Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Hyderabadi biryani recipe – Making a good Hyderabadi biryani is very simple and this recipe is perfect for a home preparation. This is the easiest biryani since it needs no sautéing of spices or meat. Just marinate the meat with the spices & other ingredients. Layer partially cooked basmati rice over it. Cook on a slow dum process, trapping the steam to retain the aroma.

To get an authentic flavor and taste of Biryani, do use all the mentioned ingredients and if desired you can substitute ghee for oil.

This is one of the best hyderabadi biryani recipe I have made for years and has been a favorite among the readers of this blog. It is very easy and even a beginner can try without any troubles.

This is a kacchi hyderabadi biryani, meaning partially cooked rice is layered over the marinated raw meat.

To make the best out of this recipe, chicken needs a proper marination which mainly helps to tenderize it, resulting in juicy, flavorful, soft and tender chicken.

It can be marinated the previous night and refrigerated to make the best flavorful biryani.

You can serve hyderabadi biryani with any of these raitas I have shared earlier. Even lassi goes well in the meal.

You can also check
Chicken biryani in cooker
Chicken dum biryani
Lamb biryani
Vegetable biryani

How to Make Hyderabadi Biryani (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. To a mixing bowl, add 2/3 cup (165 ml) yogurt, ¾ teaspoon salt, 1 to 1½ teaspoon red chili powder, 1 to 1½ teaspoon biryani masala, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, 2 slit green chilies, 1¼ tablespoons ginger garlic paste and ½ teaspoon cardamom powder. Do not use sour curd here.

2. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. If your curd is even slightly sour, then just skip lemon juice.

3. Mix all of them and taste the marinade. Add more salt if needed. I had to add another half tsp.

4. Add the chicken and marinate. Cover the bowl and allow it to sit overnight in the fridge or for at least 2 hours.

5. Keeping overnight makes the chicken very soft & succulent once the biriyani is cooked. If you are marinating it just for 2 hours, I suggest keeping the pieces to small to medium and not very large.

Fry Onions

6. Skip this step if using store bought fried onions. This can be done the previous night or just before you begin to make the biryani. Slice 1 large onion uniformly and thin. Separate the layers. Heat ¼ cup ghee in the same pot you intend to make the biryani.

When the ghee turns hot, add the onions and spread them well. Fry them uniformly until golden, crisp and aromatic. Keep stirring uniformly to fry them evenly without burning. When they brown, remove them and set aside. Do not over fry as they turn bitter quickly.

7. Soak a large pinch of saffron in 3 tablespoons hot milk. Do this just before you soak the rice.

8. Wash rice at least thrice. Do note that biryani turns out good only with aged premium quality basmati rice.

Cook Rice for Hyderabadi Biryani

9. Pour fresh water and soak for 30 to 40 mins. Refer to the rice pack for soaking time.

10. Drain after 30 to 40 mins. Set this aside.

11. Add all the whole spices and 1½ teaspoon salt to a large pot of boiling water. Also pour 1 tsp oil. Stir and check the salt, the water has to taste salty. If not add more salt to your liking.

You can add the whole spices to a muslin cloth and make a knot if you don’t like to get a bite of the spices. Allow the water to simmer for 5 mins. Then bring it to a rapid boil.

12. Add soaked drained basmati rice.

13. Cook on a medium high flame till rice is ¾ th cooked.

14. The rice must be grainy and you must get a bite into it, meaning it has to be slightly under cooked. If you are a beginner, please take a look at this detailed post on how to cook basmati rice for biryani.

15. Drain the rice to a colander.

Make Hyderabadi Biryani

16. While the water for rice boils, add the chicken marinade to the heavy bottom pot you used to fry the onions. I used my 6½ ltrs heavy bottom pressure cooker pan. Sprinkle half of the fried onions, 2 tablespoons coriander leaves and two tablespoons mint leaves. Add the ghee or oil (4 tbsps we used for frying onions).

17. Mix all of them and level the chicken to spread to a single uniform layer.

18. Layer half of the cooked rice over the chicken. The rice must be moist and not with dripping water. It should not be dry either. Add a few more fried onions retaining some more for later. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon mint and 1 tablespoon coriander leaves retaining a few more for later. Sprinkle little more biryani masala (about 2 to 4 pinches).

19. Layer the rest of the rice again.

20. Sprinkle the rest of the fried onions, mint and coriander leaves and biryani masala. Pour the saffron milk.

21. To finish off, pour 2 tablespoons ghee. Please don’t use oil here, you won’t get the real flavor.

Dum Cook

22. Method 1 – You can use either moist cloth or foil to seal the rim of the biryani pot. The cloth has to be thick and moist. Spread it over the rim. Place a heavy lid and bring the edges of the cloth to the center. (refer video for details)

23. Method 2 – Use a foil to seal the rim completely. Or make dough and stick to the rim of the pot. Place a heavy lid.

24. Place a old tawa or griddle on the stove. The flame has to be medium high. Do not use a non stick pan or a dosa tawa. I used my lodge cast iron pan which doesn’t work for making dosa. The flame has to reach across the diameter of the pan.

25. Place the biryani pot on the tawa. Cook on a medium high flame for 15 to 20 mins. Then Lower the flame to very low and cook for another 15 minutes. Switch off the stove and let it rest for atleast 20 mins.

26. When done, there should be no excess moisture left in the hyderabadi biryani. If you see too much moisture, then cover back and cook until it is done. Fluff up the rice gently.

Serve hyderabadi biryani in layers with shorba or raita.

you can find raita recipes here
you can also find easy biryani gravy recipes. Hope you will like this hyderabadi biryani as much as we do.

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