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Preparation: 40 mins | Cooking Time: 1 Hour 30 mins

wondering how to make Chicken Biryani at home? With this best chicken biryani recipe, you get the perfect fluffy and fragrant authentic restaurant-style chicken rice!

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Add chicken pieces into the large bowl. Then add 2 tablespoon salt, turmeric, paprika, coriander powder, cumin powder, dry Kasuri methi, yogurt.
  2. Mix everything well and marinate the chicken. Cover and set this aside for 1 hour. you can also rest it overnight in the fridge.
  3. Basmati rice often has fine starch powder on it. So, rinse the basmati rice 4 to 5 times in plenty of water until it run clear. Drain the rice and soak in fresh water for 20 minutes.
  4. Heat coconut oil or ghee in a heavy bottom pot or pressure cooker.
  5. Add mustard into the oil. When it pop add thinly sliced onions. On medium heat, fry them string often until uniformly light brown. Do not burn them as they leave a bitter taste.
  6. Add cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, cloves fry for about few minutes. Then add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for 1 minute, until the garlic and ginger paste becomes fragrant.
  7. Add the marinaded chicken and sauté until it becomes pale for 5 minutes.
  8. Lower the flame completely. Cover and cook until the chicken is soft, tender and completely cooked.
  9. Check if the chicken is cooked by pricking with fork or knife. It has to be just cooked and not overdone. Evaporate any excess moisture left in the pot by cooking further without the lid.
  10. Taste test and add more salt if need. Add chopped cilantro and chopped mint leaves. Sauté a minute and close the lid cook 5 minutes.
  11. Add javitri flower and anise to the chicken. Close the lid and cook another 5 minutes.
  12. Add tomatoes, pendant leaves, Garam masala and green chills to the curry and Mix everything well. Spread it evenly in a single layer.
  13. Layer drained rice all over the chicken. Level the rice gently on top. Pour 13 cups water and add salt. If cooking in a pot (not cooker).
  14. Stir and taste the water. It must be slightly salty. Bring the water to a rolling boil.
  15. Add 2 tablespoons more mint leaves.Do not mix up everything, the taste of the biryani cooked in the shown method is good. Optionally you can sprinkle 2 tablespoons fried onions & saffron soaked milk.
  16. Finally cover the pot or cooker.
  17. If cooking in a pot, cook on a medium heat until the rice is cooked completely. If the rice is undercooked & there is no more water left at the bottom of the pot, pour ¼ to ½ cup boiling water at this stage. How much water to add depends on the quality of basmati rice. Cook covered until the biryani rice is perfectly done, grainy and fully cooked. Rest it covered for 15 mins.
  18. If cooking in a cooker, cook until you hear 1 whistle. Later remove the cooker from the hot burner to stop cooking further. 
  19. When the pressure releases naturally, open the lid. Gently fluff up with a fork.
  20. If cooking in an oven, put the pot in the oven to this stage. And bake it at 400F (200C) for 30 to 40 minutes.
  21. After 30 minutes remove from oven and open the lid.Gently fluff up with a spoon.
  22. Serve chicken biryani in layers – top layer with rice and bottom layer with chicken. Enjoy with Onion salad.

Video

https://youtu.be/cjkxUs0mD8E

Note

  • Towards the end if the rice is under cooked, you can sprinkle little hot water & cook covered further.
  • What you need for a good biryani?
    • To make a good biryani, always use best quality ingredients. The choice of good quality basmati rice, whole spices, spice powders, chicken & ghee all contribute to the flavors of chicken biryani.
  • How to make the best chicken biryani?
  • Marination: Marinating chicken with yogurt & spices is the first key step to make the best chicken biryani. Yogurt tenderizes the chicken & the spices enhance the flavors. Marinating and resting chicken makes it soft & succulent, so do not skip that. If you do not eat curd then can substitute it with coconut milk.
  • Preparing rice : Basmati rice has to be rinsed very well a few times in ample amount of water to get rid of the starch. This prevents the rice grains from turning mushy. Soaking the rice helps to cook the rice grains to fluffy & long. So do not skip rinsing & soaking the rice well before using.
  • Water : This recipe uses plain water to cook the chicken biryani. However it can be replaced with coconut milk or chicken stock. The quantity of water I have mentioned in the recipe card works well for me with Extra long grain basmati rice. This ratio works pretty well with any aged basmati rice.