How to Make the Chicken Biryani Recipe? Learn Easy & Simple Methods Of Cooking

Servings Per Container: 8

Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Preparation time: 4 to 5 hrs. (included the marinading time of chicken)

How to make the Chicken Biryani Recipe:- Biryani is a classic Indian dish that is usually served at weddings and on holidays, very similar to pilaf.  It is also prepared for regular family dinners.  Cooking biryani chicken is a laborious process, but once you try this delicious dish of chicken, spices, and rice, you will realize that the expended effort is worth it.

Biryani appeared in India when in the Middle Ages Mughal Muslims (Persians, Iranians, Afghans) began to penetrate the territory of the country. The north of India was subsequently completely subordinate to them. The name biryani itself comes from the Persian language – from the word biryani which means delicious orfried.

This is a rice dish with chicken /lamb/vegetables and a certain set of spices. The traditional biryani is from Hyderabad. It is prepared in handi –  large pots, on a divider or Tava ( an iron sheet for baking cakes )  and stacked in layers. The first layer is meat or vegetables, the second rice. It turns out incredible yummy.

How to Make the Chicken Biryani Recipe? Learn Easy & Simple Methods Of Cooking

#1 Ingredients needed for cooking the Chicken Biryani Recipe

The main ingredient in the recipe is not rice and not chicken, but masala – a mixture of spices, which makes the dish special. You can buy it or make it yourself. It is spicy to perfection, a concentrate of flavors anda pure treat for the taste buds. The list of ingredients is long but do not panic because it is composed of many spices.

Ingredients:

• chicken (whole or drumsticks, thighs) 800 g
• long-grain rice 2.5 tbsp. 250 ml
• onion 2 heads
• fresh ginger 3 cm
• chili pepper to taste
• garlic 3 cloves
• tomato paste 1 tbsp. l
• natural yogurt 100 g
• lemon juice 1 tbsp. l
• vegetable oil 2 tbsp. l
• butter 50 g
• Garam Masala 1 tbsp. l
• salt to taste
• Green coriander for garnishing
• Saffron and milk for coloring

#2 Utensils and Items required for cooking the Chicken Biryani Recipe

The ingredients listed above may have given you some idea what type of utensils we will be using for this dish. The list of ingredients is long which means that the Utensils which we need will also be more. The recipe making is somewhat long, time and energy-consuming.

And the before and after the job of cooking will also be somewhat tedious. But your long effort will certainly pay off once you taste this dish. The option for cooking this dish is multiple.

The devices that we need will also vary on the basis of the recipe you choose. Here we are using the deep pot for cooking the biryani. Accordingly, we will.need the following utensils. Take a look.

• Deep pan or pot with a tight lid
• Measuring cup
• Glass dishes
• Press or mortar and pestle
• Knife and chopping board
• Paper towels
• Clean towel
• Plastic film
• Spoons and lids
• Apron and dishcloth
• Refrigerator

#3 Preparation before cooking the Chicken Biryani Recipe

This rich in flavor exotic dish need to be prepared beforehand. The preparation for this recipe consumed more time and energy than the cooking itself. You must be proactive because the chicken must marinate at least 3 hours in a mixture of yogurt and spices before cooking.

It is recommended to prepare the marinade the day before to gain some time on the day of cooking. Marinading the chicken the day before not only saves your time.on the day of cooking but also enhance the flavor of the biryani.

The main ingredient of this recipe is the masalas or the spices that we use. The contents of the masalas may vary on the basis of your taste. If you prefer touse thestore-bought masala that is fine. But if you want to use the masalas made in the home, the task can be more laborious.

The choice is yours, the method of making the masalas have also been given below. A lot of preparation has to be done before making this dish. So let’s start our initial step of cooking with the preparation.

