Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani Recipe

Recipe Description

A flavourful and delicious combination of aromatic spices and juicy chicken with perfectly cooked rice, Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani is the stuff a biryani lover’s dreams are made of. Considered to be a dish of the Nizams, Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani today has rightly acquired the title of the most popular biryani dish across the length and the breadth of the country.   

A typical Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani is cooked in a variety of ways but two most famous and widely-practiced forms are:

• Kachi biryani (where the meat or the chicken is marinated and mixed with the rice in raw form)
• Pakki biryani (where chicken or meat is pre-cooked and then added to the rice)

Recipe Directions

Step 1: Preparing the chicken

• Wash and clean the chicken properly
• Make a buttermilk brine solution by mixing all the above mentioned ingredients and soak the chicken in it. Let the chicken rest in the liquid mix for about a minimum of 2 hours at room temperature.

Step 2: Preparing the dressing for the chicken

• After two hours, take the chicken out from the brine solution
• Now add spices and herbs to the chicken. Mix ginger garlic paste, nutmeg, biryani powder, red chillies, cumin powder, turmeric, lemon juice, green chillies, pepper powder, yogurt, crushed mint and coriander leaves and salt. Massage the chicken well and keep it aside for 1-2 hours.

Step 3: Preparing the rice for biryani

• In a deep bottom pan, add oil
• Once the oil has heated, add jeera, cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon stick and pepper corns
• Once the spices start to flutter, add rice and stir only once to bring everything together
• Now pour in the water and leave it to simmer for 3-4 minutes

• Bring down the heat and cook for another 4-5 minutes or till the rice grain is 60% cooked
• Remember to cook the rice uncovered and keep checking the rice from time to time
• Once done, drain the rice and keep it aside

Step 4: Cooking biryani

• In a pan, heat oil and fry sliced onions in it till they turn crisp and brown
• Take them out of the pan and keep them aside
• In the same pan, now add ghee
• Add the marinaded chicken to it, layer by layer

• Sprinkle biryani masala over the chicken along with a thin layer of chopped coriander and fried onions
• Now layer the pan with a thick layer of rice

• Top the rice layer with a saffron infused milk
• You can add few nuts at this stage if you wish along with a teaspoon of ghee
• Now cover the final layer of the rice with the left over chopped coriander, fried onions, biryani masala and nuts.
• Sprinkle kewra or rose water to add a delectable aroma to the biryani
• To close the lid, spread a kitchen cloth over the pan. It will help absorb excess moisture from the rice.

• Now cover the pan with a silver foil and cover with a lid
• To completely seal the pan, use the kneaded dough and place it all around the sides of the pan
• Now let the biryani cook on low flame for 15-20 minutes
• After 20 minutes check for the dough on the sides. It should have become hard by now. Once it turns hard, remove the biryani pot from the flame and place it on a skillet or a tawa. Directly cooking biryani on flame might burn the bottom most layer, therefore, this method is recommended.
• Let the biryani cook on dum for 15-20 minutes.
• After sometime, switch off the flame and let the biryani pot rest for 10-15 minutes

Step 5: Serving the biryani

• Before serving, cut the seal with the help of a knife
• Garnish the biryani with some fresh coriander and serve hot
• As a side dish to the biryani, you can also serve cold kheere ka raita (cucumber yogurt) and vegetable salad
• Try some of the other products from Dabur Hommade & prepare delicious recipes:
• Garlic Paste
• Ginger Paste
• Tamarind Paste
• Tomato Puree
• Coconut Milk