This is one of my best chicken recipes I make. This is a recipe which has been developed after trying several recipes. My family loves this and I love the aroma which fills my kitchen every time I prepare this recipe.This is how you can make this delicious dum biryani.
Firstly, dissolve some kesar in water and keep aside. This we will need at the end when we layer the biryani and put it on dum.Then hang some curd in the muslin cloth to sieve the water. If the dahi/curd is still a bit soft donu2019t worry but we donu2019t want the curd very runny.Now, deep fry the Onions cut lengthwise and keep them aside.Now, wash the rice and soak them in water for about an hour. If you think the type of rice you are using gets too soft with soaking, donu2019t soak for an hour as we need the rice firm while putting on dum.Just soak the rice for about 15-20 minutes. It all depends on the quality of rice you use.Now, prepare the chicken marinade. In a bowl take the chicken pieces and add the ginger garlic paste to it.Add Haldi and rub this nicely on all the pieces of chicken.Add lemon juice and mix well and cover and keep aside.Keep the rice soaked and chicken marinated for about an hour. If you soak the rice only for xbd hr. then you may start cooking the masala after xbd hour and add the chicken for cooking in about 40-45 minutes.
For the masala: Heat ghee in pan. Add black cardamom, green cardamom, bay leaf/tej patta.Add the onions and ginger garlic paste. Cook this on medium low flame till its dark brown in colour.Remember donu2019t let it burn ,just let the color be dark. Add salt and mix well.Remember,the rice will too have its own salt so donu2019t over season the chicken with extra salt. Add the pureed tomatoes and cook till the masala leaves ghee. Now ,add the rest of the spices. Cook for few minutes on low flame. Now ,add the chicken pieces and the hung curd and cook till the chicken is soft but now chewy. The ginger garlic marination softens the chicken so it will not take long to cook. Also the chicken leaves its own water so we do not need to add water. But just in case you feel its sticking to the bottom at any stage just add few tsp. of water to avoid burning. Once the chicken is cooked just see that the masala is thick and now too watery as it will make our biryani very soggy.Close the flame and cover this.
For Rice: Heat double the amount of water in a deep pan. Add the whole spices and salt to the water. Now, once the water comes to a boil add the rice and keep it on high flame. Keep checking the rice, as we need to just par boil the rice and not make it too soft. Shut the flame just when the rice has little time left to cook compeletly.Sieve and keep aside.
To Layer on Dum: Take a big and deep pan to layer the biryani. Put 2-3 tbsp. Desi Ghee or clarified butter at the bottom. Put a few pieces of chicken first.Then,top this layer of chicken with one layer of rice. Now Sprinkle some fried onions .Now, put one layer of drops of kesar water. And one layer of Garam masala and kewra water mixed with 1/4th cup of water. Just spread a few drops of this water roughly. Now again repeat the chicken layer, then the rice layer, then again fried onions ,kesar water, and Garam masala kewra water.Now, put the final layer of rice and sprinkle some kesar water and top it with some fried onions.To put this on dum,place some dough on the edges of the patila/pan. Cover with the lip and keep this on a tawa and switch on the gas on low. Let this cook on dum for about 20 minutes or till you get the wonderful aroma of biryani and kesar.
Recipe Notes
Remember:
Use a good basmati or biryani rice.
Don’t over boil or over cook your rice.
Prepare biryani only in ghee/clarified butter for best results.
Add fried dry fruits for extra flavor.
While layering on dum, sprinkle the kesar water little here and there, leaving some rice white as this adds on to the beauty of the biryani while serving.
Don’t make the chicken with too much curry ,and if you end up with a little liquid curry extra, don’t add too much while layering as it’ll make the rice stick to each other.
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