Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani – Pakki Style

    Wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year!! Hope 2016 brings lots of happiness and joy to everyone’s life! Lets welcome the new year with the most popular  and delicious Hyderabadi chicken biriyani. As I have mentioned before, there are two types of biriyani – kachi and pakki. Kachi (raw)biriyani involves cooking the marinated raw meat and half-cooked basmati rice  together in layers on dum. And the pakki (cooked) biriyani involves cooking the meat and rice separately followed by layering. This recipe follows the pakki style. I will post the kachi Hyderabadi biriyani recipe soon. This recipe turn out as delicious as the restaurant ones. Hope you try and enjoy this recipe!

Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani Recipe

Ingredients (Serves 6 – 8)

1. Chicken, bone-in – 1.25 kg

2. Curd / yoghurt – 1/2 cup

    Ginger-garlic paste – 1.5 tbsp

    Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

    Kashmiri chilly powder – 1 tbsp

    Cumin powder – 1 tsp

    Garam masala powder – Around 2.5 – 3 tsp( Recipe below)

     Lemon juice – 1 tbsp

     1/2 cup mint leaves + 1 cup cilantro + 4 medium hot green chilies made into a coarse paste

     Oil – 1/4 cup (I used canola oil)

     Onion – 1 medium-large, thinly sliced and deep-fried (Set aside 1/2 cup fried onion for garnishing)

      Salt – To taste

3.  Ghee – 1 tbsp

For the rice

4. Basmati rice – 3.5 cups, soaked in enough water for at least 30 minutes and then drained

    Whole spices – bay leaf – 2, cloves – 6, cardamom – 3, cinnamon stick –1 inch broken

    Ghee – 1.5 tsp

    Salt – To taste

To layer

5.  Ghee, melted – 1 tbsp

    Garam masala powder – 1 – 2 pinches

    Rose water or kewra water – Few drops

    Saffron – 1 pinch soaked in 3 tbsp hot milk

    Mint leaves – 1/4 cup, chopped

    Fried onion – 1/2 cup

Garam masala powder recipe

6. Shahi jeera – 1 tsp

    Green cardamom – 10 – 12

    Stone flower / dagad phool – 3/4 tsp

    Whole black pepper – 1/4 tsp

    Cinnamon stick – 1 inch

    Javithri – Small piece

    Cloves – 12

    Star anise / thakkolam – 1 medium

Method

1. Powder the ingredients numbered 6.

Combine all the ingredients numbered 2 in a large bowl. Taste-check for salt. Marinate the chicken pieces with this mixture and keep in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. Take it out of the fridge, 30 minutes before cooking.

2. Deep-fry thinly sliced onion until golden brown. Add it to the marinated chicken pieces and mix well.

3. Smear a heavy-bottomed pan with 1 tbsp ghee. Add the marinated chicken pieces and cook covered for 30 – 40 minutes until done and the gravy is thick, stirring few times in between.

4. Meanwhile boil water in a vessel adding the remaining ingredients numbered 4. Taste-check for salt. The water should be slightly salty. Add drained rice and cook until the rice is  85 – 90 % cooked. Drain well.

5. In an oven-proof vessel (you can use the one in which you cooked chicken, if it is oven-proof), smear 2 tsp ghee and spread half of the cooked chicken at the bottom. Top it with half of the cooked rice. Sprinkle garam masala powder, a tbsp of saffron milk, fried onion and chopped mint leaves. Spread the remaining chicken on top followed by the remaining rice. Top with melted ghee, a pinch of garam masala powder, few drops of rose water/ kewra water, 2 tbsp saffron in milk, 2 – 3 bsp fried onion and 2 – 3 tbsp chopped mint leaves. If there is extra chicken gravy, pour on top. Cover tightly with an aluminium foil. Bake at 400 F for 20 – 25 minutes. OR Heat a wide tawa at high heat. Bring down the heat to low. Place the biriyani pot and cook for 10 – 15 minutes. Switch off. Let it rest unopened for another 10 – 15 minutes in the biriyani pot. Yummy Hyderabadi chicken biriyani is ready! Mix gently. Serve hot with mirchi ka salan/ boiled eggs/ raita / pickle etc.