Every time I think of Hyderabad, I do not think of its rich culture, its Nawabs or even its more modern day form of a fast growing information technology hub. All I can think of is biryani. I was quite young, not sure how young when I had my taste of Hyderabadi Biryani. And I have been hooked onto biryani since then. Slow cooking with rich ingredients, richer flavors and an even richer history is how I see a biryani. What started a camping food for warring armies, received devotion in the kitchens of awadhi and hyderabadi princes to become what we know of today’sbiryani. Make no mistake. Cooking a biryani is a slow, tedious process. But the end result is hugely satisfying.
Now I do not have the master chefs cooking for me. So I cannot afford to spend the 4-5 hours need to cook an authentic biryani. But I can cook a mean biryani, in about an hour or so in just 7 steps. Again the end result is not authentic but pretty close. Here is a list of stuff you are going to need.
Chicken Biryani
- Boneless chicken thighs – 1lb
- Large onion finely chopped- 1
- Large onion sliced – 1
- Large tomatoes finely chopped – 3
- Shan bombay biryani masala - 4 tsp
- Red chili powder -2 tsp
- Garam masala - 2 tsp
- Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
- Jeera/Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
- Jeera/Cumin powder -1/2 tsp
- Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp each
- Curd/yogurt – 1.5 cup
- Turmeric – 1 tsp
- Oil – 1/2 cup
- Butter – 1 stick
- Coriander leaves finely chopped – 1/2 cup
- Bunch of mint leaves
- Cashew nuts -1/4 cup
- Resins -1/4 cup
- Green chillies -2-3 (slitted)
- Long grain Basmati rice – 2 Cups
- Cloves -4-5
- Star Anise Seeds – 2 tsp
- Bay leaves – 3-4
- Fry onions & cashew nuts:
- Marinate the chicken :
- Soak the rice
- Gravy for the biryani
- Cook the rice
- Now its time to layer the biryani
- Cook(Dum) biryani
Spread out the sliced onion on paper and let dry for some time. Then sprinkle little rice flour or all purpose or rice flour. Meanwhile fry cashews in hot oil till golden on medium heat. Then Fry onions till brown, crispy and caramelized. Keep in cool and dry place. Later use the same oil for making biryani curry.
Combine 1/2 cup curd, 1 tbsp oil, jeera powder, 1 tbsp red chili powder, 1tbsp garammasala, 1 tbsp corriander powder, salt, half of ginger garlic paste and fried onions and mix well in a bowl. Add chicken and rub the marinade all over the chicken.Keep covered for 2 hours or overnight in refrigerator for best results.
Wash and rinse the rice in cold water. Remove water and the leave the rice alone for 30-45 minutes.
Add jeera in 1/4 cup hot oil (remained after frying onions and cashews) in a thick bottom pan. Fry onions and chillies till the onions are slightly pink and cooked.Add remaining ginger garlic paste, termeric powder and fry for some time. Add biryani masala, chili powder and coriander powder and mix well. As soon as the onions flavor up add tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes till the oil starts leaving edges. This is very important as it removes the raw flavour of tomatoes. Then add curd and again fry till the oil leaves the edges. Chop up half of the mint leaves and add them to the gravy. Add chicken and salt and cook covered on medium flame till it is about 90% done.
Boil water in a large soup pan and add salt, 1 tsp oil, remaining jeera, cloves, bay leaves and Staranise. Let it boil for another 2 minutes then add the soaked rice. Let the rice cook uncovered till it is 80% done. To check this, press a grain of rice in your index finger and thumb. If you feel a hard tiny semolina/sooji size grain into the rice, its done. Drain the rice. If you feel it is getting overcooked, immediately pour cold water over the drained rice.
Grease a thick bottom pan with 1 tbsp of oil and butter.Layer 1/2 of the gravy with 1/2 of the chicken pieces. Uniformly Layer 1/2 of the rice. Spread some fried onion, cashews and mint leaves. Again layer gravy with the remaining chicken pieces. Keep some gravy for last layer. Spread remaining rice. Uniformly pour remaining gravy over the rice. Spread all the cashews, fried onion and mint leaves.
No water is added to cook biryani. So it is very important to cook it in a very thick bottom pan. If you don’t have it, layer the biryani in a wide pan and put the pan over a thick griddle.Cover the pan using thick aluminium foil and then put the lid. This will ensure that the vapour is trapped inside and is used to cook the biryani.Cook it over medium (not very low) flame for 7-10 minutes.
Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani is ready to serve.
Use boiled eggs, coriander and lemon for garnishing.