1. The first preparation that you need to do for making the biryani is marinating the meat. It’s better if you marinate the meat one night before. But if not possible you can marinate the chicken 4 hours before cooking.
2. Decide what part of the chicken you want to use. If you like you can use the whole chicken or you can use the breasts or thighs. The choice is completely yours.
3. Wash hands properly and put on the apron.
4. Wash the chicken in the running water and dry properly with the napkin or the paper towels.
5. If you are using the whole chicken cut the chicken into cubes. If you’re using the thighs or breasts cut them into adequate sizes.
6. Keep the meat aside in the glass dish. Prepare for the marinade.
7. Wash hands again and bring the ingredients needed for making the marinade. You need ginger, garlic, tomatoes, green chilies. So clean them properly, peel the ginger and chop them into fine cuts.
8. Peel the garlic and pass them in the press to crush them. You can use the mortar and pestle to crush the garlic.
9. Cut the tomatoes in fine pieces and make the paste. If you want you can use the ready made paste as well. Cut the chilies in fine pieces.
10. If you are using the store-bought masalas or spice powder, it’s fine. But if you want to make the spice powder yourself. Take the ground coriander, cumin, bay leaf, black pepper, chili pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, and fennel. Roast them if you like and they grind them into a fine powder.
11. Take the chicken in the glass dish, put some oil,natural yogurt, tomato paste, ginger, garlic paste, chili, salt, and masala or the spice powder.
12. Mix them well together and make sure the chicken is completely covered with the marinade.
13. Covert he ingredients with cling Almoravid and leave for 4 hours,or overnight.
14. Again wash your hands and peel the onions. Chop the onion in fine pieces.
15. Take the long grain rice or basmati rice and wash them properly till the water is clear. Then put some water in the rice and keep it aside.
16. One of the most important steps in the cooking of this dish is not to let any steam escape from the lid of the pan you’re using for cooking. For this, you can use a clean towel. Another great and the proper method to seal the steam is to cover the edges of the lid with the dough.
17. Using the dough is the traditional style used in India. This will ensure that no steam can escape and make the recipe tastier.
18. If you want to prepare the dough, take the flour and put some water. And mix them with your hands. Put the water in small quantities. Mix the dough and keep in the glass discovered with the plastic film.
19. After all this preparation it’s time for you to begin your cooking.

#4 How to cook the Chicken Biryani Recipe

Cooking biryani with is a laborious process, but once you try this delicious dish of chicken, spices, and rice. You will understand that the expended effort is worth it!Of course, this is only one of the options for preparing biryani, because there are many recipes for this dish.

This version is very high in calories due to the presence of butter. But you can’t get anywhere, this is the recipe, and it is clearly not for losing weight.

Steps to follow:

1. Put the deep.pan you’re using for cooking this recipe on the stove. Heat it for a minute.
2. Melt a piece of butter and sprinkle onion into it. Ideally, you can use ghee, but in a pinch, butter is also suitable. Stir the onions until they are golden brown.
3. When the onion has turned the color, lay the chicken on top with the marinade.
4. Fry it until golden brown over medium heat, then flip it to the other side.
5. Meanwhile, boil some water.
6. When the meatis almost ready, add to them washed basmati rice.
7. Pour the hot water into the pan so that the rice is completely covered with it. Add some salt.
8. If you want to give color to the biryani, use saffron milk. Take 1/4 teaspoon of saffron for 2 tablespoons of warm milk, let the saffron soak in milk for about 15 minutes to get the saffron flavor.  You then pour this milk on the top layer of rice at the last stage of biryani preparation.
9. If you have excess meat and rice, you can create the layers. On top of the rice, you can again put the fried chicken and on top of it again some rice. Biryani is best known for its layers of meat and rice. You can make the 2 or 3layers if you want to. But one layer of chicken and rice is also good to go.
10. Cover the dishes tightly with a lidupside down. Put a towel on top so that all the steam remains inside.
11. If you have kneaded the dough, roll the dough into long strips, and fasten them along the edge of the inverted lid. Turn the lid over and cover the pan with it.  The dough will tightly fix the lid on the pan so that the chicken and rice are cooked with steam.
12. We will stew the biryani until the rice is ready. It takes about 20 minutes. Stirring or opening the lid during cooking is not recommended.
13. Your biryani is ready, sprinkle some coriander on top.

#5 How to serve and eat the Chicken Biryani Recipe

A delicacy from India, although it is known and is prepared in Arab countries and in Turkey. A dish is distinguished by at least one ingredient from one region to another. But it is always tasty, satisfying, beautiful, fragrant and oriental exquisite. Biryani will be served immediately after cooking, garnished with parsley or cilantro.

This delicious Indian rice dish is perfect for special occasions or can become the new favorite dish of the whole family. The dish is complete in itself and doesn’t need any other side dishes alongside. But still if you want some dishes on the side, you can prepare the following:

1. Although this dish is delicious when it is hot, it is also tasty cold and can be kept for several days.
2. Biryani can be served with mango chutney and pappadums. Pappadums are cakes made from lentil flour for sale in major food stores.
3. Chicken biryani is usually served with chutney dahi and pickle of chilies. Baghaar-e-baingan is a common side dish.
4. You can also serve the dish with the salad. The salad may haveonion,carrot, cucumber and lemon wedges.

