Hyderabad dum chicken biryani

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Dum chicken biryani is the most popular south Indian dish. Everybody always prefer to eat good biryani :) My earlier briyani is like pulavs....

Recently, I tried this dum chicken biryani & that was the awesome tasting biryani I had. I marinated the chicken with all Indian spices overnight & layered them first followed by the rice & other seasonings. I cooked it on the low flame for almost 40 min and I think I made the almost perfect biryani !!!

Ingredients :

1. Chicken - 1 kg
2. Basmati rice - 2 cups
3. Water - 5 cups
4. Corrainder leaves - 1 bunch
5. Mint leaves - 1/2 bunch
6. Green chillies - 12 to 13 nos
7. Cinnamon stick - 2 nos
8. Cardamom - 5 nos
9. Cloves - 6
10. Mace
11. Black cumin seeds (shahi jeera) - 2 tsp
12. Bay leaf - 2 nos
13. Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
14. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
15. Lime juice - 2 tbsp
16. Fried onions - 1 cup (Deep fry the sliced onions in the oil)
17. Chilly powder - 2 tsp (as per ur spice level)
18. Corrainder powder - 2 tsp
19. Cumin powder - 1 tsp
20. Saffron strands (soaked in 3 tbsp of water) - I replaced it with red food color
21. Ghee (clarified butter) - 3 tbsp
22. Oil - 4 tbsp
23. Aluminum foil to cover the pan.

Directions to cook :

# Soak the rice in water for half an hour. Keep aside.

# Finely chop the corrainder leaves & mint leaves.

# Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in the pan, add 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cardamons, 3 cloves, mace, 1 bay leaf & 1 tsp black cumin seeds. Keep aside.

# Marinade the chicken pieces in the fried seasonings, lime juice, 1/2 qty of chopped corrainder leaves, mint leaves, green chillies, ginger garlic paste,turmeric powder, 1/2 cup fried onions, chilly powder, corrainder powder, cumin powder & salt to taste for atleast 2 hrs preferebly overnight.

# Boil 5 cups of water in a pan, add the remaining cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, black cumin seeds, bay leaf, salt & cook the rice till half done. Remove & drain the water. Keep aside.

# Pour the oil & ghee in the non-stick pan, spoon in the marinated chicken as the first layer & then the cooked rice as the second layer. Finally, spread the remaining fried onions, corriander leaves, mint leaves & the dissolved saffron.

# Cover the pan tightly with the aluminum foil. Cover & cook for 10 min on medium heat and then on slow heat for 30 mins.

# Remove from heat and stand with lid covered for approx 10 min.

serve warm with raita.