Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani and review of Foodpanda



In my recent visit to India I got to know about FOODPANDA.(www.foodpanda.in) - the online delivery site for delicious, tasty, mouth watering dishes. A wide range of succulent, hot meals can be delivered at your door step within a few minutes. Delivery from Foodpanda is hassle free and with a few clicks of the mouse your favourite food can be at your door step. I used this service several times and got an opportunity to enjoy great dishes from all over the city. The food is served in a hygenic way and the pleasant behavior of the delivery boys adds a extra flavour to the dish. You can also enjoy great savers from their website. I would recommend Foodpanda to ONE AND ALL. Now coming to today's recipe .
 Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani 
This recipe originated from the royal kitchen of the Nizams. It is a dish that doesn’t call for an elaborate process but requires a lot of ‘tender loving care’. Kachha (raw) biryani is in Hyderabadi style, where marinated raw chicken and partially cooked basmati rice are layered and cooked on dum, over low heat. I have prepared this biryani several times, and the recipe is perfect and has never failed me. Once the biryani is cooked on dum, as you open the lid, the kitchen smells fragrant, rich with the reassuring aroma of pure ghee, saffron and the chicken cooked to melt in the mouth with tenderness.



SERVES: 5
Cooking time 45mins
INGREDIENTS: For the Aqni:
STEP 1:MARINATION
Marination time:1hr minimum
1.Chicken with bone 1kg
2.Salt to taste
3.Red chilli powder 2tspns
4.Turmeric powder 1/4tspn
5.Ginger-garlic paste 3tbspns
6.Garam masala powder 1tspn
7.Green chillies 15(slitted)
8.Coriander leaves 1 bunch(finely chopped)
9.Mint leaves 1/2 bunch(finely chopped)
10.Fried onions 2 handful
11.Yogurt 400gms
(put it in a strainer or a muslin cloth and use the hard curd for marination)
12.Oil 3/4cup (use the leftover oil that you used to fry the onions)

METHOD FOR THE MARINATION:

Wash the chicken and leave it in a strainer atleast for an hour so that you don't have any water in it.
Add all the ingredients one by one into the chicken.
Leave it to marinate atleast for an hour or you can even marinate a day earlier and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

STEP 2: BOILING THE RICE

INGREDIENTS FOR THE ADHAN:
1.Basmati rice 5 cups(I use India gate)
2.Salt 9tspns
3.Caraway seeds 1tspn(shazeera)
4.Cardamom 5(elaichi)
6.Cloves 4(loung)
7.Cinnamon 2sticks(patta)
8.Bay leaves 2

METHOD FOR PREPARING THE RICE:
Soak rice in lukewarm water for a minimum of 30minutes.(this will make your rice grain longer). Simultaneously in a big wide vessel,boil lots of water with salt,caraway seeds,cinnamon,cardamon,cloves and bay leaves.
When the water starts boiling add the soaked rice to it.
Give it a stir,dont keep stirring everytime as this will break your rice grain.
Cook till the rice grain can be broken into 2 when held between two fingers.
This will take 2-3 minutes as you have already soaked the rice for 30minutes. Keep checking now and then.
Drain the rice in a strainer and keep the rice aside.

STEP 3:LAYERING
INGREDIENTS FOR THE LAYERING:

1.Lemon juice of 1lemon
2.Coriander leaves 1cup
3.Mint leaves 1/2 cup
4.Fried onions 1cup
5.Saffron 2 pinches(mixed in luke warm milk)
6.Luke warm milk 1/2 cup
7.OIl 1/2 cup
8.Desi ghee 2Tbspns

METHOD FOR THE LAYERING:
Take a wide vessel in which you wish to dum the biryani in or you can alternatively use a clay pot.

LAYER 1:
Put a very thin layer of rice as your first layer This is a protective layer so that you don't burn your chicken in case you over cook.

LAYER 2:
Put the marinated chicken as your second layer.

LAYER 3:
Put half of the cooked rice as your third layer.

LAYER 4:
Sprinkle evenly fried onions,coriander leaves,mint leaves and lemon juice as your fourth layer. (fried onions should be put in this layer and not the final layer as they go darker if put in the last layer because of the steam).

LAYER 5:
Put the remaining half rice in the fifth layer.

LAYER 6:
Finally sprinkle the saffron mixed in milk evenly.
Desi ghee mixed with oil should be put in from the corners to make full circle.
Seal this with aluminium foil.

FINAL STEP: COOKING METHOD:
Cook on high flame for 8-10 minutes till you see some steam escaping.
Now lower the flame for 15minutes.
Keep rotating your vessel clockwise every 3 minutes.
Switch off the stove and leave aside for 10minutes.
Don't mix in the whole biryani when you serve.
Take them out in layers like the chefs does.



SERVE HOT WITH RAITA OR MIRCHION KA SALAN

TIP:
You can freeze the onions in the freezer in a zip lock bag after you fry them to make it crispy.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the new posting.

I am a hyderabadi and looking for chicken khorma recipe. Would you please post this at the earliest.

JAZAKALLAH KHAIR

Being said...

I was inspired by this recipe and tried it using paneer instead of chicken.
Great hit for Thanksgiving dinner.
It came out really well.
I used a pressure cooker to do the dum covered it with aluminum foil.
I would have preferred it became a bit more moist.

Being said...

nice recipe.
tried it with paneer instead of chicken.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I really like your post.
Thanks for sharing such great information. It is very informative and provides knowledge of biryani delivery

Unknown said...

I am eager to learn marinated raw chicken and partially cooked basmati rice. I have heard about hyderabadi biryani and curious to cook it. I am fortunate to get indian food recipe ideas from your blog.

