Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Chicken cooked with herbs, spices and flavored basmati rice !

                                      Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

  Biryani or pulav is what comes to my mind when I just want to make one pot dishes, combine all the ingredients together and let it cook. But over the weekend on saturday we were back home early as it is getting dark by 5 in the evening. So decided to make some elaborate cooking with biryani. While working in Boston, I got the recipe of hyderabadi biryani from one of my friends Y who's basically from Hyderabad in India. She had made such a delicious biryani and probably it was the first time I had a kacchi biryani at home. So she's my link to some of the exotic hyderabadi dishes from Andhra Pradesh that are cooked in nawabi style. 

   I have made some changes but the biryani was awesome!! Do try it out !! I am writing the ingredients and preparation for different steps, so that its easier to follow. Serve it with raita or a spicy curry on the side.  The three steps in biryani is A. marinating the chicken, B. half cooked rice, C. The final Biryani, mathematically is like A+B = C !!!!!. The exotic aroma of this dish is due to the use of mint leaves and mace and this is going to be entry to Weekend Herb Blogging by Astrid.

Step A: Marinating the Chicken: Method: Combine all the below mentioned ingredients and set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour atleast.
Ingredients:
2 full cups chicken (1.5 lb, ~ 750gms), cut into pieces
2 cups yogurt
3/4 cup fried onions *(see note below)
1/3 cup green chillies, cut (these were not that spicy,so use according do ur pref)
1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro/coriander, chopped
1/2 tsp pepper corns
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp caraway seeds (shahi jeera)
2 black cardamoms
6 green cardamoms
8 cloves
3 mace (javitri)
2 bayleaves
2 in cinnamon stick, broken
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/8 tsp turmeric
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Step B: Preparing the rice: While the chicken is kept for marination, prepare the rice and keep aside. The rice should be half cooked so that it can absorb water while cooking in the next step and doesn't become mushy.
Ingredients:
2 cups rice
2 tsp oil
some whole garam masala (2 cardamoms, 1/4 tsp cumin seeds, 1 clove)
salt to taste
Method:
1. Boil water with required amount of salt and any masala if you prefer.
2. Add rice and bring it to boil, let it boil for a minute more. Then remove from flame, drain water and keep the rice aside.


Step C: Preparing the final Dum Biryani:
Ingredients:
Marinated chicken from Step A
Half cooked rice from Step B
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup fried onions
pinch of saffron mixed in a tbsp of water or milk
2 tbsp ghee/clarified butter


Method:
1. In a heavy bottom pan, add the marinated chicken
2. Layer it with half cooked rice
3. Top the half cooked rice with mint, cilantro, fried onions,ghee and sprinkle the saffron water.
4. Keep on high heat till you see the steam vapors, close the lid and lower the heat.
5. Let it cook on low heat for atleast 25 - 30 minutes and biryani is ready!!
Note: Since i did not have a heavy botton pan, I kept the vessel on tava/griddle during the dum**step 5.

(you will not see cilatro, saffron in the picture, was in a hurry to take the picture first :-))

                                            Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Preparation Time: 1hr 30 minutes
Serves: 4 - 6
Note:
*To make a cup of fried onions, slice atleast 3 -4 large onions and saute till they turn brown with enough oil
** I used a vessel with a tight lid. Alternatively one can use a dough to close the gaps between the lid & vessel