chicken biryani recipe | restaurant style hyderabadi chicken biryani

chicken biryani recipe

Learn to make easy restaurant style hyderabadi chicken biryani in oven or stovetop with step by step photos

This recipe is roughly adapted from vahchef’s video and is one of the best and easy chicken biryani recipes that a new bie can try. I have already posted many kinds of chicken biryani recipes, mostly adapted from Chef Sanjay thumma’s videos, but this one is an outstanding one. Well one might wonder how these biryani can differ in taste with almost the same method.



The main ingredients that are needed for this chicken biryani are slightly different from the others: kewra , rose water and stone flower . Stone flower (lichen) is called as kalpasi in tamil, kalu huvvu in kannada. It is aromatic and brings in great flavors to the biryani. So to attempt this biryani, I suggest you to use all the ingredients and there is no substitute for any.

These days iam too lazy, relaxing and enjoying with my kids as they have school holidays, hubby too is on a long leave. Shooting the pictures or posting has taken a back seat. I do not have good pictures, but still I thought of sharing it. I have tried this recipe on stove top the first time and the second time in oven. The taste did not differ, but I would prefer the oven method since I can bake it while i do my other work. With stovetop method, a bit of constant attention is needed during the dum process.This biryani goes best with veg shorba or sherva or capsicum salan.

First time when I tried this hyderabadi chicken biryani recipe, I used all the spices and ground fresh masala powder exactly as mentioned by the original source. But later I realized that the spices mentioned are almost the same as my homemade biryani masala powder, except an addition of kalpasi and minus nutmeg (that was included in my powder). So this time I used my homemade biryani masala powder + ½ tsp of kalpasi. The original recipe uses dough to seal the pan, which is very painful for me to clean up, so I just use a foil if baking in oven and kitchen cloth if cooking on stove top.

step by step photos of chicken biryani recipe

Please refer the recipe card below for detailed instructions.
1. Deep fry onions to make brown onions. Drain them to a plate.

2. Heat milk and soak saffron to melt it. set aside.

3. Marinate chicken with chili powder, salt, turmeric, biryani masala, ginger garlic paste, yogurt and mint leaves.

4. Layer this in a oven safe bowl or heavy bottom utensil.

5. Layer rice over it and sprinkle fried onions. Pour ghee, kewra water.

6. Seal it with a foil if making biryani in oven. If making on stove can place a moist cloth and then a lid.

7. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in a preheated oven at 200 C. If cooking on stove , place it on a hot tawa. Cook on high flame for 5 minutes and then for 30 minutes on a low flame.

find the complete restaurant style chicken biryani recipe blow

chicken biryani recipe | restaurant style hyderabadi chicken biryani

• Pinch of saffron soaked in warm milk
• ¾ tsp. kewra water
• ¾ tsp. rose water

To powder

• ½ tsp. cumin seeds (optional) (I did not use)
• 3 to 4 green cardamoms
• ¾ tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1 small Mace
• 3 to 4 pepper corn
• ½ tsp. stone flower
• ½ tsp. shahi jeera
• 4 cloves
• 2 inch cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• 1 bay leaf

Marination

• salt as needed
• Ground powder from above ingredients mentioned under “to powder”
• ¾ tbsp. red chili powder
• ⅛ tsp. turmeric
• ¾ tbsp. ginger garlic paste
• 2 medium onions fried to brown (set aside half for garnishing)
• 750 grams chicken
• ½ cup yogurt (I used 2 tbsp more)
• 3 green chilies
• Fistful of mint leaves (pudina) chopped
• Fistful of coriander leaves chopped
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. Ghee (I used oil left after frying onions, it adds a lot of flavor)

For cooking rice

• salt little
• 1 tsp oil
• ½ tsp shahi jeera
• 2 cups of aged basmathi rice

Instructions

1. Powder the ingredients mentioned under “to powder”.
2. To a bowl, add all the marination ingredients including the masala we made at step 1. Mix well and taste it. Adjust salt and spice as needed.
3. Wash and drain meat completely. Marinate with the marination we prepared at step 2 and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Overnight yields best results.
4. Wash rice and soak for at least 45 mins to 1 hour. Drain and set aside.
5. Chop onions to thin slices and shallow or deep fry them till brown. Do not burn them. Alternately, you can use store bought brown onions. These are not onion flakes but are sold as brown onions.
6. Add oil, little salt and shahi jeera to 2 to 3 liters of water and bring it to a boil. Do not add too much salt, we have already added to the marination. Add rice to the boiling water and cook till 70% done. Off the stove.
7. Transfer the marinade to a baking dish if you prefer to bake or to a heavy bottom pan for stove top dum process.
8. Soak saffron in hot milk.
9. Use a strainer, drain the water thoroughly and layer the rice over the chicken. Sprinkle few fried onions, pour saffron milk, and pour ghee, kewra and rose water.
10. Cover with a foil if baking. If cooking on stove top, cover the pan with thick moist cloth and then place the lid.
11. To make chicken biryani in oven : Preheat the oven to 200 c and bake for 30 to 40 mins. The time can vary depending on the kind of your baking dish. A glass or a ceramic one gets done much faster. So do check after 30 mins, if the bottom is still moist or about to get burnt
12. If you like to cook on a stove top, First 5 mins cook on a medium high flame and move to a hot tawa (griddle) and cook for 30 mins on a low flame. You can check here to see the pictures on how I do.
13. Transfer the biriyani to another wide utensil before you serve.

Serving Suggestions

1. Serve with a gravy or like shorba
2. It can be served with an onion raita