
For Assembly2 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon saffron
½ cup mint leaves
½ cup coriander leaves
1 tablespoon ghee
Method
Marinate the chicken:- Clean and cut the chicken.
- To this, add yogurt, salt, turmeric powder, chili powder, and garam masala.
- Mix well and let it marinate for 30 minutes.
Make the rice:- Wash the rice well in running water. Soak it for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, take water in a large pot and bring it to a boil.
- Add salt and whole spices (bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black cardamom, star anise, and mace).
- Drain all the water from the rice and add it to boiling water.
- Let it cook uncovered for 8-10 minutes until it is half done. Take care not to cook the rice completely.
- Drain the water and cool the rice uncovered.
Make the chicken curry:- Heat 1 tablespoon ghee in a heavy bottom pot. Add a handful of sliced onions.
- Fry it until the onion is crispy and golden. Set them aside.
- In the same pot, add 1 tablespoon of ghee.
- Add shah jeera, whole spices (bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and pepper). Saute for a few seconds
- Add the remaining onion and fry until golden.
- Add ginger and garlic. Saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the marinated chicken and mix well.
- Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until the chicken is nearly done.
Assemble the biryani:- Soak saffron strands in milk for 10 minutes.
- Once the chicken is almost done, turn off the heat.
- Add half of the cooked rice to completely cover the chicken.
- Add mint leaves, coriander leaves, and fried onions.
- Spread the remaining rice on top.
- Add saffron milk and 1 tablespoon of ghee.
- Heat a tawa or griddle. Once it is hot, place the biryani pot on top of the tawa and reduce the heat to the lowest setting.
- Let the biryani steam on very low heat for 30 minutes.
- Turn off the heat.
- Serve chicken biryani with raita of your choice.