Today’s recipe comes from the royal kitchens of India- Chicken Biryani, a fragrant and signature dish that is an ultimate one pot meal. Simple and basic recipe where marinated chicken is cooked in spices, topped with rice, layered with fried onions, cilantro-mint leaves and steam cooked to perfection. Very easy to make and tastes amazing.
I would recommend to use a heavy bottomed pan for this recipe. Marinating chicken for an hour is sufficient but if you have time, chicken can be left overnight. Fried onions are the main ingredient of this recipe. Adding cornflour to onions result in crispy and crunchy onion rings. No cornflour on hand no worries try besan or gram flour. Dust onion rings or slices with flour and shake off the excess or else the flour will mess up the oil.
Number of spices are added to flavor this biryani but the overall biryani is very delicately spiced, and the yogurt gravy adds a nice taste and texture to the recipe. Rice should be half-cooked before adding them to cooked chicken. Adding ghee on top adds a punch of flavor to the entire recipe. Chicken can be substituted with mutton – cooking time will vary.
This recipe is thoroughly enjoyed in my family and my younger one calls it yellow rice Bi-yani 🙂 . An absolutely delicious dinner that is so yummy and packed with flavor!! Enjoy it with vinegar onion. Give it a try and I am sure it will soon be added to your list of family favorites.
Try out other chicken recipes – Chicken keema, Keema kofta curry, Dhaba style chicken, Saag chicken, Chicken chaap, Butter chicken, Tandoori Chicken, Chicken kebab, Kalmi Kebab.
Chicken Biryani
INGREDIENTS
FRYING ONIONS
- 3 medium Onions
- 2 tablespoon Cornflour
- Oil for Frying
SPICES FOR MARINADE
- 1 LB Chicken or 450 gms.
- 1 teaspoon Shahi Jeera (caraway seeds)
- 2 teaspoon Degi Mirch
- 3 teaspoon Coriander powder (sukha dhaniya)
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
- 2 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Haldi (Turmeric powder)
- 4 cloves of Crushed Garlic
- 3 teaspoon Crushed ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon Cardamom Powder
- 4-5 blades of Mace (Javitri)
- 1.5 cup Curd (thick Market curd/yogurt)
- 2 tablespoon Chopped Cilantro
- 2 tablespoon Chopped Mint leaves
RICE PREPARATION
- 1.5 cups Rice
- 2 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 2 pieces of Black Cardamom
- 5-6 pieces of Cloves
- 3-4 pieces of Bay leaves (Tej patta)
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- Salt to Taste
ASSEMBLING INGREDIENTS
- 1/4 cup Milk
- 1 teaspoon Saffron strands
- 2 tablespoon Chopped Cilantro
- 2 tablespoon Chopped Mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon Ghee (to sprinkle on top)
INSTRUCTIONS
FRYING ONIONS
- Slice onions in rings. Transfer it to a strainer and dust it with cornflour. Reason I did this is to shake off all the excess cornflour before frying the onions.
- Heat Oil and deep fry the onions till they are light brown in color and crisp. Do not over fry them or else they will taste bitter.
- Fried onions are ready for biryani.
ASSEMBLING SPICES AND INGREDIENTS
- Assemble all the ingredients for marinade.
- Beat curd and chop mint and cilantro leaves.
- Clean and wash chicken pieces.
PREPARING CHICKEN
- In a big bowl add curd and mix in all the spices one by one.
- Keep stirring in between so that no lumps are formed.
- Whisk it thoroughly. Before adding chicken adjust your seasonings.
- Add chicken...
- Cilantro and mint leaves..
- And finally add hand crushed fried onions to the batter.
- Give it a good mix, cover and let it sit in the refrigerator for an hour or 2-3 hours.
PREPARING RICE
- Meanwhile lets prep up the rice.
- Clean and wash rice under cold water.
- In a pan heat oil, add whole spices and when they start to sputter add in water, salt and bring it to a boil. Mix in rice...
- Cook till the grains are half cooked. How to check that - take few grains in your hands and try to crush them - if you have to apply a little pressure to crush them that's the perfect half cooked grain.
- Drain all the water and keep the rice aside.
ASSEMBLING BIRYANI
- Heat oil in a kadhai, add marinated chicken and cook till chicken is cooked and oil separates. It will look like a thick masala. Add 1/4 cup of water and make a slight gravy.
- Warm milk and add saffron strands to it. Mix till milk turns yellow in color.
- Spread rice over the chicken.
- Keep spreading till chicken is fully covered with rice layer.
- Sprinkle saffron mixed milk all over the rice.
- By now your rice will look like this.
- Sprinkle chopped cilantro and mint leaves.
- Sprinkle fried onions and lots of onions.. Finally drizzle ghee on top...
- Cover and cook for 10-12 minutes or until rice is soft and tender. I always apply a cloth on top of my rice and steam cook (dum) it.
- Chicken Biryani is ready.
- Serve hot with vinegar onions and curd.
