Paragon Restaurant Style Chicken Biriyani
Ingredients (Serves 5)
Recipe courtesy – here and here
1. Chicken – 3/4 kg, cut into medium pieces
2. Oil – 3/4 cup or as needed (to deep fry onion)
Onion – 1 large, thinly sliced and deep-fried
3. Ghee – 1 tbsp + oil – 1 tbsp (used for frying onion)
Onion – 1.5 cup, thinly sliced
Ginger – 1 inch, crushed
Garlic – 6 medium-large cloves, crushed
Green chilies – 5 – 6 or as needed depending on your spice tolerance, crushed or coarsely ground
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Fennel powder – 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder – 3/4 tsp
Tomato – 2 small, sliced
Cilantro and mint leaves – 2 tbsp each, chopped
Biriyani masala powder – 3 – 4 tsp or as needed to taste (Recipe below)
Yoghurt – 1/4 cup
Salt – To taste
4. Cilantro – 2 tbsp, chopped
Mint leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
To prepare ghee rice
9. Biriyani rice / jeerakashala rice / kaima rice – 2 cup
10. Ghee – 3 tbsp + 2 tsp
11. Whole spices – Bay leaves – 2, Green Cardamom – 4, cinnamon stick – 1 inch piece broken, cloves – 6
Salt – To taste
Hot water – 3 cup (Use 1.5 cup water for 1 cup rice. Some varieties of kaima rice may need 2 cups of water.)
To garnish
12. Fried onion – 1/4 cup
Cilantro – 3 tbsp, chopped
Mint leaves – 3 tbsp, chopped
Ghee – 1 – 2 tbsp
Saffron or turmeric powder – 1 pinch soaked in 1 tbsp hot water
For biriyani masala powder
13. Whole black pepper corns – 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds – 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
Shahi jeera / kala jeera – 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon stick – 1.5 inch, broken
Cloves – 12
Green Cardamom – 7
Jathi pathri – 1
Star anise – 1 small
Nutmeg – 1/4th of a small
Bay leaves – 2 small
White kus kus – 1 tsp (optional)
Grind all the ingredients above to a powder (you can warm them on a skillet for 1 minute on low heat before grinding to a powder, i didn’t do it.)
Method
1. Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced onion and stir in between until it turns light golden. Add 1/2 tsp sugar and bring down the heat to medium. Mix well. Cook until onion turns golden (do not let it turn dark brown, it will taste bitter). Drain on to a paper towel. Set aside 1/3 cup fried onion for garnish.
2. Add all the ingredients numbered 3 to the chicken pieces. Combine well. Add 2 tbsp water and cook covered for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally till almost done and gravy is thick. Make sure you stir in between. Add 1/2 tsp garam masala powder, fried onion (set aside 1/4 cup fried onion for garnish), chopped mint, cilantro and 1 tsp lemon juice. Taste-check for salt. Switch off the flame.
4. While the chicken is getting done, cook ghee rice. Heat a large pressure cooker or any heavy-bottomed vessel with 3 tbsp ghee. Add the whole spices numbered 11. Stir for a few seconds until fragrant. Add rinsed rice. Stir for two minutes. Add 3 cups of hot water, enough salt and bring to a boil. Add 2 tsp ghee. Taste-check for salt, the water should be slightly salty. Cover with lid and cook until steam starts to come out profusely. Put on the whistle (if you are using pressure cooker). Bring down the heat to low and cook for 2 – 3 minutes. Switch off. Open the lid after 10 – 15 minutes. Fluff the cooked rice gently using a fork.
5. To layer – In a heavy-bottomed vessel (you can use the one in which you cooked chicken if it is oven-proof), spread the chicken gravy in the bottom. Top it with cooked ghee rice. Sprinkle fried onion, chopped cilantro, mint, 2 – 3 pinches of garam masala powder, saffron water and few tsps of ghee. If there is any extra gravy, pour on top. Cover tightly with aluminium foil. Bake at 350 F for 10 – 15 minutes. OR Heat a large tawa over medium heat. Place the biriyani pot on top of the tawa and cook for 4 minutes. Bring down the heat to low and cook for 8 minutes. Switch off. Let it rest unopened for another 10 – 15 minutes in the biriyani pot. Paragon Style Chicken Biriyani is ready to serve. Serve with onion raita, boiled egg, biriyani chammanthi, pappadam, spicy lemon pickle and dates pickle.
Thanks a lot Maya for this recipe. Made it for a foodie friend yesterday and he loved it. He said it tasted perfect.. I followed this recipe to the dot..Easy yet tasty!
Does the rice need soaking?
no, it doesn’t..
This turned out to be another keeper… Thanks Maya… your blog is a one-stop blog for biriyani lovers!
Glad you enjoyed it..Thanks Nita! 🙂