Hyderabadi chicken biryani

Hyderabadi chicken biryani

This is my latest attempt at making the “fabled” Hyderabadi chicken biryani. This is a milder biriyani when compared to our own spicy Malabar style chicken biriyani. Once again I say, do start a day before. Marinated meats are so tender, flavourful and make the ‘biriyani day’ stress free for the cook.

You can do the deep frying of onions and herbs, masala grinding and marinating chicken, the day before. Let the fried things cool well on a tissue paper and keep in an air tight container. It will remain crisp. The marinated chicken should be kept refrigerated.

Peel and slice the onion thin. Chop the coriander. Wash the herbs well. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom, large pan. Deep fry the onion to golden brown and set aside. Deep fry the leaves also. Fry till all the spluttering stops. Drain and keep with the fried onion.

Chop garlic, green chillies and ginger fine. A food processor makes this very easy. Grind to a paste. Grind the garam masala ingredients in a coffee grinder. Combine with the remaining chicken marinade ingredients to make a thick paste. Rub onto the chicken. Let the chicken marinate overnight in the refrigerator. If you are short on time, let the chicken sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

When you are ready to cook biriyani, take the chicken mix in a heavy bottom pan and bring to boil over medium high heat. Simmer, cover and cook till the chicken is done, about 15 minutes. If there is extra liquid, let it evaporate. Do not cover pan when evaporating the excess gravy. When gravy is thickened, add half the fried onions/coriander/mint. Take off heat and set aside.

Start with cooking the rice. Handling the rice after cooling is the best way to eliminate mushy, broken rice. Boil lots of water- about 3 to 4 litre- with salt, spices and the rice. The water should be salty enough or your rice will be bland. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Check for doneness of rice. It should be just cooked through but not crunchy.  (I pick out the whole spices whenever I could)Drain and let cool.

Oil the dish in which you are going to layer and bake the biryani. Spread ¼ of the rice, sprinkle ¼ of the fried things, the milk and garam masala powder. Repeat twice more, to use up ¾ of the rice. Top with the chicken masala and cover with the remaining rice. Sprinkle remaining garnishes. Cover and bake for 30-60 minutes at 200°c in the oven or keep on stovetop at the lowest heat for about 20 minutes. Serve with Raita, pickles and poppadum. If you are running short of time, you can microwave the biryani instead of baking (about 10- 15 minutes).