This is a step by step recipe so you can nail the taste of hyderabadi chicken biryani in your kitchen!
How to make Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani-restaurant style
Ingredients
Fresh Garam Masala
Other Ingredients
Instructions
- Set a pan on medium heat
- Add cinnamon sticks, cloves, green cardamoms, star anise, bay leaf, black peppercorns, cumin seeds, and coriander seeds
- Stir for ~3 minutes till they turn aromatic
- Transfer everything to a grinder jar along with a small piece of javitri (mace)
- Grind to a fine powder and set it aside
- Warm the milk to lukewarm (you can use a microwave)
- Add saffron into the milk
- Add a drop of rose essence and a drop of kewra essence into the milk
- Add a pinch of orange food color and mix well and set aside
- To the chicken add 1 tbsp. of fresh lime juice
- Add kashmiri red chilli powder, normal red chilli powder, ginger garlic paste (1 tbsp.), turmeric powder, fresh garam masala powder (1 tsp.), a handful of coriander leaves, a handful of mint leaves, yogurt, 1 tsp. salt (or to taste), and oil (1 tbsp.)
- Mix thoroughly and let it marinate for 1 hour at least.
- Best would be to marinate overnight in the refrigerator if you can
- To a pan set on medium heat add approximately 5 tablespoons of oil
- Add thinly sliced onions and keep stirring until they become dark brown in color. This should take approximately 15 minutes.
- Keep aside approximately 2 tablespoons of the fried onion for garnish
- Add 1/2 tsp. shahi jeera
- To the rest of the onions in the pan add the rest of the fresh ginger garlic paste (save ~1 tsp. of ginger garlic paste for adding in the water while cooking the rice)
- Add the marinated chicken and mix well
- Stir fry the chicken for 5 min
- Add rest of the fresh garam masala (save ~1 tsp. of the fresh garam masala for adding in the water while cooking the rice)
- Add green chillies and mix well
- Turn down the heat, place the lid on and let it cook for approximately 10 minutes while stirring intermittently.
- Repeat the process till the chicken cooks through completely. You can add 2-3 tbsp. of water to the chicken so it doesn’t burn
- Add 1 tbsp. of lime juice
- Add the rest of the mint leaves and coriander leaves (save a little for garnish)
- Add salt till the chicken tastes slightly salty because it is going to be mixed with a lot of rice
- Soak basmati rice in water for 30 min
- In a deep pot take 4 liters of water
- Add enough salt to the water so it tastes like sea water. For approximately 4 liters of water we need about 3 tbsp. or 9 tsp. of salt
- Add the remaining 2 tbsp. of fresh lime juice, the remaining ginger garlic paste and the remaining garam masala and mix thoroughly
- Add a splash of oil (~1 tbsp.)
- Once the water comes to a boil add the pre-soaked basmati rice
- Cook till the rice is 80% done (the rice should break easily but not be pasty) this should take approximately 15 minutes on medium heat
- Strain the rice
- Take a flat pan or tawa and set it on medium heat
- On this flat pan place the Biryani pot. This prevents the chicken from burning while the biryani cook
- Spread the rice (immediately after straining) evenly on the chicken
- Sprinkle some of the orange colored saffron milk on the rice
- Add more orange color to the milk and add on the rice
- Keep repeating this so you get different shades of orange color
- Spread ghee on the rice
- Garnish with the remaining coriander leaves, mint leaves, and fried onions
- Sprinkle 3-4 tbsp. of water on the rice
- Place the lid on and make sure to use a lid that fits well
- Make sure that the vent of the lid is covered
- Let the rice cook on medium heat for 10 minutes and then on low heat for 15 minutes
- Serve the chicken piece and the lower layer of rice on the plate followed by the upper layer of rice
- Enjoy with raw onion or Raita and Salan
Recipe for Fresh Garam Masala for the biryani
Getting the saffron and colors ready for the biryani
Marinating the chicken
Cooking the chicken
Cooking the rice
Putting the chicken and rice together
Serving tips
Video
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