Easy Chicken Biryani

Rice
|August 10, 2023

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Chicken Biryani is a flavourful and aromatic rice dish that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Chicken Biryani is a delightful and indulgent dish that is often enjoyed on special occasions or whenever you feel to treat yourself to a flavourful rice based meal. It is a popular and beloved dish in many South Asian countries, including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The recipe shared below uses basmati rice, which is longer than the jeera rice. As my family prefers, long grain rice over small grain biryani rice, I had chosen basmati rice.

Should I cook rice before preparing chicken?

Basmati rice is cooked separately along with herbs and spices and then it is evenly spread over the juicy and tender chicken curry and kept to dum for one hour. The partially cooked basmati rice and chicken curry are layered together in a pot and cooked on low heat, allowing them to slowly cook and infuse with each other’s flavours. The dum cooking method involves sealing the pot with a tight lid to trap the steam and create a gentle, slow-cooking environment. This results in a biryani that is moist, tender and full of rich flavours.

Sundays are always special for us. As it is a holiday, we prefer going with special rices instead of boiled rice and curries. Boiled rice requires 4 to 5 side dishes with it at my home. Last Sunday I thought of preparation Chicken Dum Biryani which is simple as well as easy to prepare. Next thing I need to make this flavorful rice is a handful of both mint leaves and coriander leaves. It is difficult for me to think of preparing any biryani without these two main i

Is this biryani spicy?

The layers of this biryani are infused with aromatic spices, herbs, and seasonings. As the dum creates a controlled cooking environment, the flavours intensify and the rice and meat gets cooked evenly. The process of slow cooking ensures that the meat becomes tender and succulent, while the rice absorbs the rich flavours, thereby giving us a fragrant and flavourful dish. The blend of spices used for this biryani such as cinnamon, cloves and cardamom provides a distinct flavour to the dish. The partially cooked rice absorbs the flavours from the chicken curry during dum cooking resulting in a fluffy and flavourful rice.

Ingredients

For marinating chicken

Biryani cut chicken pieces – 500 g
Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon
Ginger garlic paste – 1 teaspoon
Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Lemon juice – 1 teaspoon

For Frying

Sliced onion – 1
Cashew nuts – 10
Raisins – 8
Ghee – 2 tablespoon
Oil – 2 tablespoon

Preparing chicken gravy

Cardamom – 2
Cinnamon – 1.5 inch
Cloves – 3
Bay leaf – 1
Sliced onion – 3
Green chilli chopped- 1
Ginger garlic paste – 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder – 1 tablespoon
Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Biryani masala or Garam masala- 1 tablespoon
Hot water – 3/4 cup

Preparing biryani rice

Basmati rice – 2 cups
Water – 2.5 cups
Coriander leaves – 1 teaspoon
Mint leaves – 1 teaspoon
Cardamom – 2
Cloves – 2
Cinnamon – 1 inch stick
Lemon juice – 1 teaspoon
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Ghee – 2 tablespoon

To Garnish

Coriander leaves – 2 teaspoon

Method of preparation

Wash and clean the chicken pieces and transfer it to a mixing bowl.
Clean and soak basmati rice in water for 30 minutes and drain the water using a colander and keep it aside.
Add turmeric powder, salt, ginger garlic paste, chilli powder and lemon juice to the chicken pieces in the mixing bowl.
Combine and mix well the chicken pieces with the masala and keep it for marination for about one hour.
Heat 2 tablespoon of ghee in a kadai and fry the cashewnuts and raisins and keep it aside.
To the same kadai add 2 tablespoon of sunflower oil and fry one sliced onion till it becomes crispy and brown in colour. Keep the fried onion aside.
To the same kadai which was used to fry onions the onions, add cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and bay leaf.
Roast these spices for 20 seconds and then add 1 chopped green chilli and 3 sliced onions.
Add ginger garlic paste and salt and sauté in low flame for a minute.
When the onion becomes translucent, add coriander powder, chilli powder and biriyani masala to it.
Saute them well in low flame till the row flavour settles.
Now add marinated chicken pieces to the prepared masala and mix well everything for 2 to 3 minutes on high flame.
Add 3/4 cup of hot water to the chicken, close the lid of the kadai and cook the chicken for 15 minutes in medium flame.
By this time, add 2.5 cups of water in a large biryani pot.
Add mint leaves, coriander leaves, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, lemon juice and salt to this water.
Allow the water to boil by keeping the flame high.
Add 2 teaspoon of fried onions to the chicken curry and stir the chicken curry in between.
When the water starts boiling, add basmati rice to it and cook the rice in medium flame.
When the chicken is cooked completely with a semi gravy, switch off the flame. Garnish the chicken with mint leaves.
You can switch off the flame of the rice when the water at the bottom of pot has reduced completely.

Mixing rice and chicken

Now, using a fork mix well the rice and transfer this cooked rice over the chicken curry which is prepared.
Garnish the rice with fried onions, coriander leaves, cashew nuts and raisins.
Add 2 tablespoon of ghee over the rice and then close the lid of the pot.
Keep the biryani to dum in low flame for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, switch off the flame.
Keep the biryani pot undisturbed for 1 hour.
Serve the biryani after 1 hour.
You can transfer the biryani to a serving bowl and reheat using microwave if needed.