Biryani is an aromatic delight loved and relished by all. A scrumptious and aromatic chicken biryani with juicy and tender chicken that you’ll love to make it over and over again to treat your loved ones. Succulent, juicy pieces of chicken are cooked in a yogurt marinade and then layered with crispy onions, coriander, mint, basmati rice and slow cooked (dum).
Biryani is one of the most popular and delectable dish that is loved by all across the world. It is a must prepare dish on most occasions and functions like birthday celebrations, special get-together, festivals, potluck etc. It also top the restaurant menu. Now adays it is available in fast food corners also. It is one of the most ordered dish and have a huge fan following across the globe.
Chicken biryani recipe has been one of the most requested recipe from my readers and I’m so excited to share it with you today.
This is a homestyle chicken biryani recipe made in the simplest possible way which yields aromatic biryani with delicious soft and tender chicken.
Making biryani is never difficult and daunting as it looks like with gazillion of steps. But its quite easy to make so need not be nervous if you’re trying for the first time or never tried before. As long as the ingredients are readily available one can easily nail it.
This recipe does not require any readymade biryani masala powder or spice mix. With basic available pantry ingredients you can make restaurant style biryani at home. We use these spices in almost all Indian cooking and these are readily available in our pantry. Even though if you are missing on some of these spices, you need not worry as these are easily available in local grocery shop and supermarkets.
There are many ways in which biryani is prepared and one will come across different types of biryani like Hyderabadi biryani, Malabar biryani, Lucknowi biryani, Kolkata biryani, Ambur biryani, Dindigul biryani etc. Each and every region has its own biryani, each method is unique and has its own significance.
What Is a Dum?
DUM is a method where the rice and meat/vegetables are cooked separately with spices and then both are layered. The lid is sealed with flour dough so that the steam doesn’t escape and cooked further in steam on low flame.
How To Make A Perfect Biryani At Home?
✔ For any biryani recipe, it is always recommended to marinate the meat in spices and yogurt for at least some time. This helps in infusing the flavors perfectly.
✔ The rice needs to wash thoroughly and soaked for atleast 20-30 minutes.
✔ Caramelized onions give an extra awesome flavor. So it recommended to use them.
✔ Cook the marinated chicken in whole spices, ginger garlic, onions and tomatoes.
✔ Cook the rice with some spices, oil, herbs like coriander & mint till 60-70% or al dente.
✔ Layer the chicken and rice and slow cook aka dum for couple of minutes. This is a very important step in making biryani.
Lets Talk Ingredients:
✔ Rice – Rice plays a very important role in making of biryani. Always use a premium quality basmati rice which is aged. AGED basmati rice is more fragrant, long grained and firm which doesn’t break easily and turn mushy. They stay in shape provided it is cooked in a correct way.
✔ Chicken – Chicken thighs and drumsticks makes the best biryani. You can use mix of them. They are soft, tender and succulent. Keep the pieces medium sized. Chicken breast is not ideal for biryani as it turn out a bit dry. So better to avoid using chicken breast or use them in minimum.
✔ Fats – I have used both oil and ghee (clarified butter). Traditionally also ghee is used in chicken biryani. It imparts a lovely aroma to the biryani. But if you don’t want to use ghee you can cook in oil alone.
✔ Curd/Yogurt – Chicken is marinated with curd and basic spice powders. Curd is used as a tenderizer here.
✔ Whole Spices – Bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, green cardamom, cumin seeds.
✔ Spice powders – Turmeric powder, red chilly powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder.
✔ Other Ingredients – Onions, fried onions (caramelized onion), ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, green chilies, coriander leaves, mint leaves, salt and water.
Can we use Mutton Or Beef Instead of Chicken in this recipe?
Yes, you can follow the same recipe and make Mutton or Beef Biryani instead. Only the cooking time will differ as mutton and beef takes longer time to get cooked compared to chicken.
You can also follow the same recipe and make egg biryani. Marination part will be skipped as we are not using meat. You can use hard boiled whole eggs or slice the egg into two, saute them slightly with some spices powder. Voila you will get a delectable egg biryani.
Serving suggestions:
Serve your delectable homemade biryani with raita and hard boiled eggs.
Few Important Pro Tips:
✔ Use heavy bottom pan/pot with firm lid so that steam does not escape and stays warm. Heavy bottom pan that does not let your food get burnt easily.
✔ You can also seal the pan lid with atta dough.
✔ Always use aged long grain rice to make biryanis or pulaos. The aged basmati rice gives nice fluffy and fragrant biryani. The rice does not break easily.
✔ Chicken Biryani gets a lot of its flavor from the marinade. It is always recommended to marinate the chicken for best flavors atleast 30 minutes or even better for couple of hours. Some even marinate them overnight.
✔ Bone-in chicken imparts more flavour and does not tend to dry out like boneless chicken. So try to use chicken thighs and drumsticks.
