How To Make Non Veg Biryani At Home

 

We are using yogurt as a tenderiser, fried onions (birista), tomato puree, red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt to flavor the chicken. And I got convinced because so so many of you have requested for a legit/authentic biryani recipe that was also relatively easy.

And we are biryani lovers. Sprinkle saffron milk and ghee on top and cover tightly with a lid. Keep simple accompaniments but a good biryani doesn't need much!. There is no need to stir the chicken, only flip it once around the 4 minute mark.

Once the chicken is partially cooked, the next step is to layer it with the fried onions, mint and coriander. A dutch oven will be your best friend while making this biryani because it heats evenly and stays warm. To cook the chicken, place it in the dutch oven or a large pot that you plan to use for cooking the biryani, and cook them for 7 minutes. They don't need to be extra crispy, but onions should be a deep golden brown without getting burnt. It's important to marinate the chicken in a large bowl for at least two hours or overnight for the maximum flavor. But these days, packages fried onions are easily available and are more convenient option. Onions are cut into slices and then browned on medium flame in oil.

While choosing rice for the biryani, make sure to buy 'basmati rice' and not long grain rice. You'll also need a little milk to soak the saffron strands

Basmati Rice: This is a key ingredient in most biryani recipes, even the ones outside India like the Pakistani biryani and Afghani biryani. So I took a deep breath and decided to break them down for you

ingredients for chicken biryani

Here's everything that you'll need to make biryani:

Chicken: I only like to use thighs and drumsticks for chicken biryani because they remain juicy and don't overcook through the long cooking time. The rice will continue to steam when we finally cook it along with the chicken and that's where it picks all the flavour and perfume from the chicken, saffron, mint leaves and coriander.

how to marinate chicken for biryani

This Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani gets a lot of its flavor from the marinade. Like I said before, I prefer using only chicken thighs and legs for chicken biryani because these are the juiciest and do not become dry while the biryani cooks.

Once you have your chicken marinated, rice and fried onions ready, start by cooking the marinated chicken. I've broken the process step by step and made a recipe video for this chicken biryani so that you can make this restaurant style biryani at home!

Biryani in India doesn't just mean biryani. It also has a thick bottom that does not let your food get burnt easily. There is Hyderabadi biryani (which is what I'm sharing today) where the biryani has a lot of gravy or masala and is cooked slowly with rice in a sealed pot. You can choose to only use ghee but in my opinion, it makes the biryani even richer. To store a large amount of fried onions, place them in an airtight container and freeze them for later

Tomato Puree: Used in the marinade for flavour and body

Ginger Garlic Paste: Simply ground ginger and garlic, I recommend making this at home, but if you are in a hurry, store bought works too

Whole Spices: Bay leaf, Cloves, Green Cardamom and Saffron (kesar for that distinct orange colour) - these form the flavour base and give biryani that distinct fragrance that wafts up as soon as you open the pot

Ground Spices: Red Chilli Powder (sub with a mix of paprika and cayenne if living outside India), turmeric powder and garam masala powder

Herbs: Fresh mint and coriander leaves (cilantro) are essential to making biryani. Another tip is to keep the biryani pot on a tava or flat skillet.

The final step is layering with 70% cooked basmati rice. They add freshness and bring the rice and chicken together

Fat & Dairy: Both oil and ghee. It's important to cook this on a low flame so that the heat distributes evenly and the bottom doesn't get burnt.

And there you go! The whole thing takes approximately an hour so I call this a weekend project, but after you've done it once, you'll realize how easy and simple making biryani at home is! The results of your labour will look like this, and trust me, there is nothing like the smell of chicken biryani wafting through the house to get everyone to the table!

Let's just say - five attempts to make sure I provide you with instructions that you can actually follow with ease at home did not seem like work.

prevent biryani from burning at the bottom

It's really important to use a heavy-bottomed pot when you make chicken biryani, or the chicken pieces can be scorched or burnt. For me, chicken breast is a big no no as it will dry out and will just be rubbery.

The first time I attempted it, I was nervous, because it seemed so difficult and daunting and it looked like there were a gazillion steps. Basmati has long grains but also comes with a distinct fragrance and flavour. Originally, the pot was sealed with dough to prevent steam from escaping, but a tight lid works just as well. While they may look similar at first, good quality basmati rice is fragrant, and has grains that are thin and long as opposed to long grain rice which has fatter grains and almost no fragrance. You can also use store bought fried onions which are easily available in supermarkets these days.