Hyderabadi Dum Biryani

Yesterday, our friend, Ajay was here and he prepared Dum Biryani in hyderabadi style with my assistance and it tasted Delicious. Atlast I got to learn one of the very tastiest dishes. There are several methods of preparing a biryani and hyderabadi biryani is the most renowned and delicious one. Even though, Its preparation is a long, time consuming one, it is worth the taste. Hyderabadi Biryani is a popular non-vegetarian variety of Biryani. It is a traditional celebration meal made using mutton or chicken and rice. The raw meat is marinated in curd, Indian herbs, spices and cooked only by the dum, or the baking process, which is done with rice. This is a challenging process as it requires meticulously measured time and heat to avoid overcooking or undercooking the meat.  Thanks to Ajay for making a wonderful dish and teaching me too.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 3 ½  cups

Chicken – 1 Kg

Yoghurt – 1 cup

Shan Biryani Masala – 1 ½ Tsp

Dhania powder – 1 Tsp

Garam Masala – 1 tea spoon

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Onions – 3 large

Green chillies – 6 to 7

Ginger garlic paste – 1 Tsp

Whole cloves - 6

Cinnamon – 2 inch stick

Black cardamom – 2

Green cardamom – 5 to 6

Star Anise - 2

Bay leaves - 4

Pepper corns - 10

Ghee – 2 Tsp

Oil – 1 cup (for deep frying the onions)

Oil – 2 tsp

Salt to taste 

Preparation: 

• First keep ½ cup of raw rice aside and then wash and soak the remaining rice for half an hour.
• Cut the onions into slices and deep fry them in oil until golden brown and keep aside.
• Cut the chicken pieces into desired size and marinade it adding yoghurt, chilli powder, biryani masala, dhania powder, garam masala, ¼ of the fried onions, salt, 3 each of cloves and green cardamom, pepper corns, mix well and keep aside for about half an hour.
• Now take a sauce pan and heat the ghee and add the remaining whole garam masala (cloves, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, pepper corns), bay leaves and sauté for 30 secs and add about 2 litres of water and enough salt to this pan and bring it to boil.
• Once the water starts boiling, add the soaked rice and let it cook till the rice is half done. Meanwhile, in another big vessel, heat about 3 tsp of oil and add the chicken and half of the remaining fried onions and green chillis and let it cook till chicken is half done.
• Now add the ½ cup of raw rice on the chicken. Do not mix from this point. Now drain the rice from the water and layer it on the chicken. (do not drain the water completely as we need a little water for the rice to be cooked on dum).
• Now close the pan with an aluminium foil and place the lid. Take care that no leaks are there. It is advisable to put some weight on the lid so that the steam will not escape from the vessel. We have kept another vessel filled with water on the lid as a weight. Now let this steam on a low heat for about half an hour. To avoid burning of the chicken at the bottom of the vessel, we placed a tawa on the stove and then placed the biryani vessel on it, instead of heating it directly. This really worked.
• Once we take the biryani off the stove,  mix the chicken and rice well and garnish with fried onions and boiled egg and serve hot with raitha. Ajay suggested that it would be great to have it with Mirchi ka Salan.