✔ For biryani, cooking the rice perfectly is the important. The rice should not be overcooked and needs fo handle gentle while cooking so it doesn’t break and get an appealing look. The rice should be only 70% cooked.
You Might Also Love To Try
✔ Vegetable Biryani
✔ Pork Biryani
Few Side Dishes You Might Also Love To Serve With Biryani
✔ Chicken 65
✔ Mutton Chukka
✔ Mutton Fry
✔ Chicken Drumsticks Fry
✔ Prawn 65
✔ Tandoori Seafood Platter (Fish & Prawn)
✔ Baked Whole Chicken Leg
✔ Mutton Liver Masala
✔ Shallow Fried King Fish
✔ Chicken Masala Fry
✔ Tandoori Chicken Oven Baked
MORE CHICKEN RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE > Chicken Dishes
All of these recipes are super easy to prepare, ready in no time, and will never disappoint you.
This homemade chicken biryani recipe is easier than you think. A quick and easy home made biryani is something you cannot escape. I hope you’ll love to try this recipe and please do share your thoughts about the recipe with me here.
Let’s get started with the recipe. Here’s a step by step pictorial instructions on how to make this restaurant style biryani at home!
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40-45 minutes
Serves: 4
☆ Measuring cup used is 240 ml
Ingredients to make Chicken Biryani:
To cook rice:
2 cups Basmati Rice
½ inch Cinnamon
3 Cloves
2 Cardamom
1 small Star anise
Few coriander leaves
1 tsp oil
3 cups of Water
Salt to taste
To marinate the chicken:
500 gms Chicken
½ cup Curd/Yogurt
1 tsp Chilly powder
½ tsp Turmeric powder
½ tsp Cumin powder
½ tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Garam masala powder
Salt to taste
To cook marinated chicken:
3-4 tbsp Oil
2 tbsp Ghee/Clarified butter
½ tsp Cumin seeds
2 Bay leaf
1 inch Cinnamon stick
5 Cloves
4 Cardamom
1 Star anise
2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
2 Onion large sized sliced +1 thinly sliced for browning
2 Green chillies whole
3 Tomato chopped
½ cup Coriander leaves chopped
½ cup Mint leaves chopped
Salt to taste
Water – 1 cup
Hard boiled eggs as required (optional)
Step by step pictorial instructions to make chicken biryani:
Wash and soak the basmati rice for 20-30 mins.
Mix together all the ingredients mentioned under chicken marinade and marinate for at least 30 minutes. The longer marination the better.
In a pan add the oil. Once heated add 1 medium onion thinly sliced and fry utill golden brown. Remove and set aside.
In the same oil add the ghee. Add cumin seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves, green cardamom, star anise and let it crackle.
Add Ginger garlic paste and saute for a min.
Add the onions, green chillies and saute till it turns soft.
Add tomatoes and fry till it begins to soften.
Add the marinated chicken and salt, mix well, cover and the pan and cook for 5 mins.
Add chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves.
Add water, cover the pan and continue to cook for about 10-15 mins till the gravy thickens.
Meantime when the chicken is cooking, bring water to boil in a pan for cooking the rice. Add the whole spices mentioned in the list. When the water starts to boil add the soaked basmati rice.
Add few chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves and cook the rice for 5 mins till 70% cooked.
Drain the water nicely and set aside.
Once the chicken is done start layering the chicken and rice for dum. Take the pan, add some chicken with masala followed by rice.
Next layer some fried onions. Repeat it with the remaining rice, chicken, eggs and fried onions. Once the layering is over I have covered with aluminium foil which is optional. Cover the pan.
Put a cloves on the hole of the cover to prevent the steam from going out and leave on lowest flame for about 15 minutes. Place a flat Tawa at the bottom to prevent burning.
Your chicken biryani is ready.
Remove from the flame, open the pan and fluff it with a fork gently and serve with raita.
Notes:
✔ Use bone-in chicken always.
✔ For best result marinate the chicken for longer duration.
✔ Adjust the spiciness of the biryani as per your heat preference.
✔ Use heavy bottom pan for the dum. You can place the pan over a tawa/griddle.
✔ You can use store bought fried onions or can easily make at home. Just thinly slice the onion and deep fry in the oil until golden.
✔ Use both oil and ghee. But if you don’t want to use ghee, use oil alone in place of ghee.
✔ You can use a pinch of saffron. Soak the saffron in 2-3 tbsps of milk and and pour them over the layered briyani. It imparts a rich flavour and aroma.
Well, if you make this easy chicken biryani, please do leave a feedback in the comments box below or snap a photo and tag Akum Raj Jamir on Facebook and akumrajjamir on Instagram with hashtag #atmykitchen. I would love to see your creations.
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. I hope you liked the recipe. Your valuable feedbacks are always welcome, I love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you.
Happy cooking!
Love Akum
Recipe descriptive will surly try it out
Thank you
Loved your jam cookies
Thank you so much!