Hyderabadi Chicken(pakki) Biriyani

Hyderabadi Dum biryani, a classic dish of the Mughal Nizams. This colorful and aromatic rice is an one-pot meal and we all enjoy biriyanis at restaurants. But when it comes to prepare it at home, we step back seeing teh huge list of ingredients and process. But once you are familiar with the exact process, you'll see it in different way. 

    Hyderabadi biriyani is quite flavourful compared to other North Indian style Biriyanis as it is loaded with aromatic spices and herbs like fresh mint and coriander leaves. Traditionally, it is made with lamb meat but nowadays it is commonly made with Chicken, too. There are two processes of making this biriyani - one is kachhi biriyani, it is prepared with raw meat,  marinated in yoghurt, spices and then cooked along with the partially cooked rice by sealing the handi (vessel) and cooked on Dum. Other one is Pakki Biriyani, here the meat is cooked before being layered with partially cooked rice and cooked in a dough-sealed vessel for shorter span.  
This time, I've prepared the pakki biriyani method and will be sharing with you...

You Need :
Aged Basmati Rice : 2 cups or as needed
Potatoes : 2, cut into big chunks(optional)
Onion : 2, thinly sliced
Luke warm milk : 1/3 cup
Saffron : a good pinch
Biriyani Masala Powder : 2 tblsp.(is available in Indian grocery store)
Chopped mint leaves : 1/2 cup
Chopped Coriander Leaves : 1/2 cup
Yellow Food Color/saffron flavour color : 1/2 tsp.(optional)
Salt to taste
Ghee(Clarified Butter) : 3 tblsp. + 3 tblsp. oil


For marination::::
Chicken : 1 kg., cut into medium size pieces(I used whole chicken)
Yoghurt : 2/3 cup
Onion : 2, medium, made into paste
Ginger-garlic paste : 2 tblsp.
Green chilli paste : 1 tsp.
Turmeric powder : 1 tsp.
Red chilli Powder : 2 tsp.
Cumin powder : 1 tsp.
Coriander powder : 2 tsp.
Shah jeera : 1 tsp. (grind to coarse powder)
Javetri(mace) : little(grind to a coarse powder)
Fresh Pudina(mint) leaves : 1/2 cup, chopped
fresh Dhaniya(Coriander) leaves : 1/2 cup, chopped 
Salt : 1 tblsp.
Juice of 1 lemon 
Whole Garam masala(for cooking chicken) : bay leaf : 1, cardamom : 2, cloves : 4, cinnamon stick : 1, black peppercorns : 10
Garam masala Powder : 1 tsp.(use while cooking the chicken)

Ingredients needed to cook rice ::::
Rice 
Cinnamon : 2 sticks
Cloves : 4
Green Cardamom : 4
Black cardamom : 1
Bay leaves : 2
Salt : 1 1/2 tblsp.
Oil : 1 tblsp. 

How To :

• Preperation 1 - Marinate the chicken first : In a bowl, take chicken and all the other ingredients listed under "For mariantion" and give everything a good mix for at least 2-3 minutes, so that all the chicken pieces are nicely coated with marinate mix. keep aside for at least 1-2 hours. 
• Preperation 2 - Wash and soak the rice in water for at least 1/2 an hour. 
• Preperation 3 - Fry the thinly sliced onions in little oil with a pinch of salt added till it changes color to deep brown. Drain on kitchen towel. 
• Preperation 4 - Soak saffron in luke warm milk and keep aside for later use.
• Cook the chicken : Heat 2 tblsp. oil in a cooking pan, fry potato pieces with a pinch of turmeric powder and salt. Keep aside. Then add whole garam masalas(marked with red) one after another, when they start to crackle, add chicken pieces and cook, stirring continuously. Stir and cook for atleast 10-12 minutes or until oil seperates the masala. Add fried potatoes and 1 cup hot water to this and cook covered until chicken is cooked and gravy has nicely coated the chicken pieces. We don't need any curry in here. Lastly add garama masala powder, mix. Remove and Keep Aside.
• Cooking rice : In a big pot, heat enough water and in there add all the ingredienst listed under" Ingredients needed to cook rice". When water boils, add soaked rice and cook until just half done. It will hardly take 5-8 minutes depending on the quality of the basmati rice you are using. Drain and keep aside, if possible, spread the rice in plates to dry. 
• Layering the rice and chicken : Take a deeper and wider pot, heat 1 tblsp. ghee and 1 tblsp. oil. Remove from heat. 1st layer : Arrange a thin layer of rice at the bottom, this is your protective layer, so if by any chance you overcook the biriyani, your chicken won't be burnt. 2nd layer : then arrange half of the chicken evenly allover the rice layer. 3rd layer : again half of the rice layered evenly over teh chicken. Sprinkle little of saffron infused milk, 1 tblsp. of biriyani masala powder, half of fried onions, a little salt, half of the chopped mint and coriander leaves. 4th layer : then place rest of the chicken evenly. 5th layer : now arrange rest of the rice evenly allover the chicken. Sprinkle rest of the saffron infused milk, salt to taste, biriyani masala powder, half of the fried onions, chopped coriander and mint leaves. Finally, drop 2 tblsp. ghee in clockwise direction from the corners of the pot and allover the top layer. Cover the biriyani pot with a kitchen towel from all sides(so that the steam cannot escape), then put the lid on the pot and put something heavy like mortar-pastel on the lid. 

• Cooking Biriyani in Dum/steam : Heat a flat tawa nicely. Then put the biriyani pot on the tawa. Lower the heat to medium and let it cook for 15-20 minutes. When you can see some steam is coming out from the side of the pan, then you know your Biriyani is done. 

 

Enjoy with some chicken curry and raita. Traditionally, hyderabadi chicken biriyani is accompanied by mirchi ka salan(green chilli curry) and dhai chutney. I enjoyed it with chiekn chaap(bengali chicken speciality) and cucumber raita. 

I'm sending this chicken biriyani to Kolkata Food Blogger's Ongoing event, "Kashmir to Kanyakumari" event.