Restaurant Style Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Restaurant Style Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Ingredients 

A. To Brine The Chicken

1. Cold water

2. Salt 

3. Sugar 1/2 tsp

4. Baking soda 1/2 tsp

5. Vinegar 1 tsp

B. To Marinate Chicken

1. Chicken 2 lb

2. Red chilli powder 2 tsp

3. Paprika/Kashmiri red chilli powder 1 tsp

4. Black pepper powder 1/2 tsp

5. Garam masala 2 tsp

6. Meat tenderizer/raw papaya paste 1/4 tsp

7. Thick yogurt 5 tsp

8. Ginger garlic green chilli paste 3 tbsp

9. Fried onions a handful 

10. Mint leaves 1/4 cup

11. Coriander leaves 1/2 cup

12. Oil 11/2 tbsp

13. Salt to taste

C. To Cook Rice

1. Basmati Rice 2 cups

2. Cardamom 4

3. Cloves 5

4. Cinnamon 2(1" stick)

5. Bay leaves 2

6. Green chillies 3

7. Lots of water to cook the rice

8. Salt to taste

D. For Dum

1. Ghee 1 tbsp plus 2 tbsp 

2. A few strands of saffron soaked in 31/2 tbsp hot milk 

3. A few drops of rose water/kewra water
4. 1 tsp of boiled/drained rice water

5.. 3 pinches of Garam masala plus 3 pinches of garam masala

6. A few strands of chopped coriander leaves & mint leaves

7. Half cooked rice 

8. Marinated chicken

E. For Frying Onions 

1. Oil for deep frying 

2. Onions uniformly thinly sliced

Method Of Preparation 

A. To Brine The Chicken

1. Wash & clean the chicken & set it aside. 

2. In a pan, add chicken, cold water, salt, sugar & baking soda & keep it aside for 15 minutes & keep it on the countertop. The chicken needs to be immersed in the cold water. 

3. After 15 minutes, add vinegar to the same water in which the chicken is immersed. 

4. Leave it in the fridge for 3 hours. 

5. After 3 hours, discard the water & keep the chicken aside for marination.

6. Do not wash the chicken again after discarding the water. 

7. It is very important to brine the chicken if you want it really juicy & tender. 

B. To Marinate The Chicken 

1. Marinate the chicken well with turmeric powder, chilli powder, paprika/Kashmiri red chilli powder, salt, Garam masala powder, ginger garlic green chilli paste, black pepper powder, meat tenderizer or raw papaya paste, yogurt, fried onions, mint leaves, coriander leaves & oil. Add the oil only at the end after adding all the spices, yogurt & onions.

2. Leave it in the refrigerator overnight. If your running out of time, then you can just leave it for 2 hours. If your marinating it the previous night, then you can skip the meat tenderizer/raw papaya paste.

3. You can adjust the quantity of spices as per your spice level tolerance.

4, It is very important that you add only thick yogurt to the marinade. If your yogurt is not thick, then strain it & add it to the marinade.

C. To Cook The Rice

1. Wash the rice well & soak it in water for 1/2 hour.

2. Then add water in a pot & place it on the gas stove. 

3. Turn on the gas, add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves & green chillies to the water. 

4. Cover & let the water cook till it begins to boil. Add salt to the water,

5. Discard the water in which the rice was soaked & add the rice to the boiling water. 

6. Cook till the rice is half to 60% cooked. Take a grain of rice & place it in between your index finger & thumb & try to break it & if it breaks, then you know your rice is done. The rice needs to be brittle & not soft(see 2nd & 3rd pic below). It shouldnt be fully cooked at the same time it shouldnt be raw too.The rice takes less than 4 minutes to cook. Do not stir the rice too much. You might tend to break it. So just stir it twice only.

7. Immediately turn off the gas & drain the water from the rice & keep it aside.

8. You don't have to drain out every single drop of water from the rice. The rice needs to be wet otherwise your biryani will turn out too dry at the end. When you drain out the water from the rice, keep aside 1 tsp of the drained rice water in a bowl(see pic below).

D. How To Put On Dum

1. Soak a few strands of saffron in 31/2 tbsp hot milk.

2. Take a heavy bottomed pan & smear a tbsp of ghee on the bottom & sides of the pan.

3. Add the marinated chicken in the pan. Spread the chicken in such a way that the bottom of the pan is completely covered.

4. Then spread half of the half cooked rice on the chicken. Sprinkle some Garam masala on the rice. Add the fried onions. Add coriander & mint leaves. 

5. Now spread the rest of the rice. Sprinkle the saffron soaked milk on some parts of the rice. Again sprinkle Garam masala. Add coriander & mint leaves. Sprinkle a few drops of the drained rice water. Sprinkle a couple of drops of kewra or rose water.  Add 2 tbsp of ghee on the rice to keep the rice moist. Add the fried onions.

6. Seal the pot with an aluminium foil & cover with a tight lid & keep it on medium flame for 20 minutes. Then heat a dosa tawa on a very high flame, when the tawa becomes very hot, lower the flame & place the pot on the tawa & cook for another 20 minutes on low flame. If it is still not cooked, then you can leave it for another 10 minutes on medium flame.

7. When it's done, turn off the flame & open the pot only after half an hour. Do not open the pot before that.

8. Serve hot with salna, raita, pickle & pappad.

9. You should add the the fried onions only at the end. Do not add the onions before you sprinkle rose/kewra water, drained rice water & ghee. If you do it that way, your onions will lose their crispness & turn out soggy.

10. To get the actual restaurant flavour, it is very important that you add kewra water. If you dont get it, then it is ok to add rose water. But either of the two is a must ingredient.

11. I have sealed the pot with aluminium foil, if you dont have it, then you can seal the lid with all purpose flour dough or cover the pot with a flat lid & keep a heavy pot of water on the lid to prevent the steam from escaping.

12. Do not skip adding ghee on the rice at thhe end. It helps in keeping the rice moist but do not add too much of it.

13. I have added 1 tsp of the drained rice water to keep the rice moist. You can skip it if you wish to.

E. How To Fry Onions 

1. Heat oil in a pan.

2. When the oil is hot, lower the heat to medium-low & add the onions & fry them till golden brown in color. Do not fry the onions until dark brown. Remove them from the oil when they are light brown, a few minutes after draining them, they will turn dark brown. 

3. Drain them onto paper towels. 

4. Keep an eye on the onions all the time. Do not burn them. By any chance if the onions burn, discard them. Do not add them to the biryani. 

5. It is important to cut the onions into thin uniform slices.