Chicken Biryani — Print Recipe

A fragrant layered rice dish where marinated chicken and partially cooked basmati rice are sealed in a pot and slow-cooked together until perfectly melded. Each grain of rice carries the aroma of saffron and spices.

Ingredients

500g chicken pieces on the bone
400g basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes
1 cup plain yogurt
2 large onions, thinly sliced and fried golden
3 tablespoons biryani masala
1/2 teaspoon saffron strands soaked in 3 tablespoons warm milk
4 tablespoons ghee
4 green cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves

Instructions

1 Marinate the chicken pieces with yogurt, biryani masala, half the fried onions, salt, and fresh mint for at least one hour to tenderize and deeply flavor the meat.
2 Parboil the soaked basmati rice with whole spices including cardamom, bay leaves, and cinnamon in heavily salted water until the grains are seventy percent cooked, then drain.
3 Spread the marinated chicken in an even layer at the bottom of a heavy-bottomed pot and top with the parboiled rice, creating distinct alternating layers.
4 Drizzle the saffron milk, remaining ghee, and remaining fried onions over the top layer of rice, then seal the pot tightly with aluminum foil and a heavy lid.
5 Cook on high heat for five minutes until steam builds, then reduce to the lowest possible heat and cook for twenty-five minutes before turning off and resting for ten minutes unopened.

Did You Know?

The dum cooking method used in biryani, where the pot is sealed with dough, was perfected in the royal kitchens of the Awadh Nawabs in Lucknow during the 18th century.