The Best Chicken Biryani
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Category
Indian Food
Cuisine
Indian
Servings
8-10
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
Ingredients
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3 large onions, sliced thin
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¾ cup peanut oil for frying
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1 1/2 pounds chicken (mixture of thighs, breast - bone in and skinless), cut into large pieces
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½ cup yogurt
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Juice from 1 lemon
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1 T. Fresh ginger/garlic paste (minced)
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1 teaspoon red Kashmiri chili powder
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1 teaspoon turmeric powder
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1 teaspoon garam masala
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1 teaspoon cumin seeds
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4 cloves
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1 cinnamon stick
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5 cardamom pods
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⅓ of the browned onions, chopped
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Handful each of mint and cilantro, chopped
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1 teaspoon salt
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4 cups basmati rice
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8 - 10 cups water
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1 T. Salt
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1 teaspoons cumin seeds
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2 cloves
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6 cardamom pods
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1 cinnamon stick
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1 green chili, sliced in half
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½ cup hot milk
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15 saffron strands
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1 cup fresh mint leaves
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1 cup coriander/cilanatro leaves
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2 T. Ghee or butter
Browning Onion
Chicken Marinade
Parboiled rice
Saffron mixture
Other ingredients
Directions
Brown onions
Slice onions. Heat oil in a large frying pan and shallow fry the onions for about 15 minutes until they are deep, golden brown. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Set aside. Note: you can also use purchased fried onions.
Chicken Marinade
Mix chicken with all the ingredients under chicken marinade and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
For the rice
Rinse your rice twice and soak it in water for 40 minutes. Do not miss this step.
In a large pot, filled half way with water add salt, cumin seeds, cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick and green chili and bring water to a simmer. Add soaked rice. Cook for 6-8 minutes or until the rice still has a bite to it. It will finish cooking in the final steps. Drain rice completely and set aside. Do not remove the spices.
Saffron
When you are ready to assemble the biryani, soak the saffron strands in the warm milk and mix until milk is orange in color. Set aside.
Layering the Biryani
Heat a heavy bottom Dutch oven and add chicken. Cook for 5 minutes and turn chicken pieces. Cook another 3 minutes. Remove ½ the chicken from the pot.
Next, layer half the rice over the chicken in the pot. Add a layer of browned onions, and a layer of chopped mint and cilantro. Repeat with the remaining chicken, rice, onions, mint and cilantro. Drizzle the saffron milk and ghee over the top.
Cover Dutch oven and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Turn your burner to very low and continue to cook for 30 minutes. This helps cook the chicken throughout and also steams the rice to cook to doneness.
Once the Biryani is cooked, let it rest for 10-15 minutes before removing the lid.
Serve hot with onion raita and warm roti
Make Shorba gravy (link below) to spoon over each serving.
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