Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani
Biryani is an exotic Indian dish that is very popular. It is important to cook the rice and meat separately and then layer them together. Cooking authentic biryani is an art and it takes time and effort. You can indulge this recipe on special occasions. Each province or region have their special types of biryani such as  Lucknowi Biryani, Sindhi Biryani, Mughlai Biryani, Malabar Biryani and Hyderabadi Biryani. Here is my version of a Hyderabadi biryani. Enjoy :)
Servings: 6 yield(s)
Prep Time: 360 mins
Cook Time: 120 mins
Total Time: 480 mins
Ingredients
  • whole chicken (skinned and cut in medium pieces)
  • 4 red onions (thinly sliced)
  • 3 tbsp. ghee (clarified butter)
  • 8 garlic cloves (about 1 head)
  • 7 green chillies
  • 1 bunch fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)
  • 1 bunch fresh green mint
  • 3 cups plain yogurt
  • 1 lemon/lime
  • 3 tbsp. milk
  • 4 cups rice (Basmati)
  • 2 boiled eggs
    • Spices:
  • inch stick cinnamon
  • 6 green cardamom
  • 2 black cardamom
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • 2 whole star anise
  • 2 whole bay leaves
  • 1 tsp. caraway seeds
  • 1 tsp. chilli pd.
  • 1 tsp. cumin pd.
  • 1 tsp. coriander pd.
Instructions
    Marinating Chicken
  1. Clean and cut the skinned chicken into medium sized pieces.
  2. Blend garlic, ginger, cilantro, mint and green chillies into a fine paste.
  3. In a bowl, marinate the chicken pieces with the ground paste and some yogurt, turmeric and salt. Cover and refrigerate about 6 hours or overnight.
    4. For making Biryani:
  4. Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan and add the whole spices. Gently fry the spices for a minute.
  5. Now add the contents of marinated chicken to the pan. Cook about 5 minutes. Then add the cumin, red chilli and coriander powders along with salt to taste and mix well. Cover and cook on medium flame about 20 minutes.
  6. Wash and soak rice in water about 15 minutes.
  7. Fill a large pot of water and bring it to a rapid boil. Drain the soaked rice and add it to the boiling water, along with a tsp. of salt. Cook rice for about 5 minutes. (The rice should be tender but not fully cooked). Drain rice into a colander and keep aside.
  8. Thinly slice red onions and fry them in hot oil until dark golden brown. Keep aside. Soak saffron in some warm milk. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Celsius.
  9. Take a large glass or oven safe dish and put some ghee (clarified butter). Add a little of the chicken and gravy. Top with with a layer of semi cooked rice. Sprinkle some of the fried onions all over. Keep repeating layers -chicken, rice and fried onions. Gently pour the saffron all over the top layer of rice. Add a tsp. of melted ghee and browned onions.
  10. Cover baking dish with some aluminium foil. With a fork or small knife, make few dents on the foil. Now put the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes.
  11. Garnish biryani with boiled eggs before serving. Serve with raita and pappadoms.