Recipe

Traditional Chicken Biryani

Traditional Chicken Biryani

  • Servings: 4-5
  • Total Time:

Ingredients

Biryani Masala

  • 6 dried long red peppers
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 3 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tbsp caraway seeds shahi zeera
  • 3 pieces mace javitri
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 4 black cardamom pods
  • 3 star anise
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • 10 green cardamom pods
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • ⅓ nutmeg
  • ½ tsp turmeric powder
  • 2 tsp red chili powder
  • 1 tsp salt

 

Gravy

  • 2 lb chicken leg quarter
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely sliced
  • 4 tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • 6 tbsp biryani masala, that was made earlier
  • 5 green cardamoms
  • 1 tsp red chili powder
  • 5 black peppercorns
  • Whole green pepper
  • Plum Aloo Bukara, the wet ones not the dried ones
  • 4 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
  • ½ cup yogurt
  • 1½ tsp salt

 

Rice

  • 3½ cup, Royal Chef’s Secret Extra Long Grain Basmati Rice
  • 5 cup water
  • 2 star anise
  • 5 cloves
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 bay leaves

 

Layering

  • 1/4 tsp orange food coloring, make sure it’s orange for real authentic look
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp water
  • ½ tsp kewra water
  • ½ bunch cilantro finely chopped
  • ½ bunch mint finely chopped

Instructions

  1. In a frying pan, on medium to low heat, lightly dry roast nutmeg, dried long red pepper, bay leaves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, mace, cinnamon sticks, cloves, black cardamom, star anise, black peppercorns, green cardamoms, black cardamoms, and fennel seeds until you smell their fragrance.
  2. Cool it down for 10 minutes.
  3. Grind the masala in a grinder until it’s powder form.
  4. Now mix in the red chili powder, turmeric, and salt.
  5. Set aside

 

Gravy

  1. In a medium size pot, on medium heat, add oil and heat it up.
  2. Next, add green cardamoms and black peppercorns and lightly sauté it for  30 seconds.
  3. Add the onions and sauté the onion until they are golden brown
  4. Next add ginger & garlic paste and mix
  5. Add in the chicken and mix
  6. Add tomatoes and yogurt and let it cook for 2-3 minutes
  7. Now add the biryani masala and mix (Remember you are only adding 6 tbsp save the rest for future use.)
  8. Next add in red chili powder, plum, lemon juice, and salt and mix
  9. Add whole green pepper and mix
  10. Let everything cook, stir occasionally during this
  11. When the chicken is fully cooked set aside, the process will take around 10-15 minutes

 

Rice

  1. Presoak the Rice in water for 20 minutes
  2. Drain the water after 20 minutes.
  3. In a large pot, on medium heat, add water, salt, bay leaves, star anise, and bring it to a boil.
  4. Then add the drained rice in the pot
  5. Now let the rice cook for 6-8 minutes remember you’re doing this on medium heat and check if cooked up to 75%.
  6. Remove the pot from the stove and drain the water
  7. Set aside.

 

Layering

  1. In a large pot, add 1 tbsp oil and 1 tsp water.
  2. Scatter that across the bottom of the pot.
  3. To set the first layer, lay out 25% rice in the bottom of the pot. Then sprinkle some food coloring on top of the rice.
  4. Next place some of chicken gravy that you made earlier and on top sprinkle some fresh cilantro and fresh mint.
  5. Keep repeating the pervious step two more times
  6. On top of the fourth layer of rice, you shouldn’t have any chicken gravy left, so your fourth layer will be rice, food coloring, cilantro, mint, and lastly now add kewra water to the pot.

 

The Steam Step (Dum)

  1. Wrap the lid with aluminum
  2. Cover the lid, and now place something heavy on top maybe like a pressure cooker, or a heavy pot.
  3. Turn the stove on high for 1 min and then turn the stove on medium heat for the next 5 minutes
  4. Next turn the stove on low for the next 30 minutes
  5. Now turn off the stove and don’t open for 10 minutes.