Chicken Dum Biryani

We are big fond of chicken. I tried this recipe in this method. In this dish, chicken is marinated with all ingredients and partially cooked basmati rice are layered and cooked on dum over low heat.

Once the biryani is cooked on dum, as you open the lid, the kitchen smells fragrant, rich with the reassuring aroma of pure ghee, saffron and the chicken cooked to melt in the mouth with tenderness. 

This goes well with chicken fry/ raita…

Ingredients

(To Marinate Chicken)

Chicken – 3/4 kg

Ginger Garlic Paste – 2 tsp

Red Chilli Powder – 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp

Garam Masala – 1 tsp

Finely Chopped Mint Leaves – 1 cup

Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves – 1 cup

Fried Onions – 1 cup

Curd (or) Yogurt -1 cup

Crushed Green chilli – 2

Lemon Juice - 1

Salt

(Boiling the Rice)

Basmati Rice – 2 cups

Cardamom – 5

Cloves – 4

Cinnamon – 2 sticks

Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp

Bay leaves – 2

Salt to taste

(Layering)

Lemon Juice – 1

Coriander Leaves – 1 cup

Mint Leaves – ½ cup

Fried Onions – 1 cup

Saffron – 2 pinches

Creamy Milk – ¼ cup

Ghee (or) butter – ¼ cup

Oil - 2 tsp

Method

Clean and wash the chicken pieces and take it into big bowl. Add all the ingredients one by one for chicken marinating. Leave it to marinate at least for an hour.

Soak rice in water at least for 30 min. By mean time, in a big pan/kadai/vessel boil lots of water with salt, cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaf.

When the water starts boiling add soaked rice to it. Give it a stir; don’t keep stirring every time, as this will break your rice.

This will take two to three minutes as you have already soaked rice. Keep checking now and then drain the rice in a strainer and keep the rice aside.

Take a wide vessel in which you wish to dum the biryani. Put a very thin layer of rice, this helps to prevent for burning chicken in case if you overcook.

Put the marinated chicken as the second layer. Put half of the rice as your third layer.

Sprinkle evenly fried onions, mint leaves, coriander leaves and lemon juice as your fourth layer. Put the remaining half rice in the fifth layer.

Finally sprinkle the Saffron mixed in milk evenly. Add ghee and oil each and every layer evenly.

Seal this aluminium boil/ maida or wheat coating. Cook on high flame about 10 min. Now lower the flame for another 10 to 15 min.

Keep rotating your vessel clockwise every 3 min. Switch off the stove and leave aside for 10 min. Garnish with coriander leaves.