The mere mention of the word Chicken Biryani and you are reduced to a Pavlovian subject, Salivating over the aromatic basmati rice and the marinated succulent chicken with perfect blend of spices.
Now this chicken biryani reminds me that just when you think a recipe can’t get any better, a simple twist can prove you wrong. Adding a twist of dum that is imparting dungar in other words makes this chicken biryani so difficult to stop eating. Just ask my family ( they love it ).
I owe it to my mother in law who has passed this recipe and is always treasured by me as one of the precious possession.
HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN BIRYANI
- 2 cups Basmati Rice
- 500 to 750g chicken cut into pieces and marinated with
- 1/3 cup yogurt / sour cream
- 2 Onions finely chopped
- 2 Tomatoes finely chopped
- 1tablespoon Ginger paste
- 1tablespoon Garlic paste
- 5 Cardamoms
- 5 Cloves
- 1 stick Cinnamon
- 1teaspoon Black whole Peppercorn
- 1 to 2 Bay leaves
- Dry masalas
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoon Chili powder
- 2 teaspoon Coriander powder
- 2 teaspoon Cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon Garam masala
- 3 to 4 tablespoon oil/ghee
- 1/3 cup Mint Leaves
- 1 or 2 Green Chillies
- 1/2 Coriander leaves chopped
- Grind these leaves and chilies into a paste and keep it aside
- Few Strands of Saffron dissolved in milk
- Salt to taste
- Cashews nuts fried lightly in oil.
- Few drops of Tandoori colour(optional)
Partially cook the rice adding salt, cinnamon stick and 1 teaspoon of white vinegar (Apparently the vinegar makes the rice long and not sticky). Be Careful not to over cook the rice. Drain the water and spread the rice in a plate. Sprinkle colour randomly( optional).
Heat oil /ghee in a pan add whole spices (cardamoms, cloves, and cinnamon, bay leaves, peppercorn) to it. Add chopped onions and sauté till translucent. Add ginger and garlic paste. Add the chopped tomatoes and add all the dry masalas,
cook the paste till done. Add the marinated chicken piece and cook for 5 mins. When the chicken is half done, now is the time to add the grind leaves paste. If the chicken becomes dry, add some water Cover and cook till the chicken is done.
Take a heavy bottom vessel with a perfect lid that fits the vessel so that the steam cannot escape.
Grease the bottom of the vessel with ghee. Layer a portion of rice. Add a portion of cooked chicken curry on the top and add some spring of mint and saffron milk. Continue with the same process and topping it with rice, mint leaves, saffron milk and nuts. Cover the lid and seal the edges with dough.
Cook on low fire for 10 mins. Switch of the fire. Remove the lid just before serving it. Savour it and enjoy it with Raita/salad.
Recently I made the same chicken biryani and gave Dungar ( Charcoal flavour ) to it. It was amazing. Take a piece of coal and burn it on the gas flame. Now take a aluminium foil and shape it like bowl. Once the coal is burned throughly, transfer the coal into the aluminium bowl using a pair of thongs. drizzle a teaspoon of ghee to release the smoke. Quickly open the lid of the biryani and place the foil of smoke inside the lid. Close the lid for 5 to 10 minutes and discard the coal before serving. The charcoal flavour biryani is ready and it has distinct flavour ( adapted from the book – Cooking delights of the Maharajas).Honestly this chicken biryani, with its perfect balance of flavours, is one of my absolute favourite.
19 Comments
I can’t wait to try this out…..looks too good….
a veggie version of this i’d love to try.
love dum biriyani!looks so yumm
Love ur dum biryani, i will let u know definetly the outcome! Really gorgeous..
After seeing ur recipe I feel like eating biryani right now
That looks good! Just look at all of the tasty ingredients in that list.
love the chicken biriyani!!really really delicious!!!
Biryani looks great, very tasty!!!
dear pearl of east
thanks for passing by my blog…it led me to discover a blog site of yours.nice and worth learning new tricks and recipes. i loved this shahi dum chicken biryani..titaled the taste buds, eh !
My oh my your Biryani looks SO scrummy!!
Rosie x
Bookmarked immediately…gotta try this ASAP! I love the flavours coming out of your post!!! Wonderful!!
wow ! looks so perfect and yummy. I am salvating and ready with a spoon 😛
I’ve never tried Biryani, but it looks great!
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This looks really good! It’s a long list of ingredients but I know would be so worth it in the end 🙂
Biryani looks very nice. I made mutton biryani yest, but with readymade masala ;)..Urs sure looks great with dum n all …
You are so lucky that your mother-in-law passed on a perfect recipe to you! All those beautiful spices – I’m going to make it for my family this coming weeekend after a long time. Thanks for sharing your family recipe!
Hi Shibani,
Has your blog changed in the last year or so? I used to make your biryani many many times and it was my go to recipe. I haven’t made biryani in a while and need to make some this weekend. However, I hadn’t bookmarked the link and came across this link but it seems very different! Also, pretty sure you didn’t add vinegar in your rice before. I am hoping this is still the right page- I need my biryani fix 😂
Am a fan of Biryani – I love all its flavors form Chicken Biryani, Mutton Biryani, Veg Biryani and all.
Your chicken biryani is a nice twist to regular chicken biryani we use to cook at home and very delicious too.