Biryani
Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 21 Steps 13
Biryani is the royal dish amongst all the exotic rice dishes of India, and remains the dish to serve on all best and auspicious occasions.
Ingredients
- 1 ea. (1.5 kg) whole chicken washed and jointed
- 2 cups masoor (whole black lentils)
- 2 cups rice
- 2 pieces cinnamon sticks (tuj)
- 4 elachi (cardamom pods)
- 1 tbsp jeera (cumin)
- 4 green chillies
- 1 cup plain yoghurt
- 2 tbsp fresh grated or pureed tomato
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 springs mint
- ¼ tbsp saffron
- ¼ tbsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp coriander
- 1 1/5 tsp red chillies
- 5 small potatoes
- 3 hard-boiled eggs
- ¼ cup oil
- 2 fair-sized onions
- ½ tsp ginger
Steps
- Crisp the saffron strands over very low heat. Crush finely with the back of a spoon. Steep in 1 tablespoon hot water.
- Fry the onions in oil to a pale golden colour. Drain and cool. Set aside 1 tablespoon of fried onions. Crush the rest coarsely.
- Wash the chicken pieces. Place in a large bowl. Rub the saffron, ginger and garlic over the meat by tossing with a spoon.
- Add yogurt, tomatoes, spices, fried onions, whole green chillies, mint, 2 elachi (cardamom) pods and 1 piece tuj (cinnamon). Marinate at least 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, boil the masoor in salted water until done. Drain in a colander.
- Boil the rice with 2 elachi (cardamom) pods and 1 piece tuj (cinnamon) until half done. Drain well.
- Fry the potatoes to a light yellow colour in the oil used for the onions. Remove and set aside.
- In a large flat-bottomed pot (2–3 litre), add the frying oil plus half of the ghee. Sprinkle a handful of rice and masoor over the bottom.
- Arrange the marinated chicken and spices over the bottom. Spread the masoor over the chicken. Add the potatoes, then half the rice.
- Add the hard-boiled eggs. Spread the rest of the rice on top. Optionally tint a few tablespoons of white rice with saffron and spread in streaks.
- Decorate with the leftover fried onions. Sprinkle the rest of the ghee and ½ cup cold water over the top.
- Close and seal the lid tightly. Cook over high heat 5 minutes until sizzling. Lower heat. Simmer 1 hour until all moisture has evaporated.
- Serve with fried rice papads, onion kachoomers and spiced dahi.
Notes from the original
- If mutton is used, then add 1 more teaspoon of ginger/garlic, as well as ½ cup more of yoghurt. The pot should be allowed to steam half an hour or so longer depending on the toughness of meat.
- Remember to crack elachi pods open by pressing between fore-finger and thumb, but take care that seeds do not spill out.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Biryani” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-21, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.