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Chicken Biriyani ​

The only thing I do well in the kitchen. I only do chicken biriyani. You can use the same recipie but just swich the chicken with mutton. I have never tried it with mutton but I am sure it will be good. Also this kind of biriyani is super healthy. It doesn't have too much oil as steam does most of the cooking.

Some history ​

My brother taught me this few years back. He got it from my sister. Whenever I'm home and my cousins are there, we cook biriyani. It's a tradition now. I have also cooked it for my friends and it feels super nice seeing eveeyone enjoy. Thanks bhai and didi for this 🙏.

Ingredients ​

  • Chicken

I follow a simple rule for chicken. Look at who you're cooking for. Normally a person can eat 200 grams of chicken in biriyani. If some of your friends like chicken, you can increase it to 250-300 grams. Don't put too much chicken, they should enjoy rice too.

  • Rice

Use any basmati rice you like. My scale is 150 grams of rice per person. Again if they like rice you can do 200 grams. But the sweet spot is 200 grams of chicken and 150 grams of rice.

  • Curd

For marination and raita

Steps ​

Marination ​

First rule of marination is to clean your checken well. Clean till clear water comes out. The marination is a two step process. First one is to draw out fat and water from chicken. Second one is to add spices and make it absorb flavour.

It's good to keep the chicken out for 30 minutes after first marination. It will draw out more water and fat. The process is as follows

  • Put salt. Salt is something that's hard to measure. I put it based on feeling. But I think 2 teaspoons of salt for 1kg of chicken is enough. To be honest if you add less salt it's fine as you can adjust it with raita. So play it safe and add less.
  • Squeeze lime. Lime helps with making the chicken soft. One medium sized lime is enough for 1kg of chicken.
  • Put some mustrad oil. 1 spoon is enough for 1 kg of chicken. Oil will help with separating the fat. You can use refine oil too but I prefer mustard oil.
  • Mix well and keep it there for 30 minutes with lid on.

Use this time to prepare ginger garlic paste. Please don't use packaged ginger garlic paste. It'll overpower the spices and kill their flavour. Use fresh ginger and garlic. The ratio is 1:2 for ginger and garlic. For 1 kg of chicken, 1/2 of medium sized ginger and 2-3 medium sized garlic is enough. You can increase it if you want more strong flavour. But don't add too much ginger as it'll make the chicken bitter.

After 30 minutes, we'll add spices and curd.

  • Add 250 ml of curd for 1 kg of chicken.
  • Add 2-4 teaspoons of biriyani masala.
  • Add 1/2 teaspoon of tikha laal (Degi mirch) powder.
  • Add 1 teaspoon of kashmiri laal powder. You can increase this if you want more colour.
  • Add your fresh ginger garlic paste.
  • Mix well and smell it, if you can't smell spices, add more biriyani masala to balance it out. Again keep a balance and don't add too much.
  • Keep it there with lid on.

Fried Onions ​

What biryani without some golden brown fried onions. These are amazing for decoration and add that extra flavour. The amount is upto you. Usually I do 2-3 big size onions for 1 kg of chicken. But you can do more if you want.

  • Cut onions in thin slices.
  • Fry them till golden brown, please don't burn them.
  • keep them aside.

Rice ​

Flavourful rice is the key to good biriyani. It carries the flavour of chicken and spices. Cooking rice is extremely simple.

  • Always clean your rice well and till clear water comes out. Don't be lazy here. Make sure to not break the rice.
  • Put one container on stove with 50-60% water. 5 liter pot is enough for 1 kg of rice. Use bigger one if you're cooking more rice.
  • Add enough salt. 3-4 teaspoons for 1 kg of rice.
  • Add 2-3 teaspoons of refine oil. This will help with separating the rice.
  • Add 2-3 star anise, 2-3 cinnamon, 1-2 black cardamom, 2-3 javitri. You can add more if you want more flavour.
  • Add some green chillies. I usually add 2-3 for 1 kg of rice. Split them in half.
  • Wait till it boils
  • Add rice and cook till 75% done. You can check by pressing the rice. If it breaks but still a bit hard, it's done. If it doesn't, cook for 2-3 more minutes. Ususally it takes 5-6 minutes for 1 kg of rice.
  • Strian the rice.
  • Run tap water through it to stop the cooking process.
  • Keep it aside without lid.

Cooking ​

Now it's put it all together. This is the most important part. You have done well till now. This step is super easy and straight forward.

For the pot, you have two options here

  • If you have a pressure cooker available use that, easier to manage. 5 liter pressure cooker is enough for 500 grams of chicken and 500 gms of rice. If you have more use another one.

  • If you cookie for a lot of people, use a big pot. Aluminium is better than steel. Steel will burn the rice at the bottom.

  • Put 1-1.5 spoon of mustard/refine oil.

  • Spread it around the pot.

  • Put your marinated chicken and spread it evenly. Keep some of the marination sauce for layering.

  • Put some rice and make sure it covers the chicken.

  • Put some fried onions.

  • Put some mint leaves.

  • Put some marination sauce. If you want you can make it thinner with some water.

  • Repeat last 4 steps till you run out of chicken and rice.

  • Make sure to keep some space at the top for the rice to expand. Don't fill it to the top.

  • Put some ghee on top. 2-3 teaspoons is enough for 1 kg of rice.

  • Put the lid on and put it on stove.

  • If you are using a pot, you have to use flour dough to seal the lid. Make it sticky and put it around the lid. This will make sure the steam doesn't escape.

Put the stove on high heat for 2-3 minutes. Then put it on simmer. With a pressure cooker, usually it's done in 30-40 mins and with a whistle. But it depends on the stove and the cooker. Please use a good pressure cooker to stay away from anxiety.

With a pot, it'll take 40-50 minutes. When it's done you can smell it everywhere.

Raita ​

While the biriyani is cooking, you can prepare raita. It's super simple.

  • 1 medium sized cucumber is enough for 2-3 kgs of biriyani
  • dice it well. I suggest using some kind of chopper or dicer.
  • Take a big onion and dice it well.
  • take 2-3 cloves of garlic and make a paste out of it.
  • Put it in a big bowl and add 250-500 ml of curd. Depends on how much you want.
  • Don't put salt and water, we'll do it after biriyani is done so that we can balance salt.

Serving ​

Once it gives one whistle or after 40-50 minutes, turn off the stove. Don't open the lid. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes. This will make sure the rice is cooked well.

  • Open the lid and smell it. It should smell amazing. Check the rice, if you feel it's not done well, put it back on stove, another 5-10 minutes should be enough.

Taste the rice and chicken. Take a measure of salt and add it to raita to balance it. Add some water to your raita mix. A thin and water raita is better than a thick one.

Serve it with raita and enjoy.