Anjum said...

Wlks Brother Siraj ,
Good to hear that Biryani turned out good. My experience tells me that only with continuous tries you will get the perfect biryani.
Coming to your question, hyderabadi biryani is a pure mixture of spices and meat and so tomoto is excluded. Yes, if you are trying Bombay biryani then you can add tomatoes as its one of the ingredient for that recipe. Depends on what you are trying and what traditional recipe requires.

Hope this clarifies.
Pls, don't forget to like my page on Facebook

Anjum

Anonymous said...

why the masala dries.plz give solution

Anjum said...

Hello visitor,
I think the reason why masala dries up in biryani is due to Improper proportion of curd or oil or rice or a combination of each of them.
My personal experience is to keep trying with different combinations/methods till u reach perfection.

Goodluck

Anjum

sunny said...

Hello mam actully i have want to ask about the cooking time that 25 to 30 mins are enough for cooking if using a metal Vessel and one more thing that insted of direct heat can we use a flat tawa as a base for vessel.
thank you

Anjum said...

Hello Sunny,
The use of flat base or tawa is used to avoid the bottom getting burnt. Yes, you can use a base if you frequently experience the bottom getting burnt.

Ammar said...

Hello, CAn you tell me how can we prepare the garam masala poweder for hyderabadi and in what proportion to mix all. If used whole then what is used in what quantity

Anjum said...

Hello Ammar, below is the procedure to make garam masala

Put 4spn shazeera,4spn elaichi, 3spn patta,2spn loung,2spn kalimirch...roast all these ingredients in pan and dry roast them.then cool and grid them to a fine powder.

Goodluck

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Can anyone let me know how many KG's is 5 cups rice (to be used in biryani)..

Anjum said...

Hello, normally 7 tea cups of rice is 1kg and accordingly 5 cups is about 700-750 grams.. Hope this helps

Unknown said...

Thanx anjum for ur lovely recipe....though the quantity i prepared was more than urs but i managed it n it turned out very tasty!......Jazak Allah Khair...

Anonymous said...

Asalamalaikum sister,
Left hyderabad for US. Did not step into the kitchen back home. Tried to cook biryani by following this recipe. Turned out to be awesome.
JazakAllah khair.

samreen said...

Jazakallahu khairan, My biryani turned out to be spicy and tasty with this recipe :)

Rue452 said...

Hi! don't you need to add star anise, cinnamon and javantri? The reason i'm asking is because every recipe i've seen so far includes those. does the authentic version not carry it?

Anjum said...

Dear Rue452, you don't need to add those stuff. Goodluck

Anonymous said...

Hi Anjum,

I have been in search of an authentic hyderabadi dum biryani recipe for years. Came across yours, tried it with kachcha ghost instead of chicken and must say it turned out very well. My family and friends just love this biryani! Thank you for posting this recipe

Anonymous said...

Hi Anjum,

I have been in search of an authentic hyderabadi dum biryani recipe for years. Came across yours, tried it with kachcha ghost instead of chicken and must say it turned out very well. My family and friends just love this biryani! Thank you for posting this recipe

I too can cook said...

Haven't tried Hyderabadi chicken biryani. I am for sure gonna make this recipe.

SB said...

Hi Anjum

Great Blog. I have a huge list to cook up from your blog.

Could you please tell me, how much salt do you use while marinating the chicken? And is 9 tsp salt correct for the rice?
I always seem to fail at the phrase - salt to taste :)

Anjum said...

Hello Sabeena

Sorry for the late reply, for chicken you can put 1.5-2 tspn of salt and for rice you are right that it must be 9 tspn
Goodluck

lekhafood said...


Thanks for posting such yummy and delicious dish. I have visited many websites i feel this is best among.
Showing this recipe in steps order with beautiful images makes me to cook immediately.I have tried it. I got the taste,If u want to try our recipe visit http://lekhafoods.com/india/biryani/hyderabadi-biryani/hyderabadi-chicken-dum-biryani.aspx
After trying our recipe please provide your feedback with good response

Pinky Gupta said...

nice recipe.
tried it with paneer instead of chicken.

SB said...

Dear Anjum,

If I want to increase the proportion of rice, (1 KG Rice, 1 KG Chicken), what part of ingredients should I can increase in proportion to the rice? If I keep Step 1 ingredients same and increase the proportion of Step 2 and Step 3 ingredients, will that be okay?

Please guide.

Anjum said...

Hi Sabeena

It's tricky to answer as you didn't mention how much increase you plan to do. What you can do is to assume my calculations as base and anything additional needs to go up in the same proportion. Pls wear in mind economies of scale which you need to factor while Prorating the quantity.. Hope this helps

SB said...

This recipe is for 1 kilo chicken and say 3/4 kilo rice isn't it?
I want to make for 1 kilo rice and 1 kilo chicken. I m guessing increasing the step 2 and 3 ingredients should be correct. Step 1 quantity maybe should remain same.

SB said...

I just found the meat a bit much compared to rice hence this question ☺️

Nimmi said...

wow..nice recipe..looking delicious..Im from kerala..i like the hyderabadi chicken dum biriyani very muchh..Thanks for sharing the recipe..i will try it..have you seen the kerala style biriyani?? which is the Best Biriyani in Palakkad

jith said...

Nice blog..dum biriyani is my all tym fvrt..especially the kerala special biriyani.Famous Restaurant In palakkad @Kerala

sofia said...

Salam i am making 4kgs how should i aet the flame and how long will it take to cook jzk

Unknown said...

Can you please tell me how much salt I should add in chicken as rice contains salt as well?