making chicken biryaani

[Suvir Saran]

How do you make your favorite Chicken Biryaani?

Where did you get the recipe from?

What makes it good? Different?

What restaurant serves the best Chicken Biryaani?

[Rachel Perlow]

I've never made any Biryaani at home, do you have a good recipe for it Suvir? If I were going to order Biryaani out at a restaurant, I would probably get a lamb, shrimp, combination or veggie biryaani before a chicken one. However, we usually just stick to the regular rice or a simple pillau with spices and peas as they don't compete with the sauces of the other dishes.

[Wilfrid]

I adore chicken biryiani.  But I've never made it.  As for getting a good one in New York, there's a restaurant called Biryiani which serves a bad one.  I hope we get some more responses on this thread, because it's making me hungry!

Rachel, I may have misinterpreted you, but I don't think of biryiani as a side dish.  But perhaps it's not the best dish for sharing, if other diners have ordered rice to accompany their meat/fish.  If I was going to take a shot at making it, I would marinate chunks of lean, boneless chicken in plain yoghurt with garam masala.  I would then cook it with the rice as I would a pilaff - in the oven, with a little chicken stock.  I would add turmeric to the rice for colour, as well as a few cloves and cardomom pods.  Seasoned of course.  A little minced onion perhaps?

Most of the flavor and spiciness would come from a separately cooked, quite liquid vegetable curry - onions, carrots, okra, tomatoes, etc.

Well, that's probably completely inauthentic, but maybe I should make it tomorrow!  

[Suvir Saran]

Wilfrid.

While your recipe may not be exactly what Indian chefs may do, it is very close.

Rachel,

In India of old days, goat biryaani was the favored one.  Chicken existed and was actually more commonly prepared.  But goal biryaanis won the higher place in the mantle.  Shrimp Biryaani is a new age dish.  But now quite common.

Rachel there are many recipes on the Internet you can get.  I think the recipe in Julie Sahnis cookbook for Chicken Biryaani/Pulao is the classic way.  In fact mine is very similar.

All you need to do is find her recipe, reduce the fat by half and the cooking time by a third. I cook the boneless chicken breasts for no more than 7-8 minutes on a medium high flame and then add the almost cooked rice and bake for a half hour in the oven pre-heated to 300?F.

Vegetables are never added into Lamb or Chicken Biryaanis.  They are always just meat, rice and spices and sometime fried onion crisps and fried fruits and nuts.

But there are as many biryaani recipes in Indian homes as there are chefs.

I am sure other members will have their own version of biryaani and their own thoughts.

Like Wilfrid, I am looking forward to hearing what the others do.

Wilfrid, please let us know what happens with your biryaani.  I would love to know how it came out.

[Wilfrid]

I will.  I have usually been served a fairly moist vegetable curry as an accompaniment - does that strike you as correct, Suvir?

[Suvir Saran]

In India there are a few accompaniments that go with biryaani, one is just a sauce in which the meat has been cooked.  What many chefs do is make extra sauce, and remove some before layering the rice so there can be gravy to be eaten when the biryaani is served.

Other traditional accompaniments are Raita and Kachumbar (salad of chopped tomatoes, onions and cucumber dressed with limejuice, cilantro/mint and green chilies.

In some homes they would also serve Biryaanis with a sauté of some crisp crunch seasonal vegetables.

In my home we would serve them with a Raita and Kachumbar and also some Karaaree Bhindi (Okra Chips).

And of course Chutneys and Pickles.

[Degustation]

I last made chicken biryani a while ago when I took an Indian cooking course. In this recipe, the chicken was cooked separately with yogurt, onions, and spices and then combined with the rice and spice-flavoured chicken stock to be cooked on the stove top. It was garnished with crispy fried onions, and sauteed raisins and almonds. I found it to be a bit too mushy made this way.

I have been meaning to make a version by Krishna Jamal, which requires cooking the rice until it is half done. It is then drained and sprinkled with cold water to remove the stickiness. The chicken is marinated with chilies, ginger, and garlic and then cooked with a blended yogurt mixture which has a variety of spices. The chicken is then layered in a casserole dish with the rice and crispy fried onions. Saffron dissolved in water is then sprinkled on top and the cooking is completed in the oven.

Suvir, does this sound like more the way you make yours? I assume this will result in a drier biryani? I like the fact that this recipe uses star anise, bay leaves, green chilis and black cardamon pods as part of the spice mixture. I may add a couple more green chilis since I like it with a bit more kick, and perhaps some coriander and mint leaves for an additional layering of flavourings.

[Suvir Saran]

Your recipe Degustation does sound more like mine.  And yes I prefer to par-cook the rice.  And cook the chicken separately and then to layer the rice.

Or you can also cook the chicken with a little extra sauce and then to that I order par-cooled rice and bake the rice in the oven in a sealed container.

I cook the rice in the oven at 300?F for 30 minutes, let the rice sit in the oven turned off for another 10 minutes and then you open and serve.

[Matthew Grant]

I love biryaani and the recipe I use most regularly can be found HERE . I'm not sure who Mamta is and I haven't tried any of her other recipes, but this one works just fine, just make sure thatyou have gotr a huge pot for the final spell in the oven, its amazing how big this dish is and we normally freeze it and find it serves enough for around 6 portions.

However, more recently I have tried  a recipe by Vineet Bhatia (Zaika - very good) which we found exceptional, it was very rich and the use of ghee may seem excessive but works fantastically. It can be found HERE. It is a little fiddly but is worth the effort.

One thing I have found is that Mutton works better than lamb with these dishes , just make sure you cook it long enough to be come tender before adding it to the final preperationbut the flavour is far more robust.

Both recipes work fine with chicken as well.

[lullyloo]

Mamta has a nice site with simple, homey recipes for some Indian classics.  I bookmarked it.  Thanks for sharing, Matthew.

[Bonnie Deahl]

Chicken biryani...i had never made chicken biryani before until about a week ago when I tried Sanjay Thumma's Hyderabadi chicken biryani. It is a layered dish where the uncooked yogurt-spice marinated chicken pieces go on the bottom of the pot, sprinkled with fried onions, then a layer of half cooked (50%) basmati rice. Rice has been soaked prior to cooking. The biryani is then topped with more fried onions , cilantro & mint and drizzled with a tablespoon or 2 of saffron water. Covered and put atop the stove on a medium heat for about half an hour, this was just fabulous!

I have made vegetable biryani's but found that they lost their flavor as leftovers. I finished the last of this wonderful rice today and it was as tasty without the addition of any masalas to jazz it up.

Sorry this is a reply to a thread started long ago...maybe we might resurrect it..

www.vahrehvah.com and then search for hyderabadi biryani.. yummmm

[indianfoodandy]

There are two cooking styles for biryani - katchi and pakki. Katchi means raw and the meat is cooked from raw with the rice; pakki is where you cook the meat first then layer the rice over it.

The meat is marinated in yoghurt and spices and goes in the bottom of the pot. On top of this goes rice that is 40% cooked then some fried onions and herbs and spices then another layer of rice which is 50% cooked and more fried onions and garam masala and some saffron water. All cooked very slowly in a sealed pot.

Unfortunately British Indian Restaurants have developed a code whereby biryani means mild which is not necessarily the case.

You can find recipes for both chicken and lamb biryani on My lIndian Food

Andy

[anm]

well said Andy ...a charcoal fire and a "dum" to finish is the traditional way and for those who can on this forum ,try making briyani with a short grain rice called "zeera samba" an aromatic rice ..