Chicken Biryani (Hyderabadi Style) Recipe

Chicken Biryani (Hyderabadi Style) Recipe:

A flavorful, fragrant homemade chicken biryani recipe cooked in the Hyderabadi style.

I learnt this recipe from one of my very good Hyderabadi friends, who would always dish it up during Id or Ramzan. Although, I missed out on ‘Kewra jal’, still I could re-create the nostalgia of my good old college days with this Chicken biryani hyderabadi style recipe.

Ingredients (Serves 3):

For the Marinade:

400 grams of chicken (with bone),
2 tsp of ginger-garlic paste,
1 tsp of salt,
1 tsp of red chili powder,
2 tsp of mint-coriander-green chili chutney (which I always keep in stock),
2 tsp of fresh curd,
1 small bowl of golden brown fried onions,
2 tsp of ground spices ( a tsp of shah jeera, half tsp of javitri, half tsp of black pepper corns, small piece of cinnamon, 2 cloves, 3 cardamoms)

For the rice:

3-4 cups of good quality basmati rice,
1 badi elaichi or black cardamom,
2 cloves,
2 star anise,
Small piece of cinnamon,
A few peppercorns,
Salt to taste
A few drops of kewra jal/screwpine (optional),
4 tbsp of milk mixed with some saffron or yellow orange food color
For the final chicken preparation
3-4 tsp of ghee,
Left over ground spices if any,
1 large onion, finely sliced,
Salt to taste

Preparation:

Start by cleaning the chicken pieces and drying them on an absorbent paper.
Apply ginger-garlic paste and salt and let it stand for 15 minutes. Next add in the coriander-mint chutney, curd, 2 tsp powdered spices, fried onions, red chili powder and salt. Keep the remaining powdered spices, if any, for later use.
Leave the marinated chicken for either overnight or for at least 6-7 hours, covered.
Meanwhile, prepare the rice with the whole spices, (kewra jal, if available) and salt. Make sure that you give just 1 whistle, if making the rice in pressure cooker, to avoid it to become soggy.
Once cooked, let it cool, before placing it on a plate. Sprinkle the saffron milk and some cooking oil over the rice, to let the rice get its unique biriyani color.
Once the marinated time is over, take ghee in a kadai and place the rest of the powdered spices, finely chopped onions and fry well. Into this, add the chicken pieces, along with the juices of the marinade and cook well. Do not add any water as the chicken pieces tend to release water and cook in their own juices.
Once cooked with a very little gravy, turn off the heat. Now layer the kadai with cooked rice and mix gently. Mix well until thoroughly coated with the cooked chicken and the little gravy.
Serve with a fresh hint of coriander and green chilies and enjoy it with plain curd. Although, hyderabadis love to have it with ‘mirchi ka salan’, I love this with plain curd.
The same recipe could be tried with mutton and it will taste as good as this chicken biryani.