Of all the varieties of Biryanis, the Hyderabadi style of cooking is most loved in Indian cuisine. With tempting aroma, this dish is irresistibly delicious just by the looks. But in most families this is a dish they like to eat only in the restaurants since not many like to try out the method. But actually, Dum Biryani recipes are not as difficult as one might think. With the right ingredients, you can get the perfect Biryani no less yummy than what you get in restaurants.
Having evolved during the time of Nizam rulers, Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani has two classic methods. The two methods are Kachi and Pakki evolving from the house of Nizams itself. In the kachi method, the marinated raw ingredients are cooked by trapping the steam within the utensil. On the other hand, in Pakki method (which we’ll be seeing here), rice and chicken will be cooked separately and then both are mixed by layering the other ingredients. Served with Raita or simple curd salad and pickles, this dish makes a mouth-watering main course.
Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani Recipe
- Preparation Time: 15 minutes
- Cooking Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 Hour
- Serving: 4
Ingredients:
(Measurement: one cup is 240 ml)
For Preparing Rice:
- 2 Cups Good Quality Basmati Rice
- 2 to 2 ½ Liters of Water
- 1 tsp Shahi Jeera
- 1 Small Bay Leaf ( Tej Patta)
- 2 Inch Thin Cinnamon
- 3 Green Cardamoms
- 4 Cloves (Lavang)
For Gravy:
- 3 tbsp Oil
- 2 Medium Onion Sliced Thinly
- 1 Star Anise (Chakri Phool)
- 3 Green Cardamoms (Chhoti Elaichi)
- 4 Cloves (Lavang)
- 1 Inch Cinnamon Stick(Dalchini)
- ½ Shahi Jeera
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- ½ kg Chicken (500 to 600 Grams)
- ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1 ½ to 2 tsp Biryani Masala (Chicken Masala)
- ¾ to 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
- 2 Green Chilies Slit
- Fistful of Coriander Leaves (Thinly Chopped)
- Fistful of Pudina (Mint) Leaves (Thinly Chopped)
- 1 Cup Sweet Curd
- Salt to Taste
Optional Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp Hot Milk with Saffron Soaked in it.
- 1 tbsp Ghee
How To Prepare Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani At Home?
Dum Biryani in Pakki method has 2 parts:
- Cooking Biryani rice
- Cooking Chicken Gravy Curry.
We’ll begin with cooking the rice first.
1. Cooking Biryani Rice:
1. Wash rice nicely in water few times until you see starch free water. Soak it in water for 30 minutes. Filter the water and keep the rice aside.
2. Take a large pot and add 9-10 cups of water. To this add spices like bay leaf, shahi jeera, cinnamon sticks, cardamoms stick and cloves. Another way is to tie these spices in a muslin cloth and drop it in the water and later remove it.
3. When the water slightly boils up, add salt and rice.
4. Cook the rice well. Once it is done filter the water.
2. Making Chicken Curry:
Next we come to preparing the chicken curry.
1. As you cook rice, you can prepare chicken on the other burner. Chop onions into small slices and fry them deeply in a kadai. Onions should be crisp and golden brown.
2. Separate some onion for garnishing in the end. Keep the rest in the kadai itself.
3. Keeping the flame low, add bay leaf, star anise, shahi jeera, cloves, cardamom and sauté.
4. Then add ginger garlic paste to this and sauté nicely until you get nice frying smell.
5. Now add chicken pieces and fry on a medium flame.
6. Add salt, biryani masala, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and green chilies chopped in long pieces. Fry these nicely for about four minutes.
7. Let chicken cook for about 5 minutes till it gets brown color.
8. Now add fresh yogurt to this and mix well.
9. Mix all the ingredients well on medium heat and let the meat cook nicely till the gravy turns thick.
10. Adjust the level of salt and water.
11. Now turning to low flame, sprinkle few mint and coriander leaves and stir well.
12. Now check the rice. It should be well drained of water and should not be sticky at all.
13. Now put all the rice in the chicken pot over the chicken curry. Make sure you don’t mix the rice and curry. The rice and chicken should be two separate layers. This is called layering in Biryani recipe.
14. Over the rice, sprinkle coriander and mint leaves and fried onion that we have separated earlier.
15. At this point, you can add alternate ingredients like ghee and saffron soaked in milk.
16. Then cover the pot with aluminum foil. And put the lid.
17. The heat should not escape the pot and all the ingredients should be cooked with the aroma and flavor trapped inside the pot itself.
18. Now place this pot on a hot tava and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes.
19. After this switch off the flame and leave it for about 20 minutes.
20. When you open after 20 minutes, chicken biryani will be ready with delicious aroma.
How Can We Present Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani?
1. When you serve the Biryani in plates, garnish it with salad veggies like tomato and onions.
2. A slice of lemon on the side will also make it attractive.
3. Biryani is usually served with raita or simple curd and pickle.
Precautions And Tips To Be Followed
1. After layering rice on chicken curry, instead of foil, you can use wheat dough to seal the pot. Stick the dough on the edges of the pot and the lid together so that no vapor or heat escapes.
2. Adding ghee and saffron soaked milk, although optional, gives a classical authentic touch to Dum Biryani.
3. Some people also add fried dry fruits like almonds, cashew and resins.
4. While preparing the curry, make sure there is sufficient gravy to mix with the rice. Otherwise the Biryani will be too dry and white in color.
5. While making the gravy, make sure you balance the sourness of curd with the right amount of salt. Usually, in Dum Biryanis we don’t add tomato. So if you want your Biryani to taste little more tangy, add few drops of lemon juice in the end.
“Dum” Biryani is so called since it is cooked by sealing the pot to trap the heat and vapor inside. The flavors and texture of the rice comes out different from the ordinary way of cooking Biryani.
A very important ingredient in this Biryani is the Biryani masala. It is strong masala that has to be added in the right quantity to get the authentic flavor. Now-a- days everyone uses readymade Biryani masala which is equally good as that made at home. Make sure you use chicken Biryani masala not the ordinary Chicken curry masala.
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