#6 Simple tips to follow for cooking the ChickenBiryaniRecipe

The Biryani is not only spices, but it is also primarily the preparation in layers to respect the flavor of each ingredient, harmonize the mixture. The tradition is to surround the pot with a dough made from flour to prevent the steam from escaping, thus trapping all the flavors. The pot is then placed in the oven for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Cooking under a crust of dough: a method also called dum pukht preserves all the subtleties of each ingredient, while allowing light cooking. This is one of the tips that you can follow if you are not tired and lazy after all the preparation and cooking. Someof the other subtleties that you can follow are:

1. When you notice that the oil has started to evaporate slightly, it means that it is ready for frying onions.
2. While the onion is fried in oil, gently mix the slices so that they are completely covered with hot oil for uniform frying.
3. If the fire is too strong, the onion will burn outside but remain moist inside.
4. Do not cut the chicken into small pieces or remove the bones. From the chicken to the bone, when it is cooked, a delicious broth will be obtained that will give the biryani even more flavor.
5. Chicken marinating times may vary. You can leave the chicken in the marinade for the night.And it completely absorbs all the tastes and aromas of spices, and you can leave it to marinate for less time.  Let the chicken marinate for at least 4 hours. 
6. For real flavored biryani, take basmati rice.
7. You can determine the readiness of rice if you take one grain and push it with your fingers.  The grain should fall apart, but the middle should be solid.  If the grain is completely smeared on your fingers, then you have digested fig.
8. If the dough is too dry and does not knead, add 1-2 tablespoons of water.
9. To knead the dough, squeeze your hand into a fist, soak your knuckles and knead the dough. Pressing it to the edge of the bowl until it becomes smooth. This may take about 10 minutes.
10. Arrange the chicken so that each piece is in contact with the bottom or walls of the pan. This will enable each piece of chicken to cook evenly.
11. Using a slotted spoon or a spoon with holes, ram the rice tightly enough. If a little water comes to the surface, it’s okay, it will even improve the cooking process by generating steam.
12. You can add cashew nuts and golden raisins, but this is optional.
13. You can use rose water as an additional ingredient. Just grab a half cap of rose water and spread it over the surface of the biryani. 
14. Press the cover lightly but surely and make sure it is securely closed.
15. You can put something heavy on the lid so that the pan is well closed.  But if you use the dough, the dish is already well closed.
16. This is the safest way to cook biryani because the dish will definitely not burn out, as there will be no direct contact with fire.
17. After 35 minutes, turn off the fire, but do not open the biryani yet.  Let the dish stand for 10 minutes.
18. A lot of steam will come out of the dish, be careful not to burn yourself.
19. Gently stick a large spoon into the dish and remove the bottom layer of rice.  Next, get a piece of chicken.  Slices of chicken should be browned properly.
20. If you do not have a suitable lid, cover the pan with food foil.
21. If necessary, black cumin can be replaced with ordinary cumin seeds.
22. Do not digest rice. This is the easiest way to spoil biryani.

#7 Frequently Asked Questions

As you have gone through the whole list of ingredients and the procedure to cook this recipe. You may have some questions to be answered. So let’s deal with those question so you can then begin your cooking.

1. Can I use the spices of my choice?

You can choose the ingredients for making the spices depending on your taste. You don’t have to follow the recipe strictly. The cooking process should be enjoyable rather than following the recipe. So you can experiment with the spices. You can experiment by adding dry fruits, rose water in the biryani.

2. Following the same recipe, can I use the port meat instead of the chicken meat?

You can use any meat you like. But do consider the variation in the cooking time as you choose the meat. Chicken meat Cooks faster than pork. You can also cook the biryani following the above method using vegetables, legumes, fish and anything you like.

3. Is it necessary to seal the lid with the dough?

If you are cooking the biryani in the deep pot or pan, the lid may be not too tight to seal all the steams. One of the secret for cooking the tasty biryani is to let it cook in the steam on the low heat. So all the flavors and aromas can get into the rice and meat. The purpose of using the dough is the same to seal all the steams.

If you don’t want to use the dough, you can also tightly seal the lid using a towel and placing some heavy objects on the lid. This too will work. Be innovative and try new things and create your own recipe.

4. Can I use the ground spices instead of the powder?

You can use the ground spices if you want to. That too according to your palate.

5. Can I use the tomato ketchup instead of tomato paste?

Go ahead with the ketchup if you want to. But the ketchup may give some sour or sweet taste depending on the type of ketchup you’re using. But if you want the real flavor, it’s better to use the fresh tomatoes paste.

6. CanI make extra biryani and use the following day?

You can make the biryani, serve it hot or cold. And you can store the biryani in the fridge and use it for 2-3 days. While storing on the fridge makes sure to cover it with the foil. So the taste remains the same.

I hope all your questions are answered.

Enjoy your cooking! 

Submitted by Ankur pradhan