Chicken Biryani
Layered chicken biryani with saffron, fried onions and whole spices, finished on the dum: sealed, steamed and opened at the table.
- prep
- 45 min
- cook
- 1 h
- total
- 1 h 45 min
- serves
- 6
- level
- hard
Biryani is not chicken and rice cooked together; it is chicken and rice cooked separately to incomplete, then married in a sealed pot where the steam finishes both. That final step, the dum, is where the aroma everyone associates with biryani is actually made.
Two components carry it: birista, the slow-fried brown onions layered through, and saffron milk poured over the top at the end.
Chicken Biryani is one of the world's classic dishes from 67 countries.
method
Marinate the chicken in the yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, chili, garam masala, lemon juice and salt for at least 4 hours.
Fry the sliced onions in the ghee over medium heat, stirring, until evenly deep brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain; this is the birista. Keep the ghee.
Cook the chicken with its marinade and a third of the birista in the same pot for 20 minutes, until nearly done and the gravy has thickened.
Boil a large pot of heavily salted water with the whole spices. Cook the soaked rice for just 5 to 6 minutes, to about 70 percent done, and drain.
Layer: chicken and gravy on the bottom, then rice, scattering birista, mint and cilantro between layers. Pour the saffron milk and reserved ghee over the top.
Seal the pot with foil under a tight lid. Cook 2 minutes on high to build steam, then 25 minutes on the lowest heat. Rest 10 minutes before opening.
Open at the table, and fluff gently from the sides, bringing the bottom up. Do not stir.
chef's tips
- The rice must be undercooked going in; it drinks the steam and gravy on the dum. Fully cooked rice turns to porridge.
- Brown the onions patiently and evenly. Burnt birista makes bitter biryani.
- A heavy pot and the lowest flame protect the bottom layer; a thin pot scorches it.