Chicken dum biryani is goodness of rice and meat that comes in layers! The process of cooking in it’s own steam until rice is fluffy and meat cooked just to perfection is called ‘dum cooking’. A lengthy cooking process but all totally worth it!
If you are biryani lover, don’t miss vegetable biryani and egg biryani .
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What is chicken biryani?
Derived from the Farsi word ‘birian’ originated in Persia, biryani was introduced to India during the British rule. Biryani preparation varies every 100 miles within India. Each of the variation being loyal to it’s regional gastronomical history.
With the variations of biryani in every local region, each style of biryani is distinctive and one is spoilt for options.
Ingredients you’ll need
- 1 lb chicken (with bones is best. Include drumsticks, thighs)
- 3 onions (sliced thin)
- 4 tomatoes (chopped fine)
- 4 green chilies (slit) – adjust according to spice tolerance levels
- 3 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
- 2 tablespoon red chili powder (adjust to spice tolerance levels)
- 2 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- ½ cup coriander leaves (finely chopped)
- ½ cup mint leaves (finely chopped)
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
- Salt to taste
- 1 to 2 drops orange food grade color (optional)
For rice
- 4 cups basmati rice (long grain rice)
- 4 liter water
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
For chicken marinade
- 2 teaspoon yogurt
- ½ cup fried onion (also called barista)
- 1 tablespoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 3 cloves
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 green chili slit
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- 1 teaspoon coriander leaves (chopped)
- 2 teaspoon mint leaves (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
How to make chicken biryani?
- Cook basmati rice: Rinse rice gently ensuring to take out only starch and not break the grains 2 to 3 times. Soak basmati rice in water for about 10 minutes. Mean boil about 2 to3 liters (1 gallon) of water in large deep bottomed pot. Add about 1 teaspoon of cooking oil and ½ teaspoon of salt. Add rinsed rice, stir gently once and cook until rice is ¾th cooked – don’t fully cook rice(I usually take it off heat by 3 ½ minutes). Keep an eye on rice as some brands of basmati rice cooks very fast and some takes time. It took 3.5 minutes for rice to be ¾th done. Drain the water immediately and spread the rice on a large plate.
- Marinate chicken in ingredients mentioned in the list. Marinate chicken overnight in fridge for best results. If you don’t have time, you can let it marinate for at least 45 minutes.
- Heat oil and ghee in deep bottomed pan. Saute onions, tomatoes, green chilies, ginger garlic paste and rest of the ingredients mentioned in the list. Add marinated chicken and cook. You want to cook chicken until it’s half done.
- Finally make layers of rice and chicken (at least 2 layers of rice and chicken) sprinkle with fresh coriander and mint leaves. Seal the pan with lid using dough( to make tight seal). Reduce flame to low and cook it in dum for at least 10-15 minutes.
- To serve gently scoop out biryani from the pan from the bottom, so you get layers of rice and meat along with all the wonderful masalas. Best served with cool refreshing raita.
Expert tips to make chicken dum biryani
- Use long grain rice (basmati rice) for making chicken dum biryani.
- Rinse rice and soak it for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking. It helps cook rice perfectly.
- Use chicken with bones for great flavors. Boneless chicken will result in dry and tough chicken.
- Marinate chicken in all the spices for at least 4 to6 hours. Marinating it overnight in refrigerator would yield tasty chicken biryani.
- Don’t skip on fresh coriander and mint leaves. Fresh herbs adds tons of flavor to the biryani.
FAQS
Can I use regular rice?
Long grain basmati rice gives you best and authentic taste. Using regular rice or short grain rice or jasmine rice will alter the fragrance of biryani and so it’s taste. It will still be delicious but not the authentic as you’d expect.
Can I use chicken breast to make chicken dum biryani?
Please don’t. Highly recommend you use chicken with bone in. Cut chicken along the bone keeping the bone in. Chicken thighs or chicken leg piece with bone is best cut to use for making chicken biryani.
Chicken breast will turn dry, hard and rubbery if used in biryani preparation.
Do I have to use the lengthy list of biryani spices?
Yes! Look at it, non of the spices are exotic really. You can find them all in supermarket easily these days. If not try amazon and i’m most certain you won’t have difficulty sourcing the spices if you don’t have in stock in pantry.
MORE CHICKEN RICE DINNER
Cajun instant pot chicken and rice
Chicken broccoli rice casserole
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📋Chicken Dum Biryani
Chicken dum biryani is goodness of rice and meat that comes in layers! The process of cooking in it's own steam until rice is fluffy and meat cooked just to perfection is called 'dum cooking'. A lengthy cooking process but all totally worth it!
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Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 1084kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken (with bones is best. Include drumsticks, thighs)
- 3 onions (sliced thin)
- 4 tomatoes (chopped fine)
- 4 green chilies slit into half
- 3 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
- 2 tablespoon red chili powder
- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tbsp garam masala powder
- ½ cup coriander leaves (finely chopped)
- ½ cup mint leaves (finely chopped)
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
- salt to taste
- 1 to 2 drops orange food grade color (optional)
For rice
- 4 cups basmati rice (long grain rice)
- 1 gallon water (3 liter)
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
For chicken marinade
- 2 teaspoon yogurt
- ½ cup fried onion (also called barista)
- 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tablespoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 inch cinnamon sticks
- 3 cloves whole
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 green chili slit into half
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon coriander/cilantro leaves chopped
- 2 teaspoon fresh mint leaves chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- To cook basmati rice separately:-Soak basmati rice in water for about 10 minutes. Wash the rice gently ensuring to take out only starch and not break the grains. Mean while add about 4 liters of water in a large vessel and bring it to boil. Once water starts to boil, add about 1 teaspoon of cooking oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add the soaked and washed rice, stir gently once and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes(I usually take it off heat by 3 ½ minutes). Keep an eye on rice as some brands of basmati rice cooks very fast and some takes time. My rice was cooked in 5 minutes. Drain the water immediately and spread the rice on a large plate.
- Clean and wash the chicken thoroughly for at least 3 times. Add a little salt while washing the chicken(this will help to get rid off the smell to an extent)
- Marinate the chicken with ingredients mentioned under marinating list. Marinate for at least ½ hour.
- In a deep bottomed pan add oil, once oil gets heated add 1 onion slices and fry it until brown (don’t burn the onions). Remove browned onion from oil and keep it aside. This will be used for garnishing and will making the layers.
- To the same pan add remaining onions(2 onions) slices and saute till onions turn translucent. Next add ginger-garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes off.
- Add slit green chilies and mix for a minute. Add chopped tomatoes and saute till tomatoes turn slightly mushy. Next add red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and salt(to taste, remember chicken marinate contains salt as well). Saute for 2 minutes.
- Add 3 tbspns of both coriander and mint leaves and mix. Add marinated chicken and mix well. Cook until chicken is fully cooked(chicken pieces should be very tough, if you pull the chicken flesh, it should come off from bones). DO NOT add any water as onion tomato gravy and the chicken marination (as we have used curd) will release enough water. Once chicken is cooked if you find there is excess water remove the water from the gravy and keep it aside. You can use this gravy water while layering and also can serve this with biryani along with raita. The gravy water will taste very close to “salna”.
- Take the Dum pan, add ghee and spread it to coat all the bottom and sides of the pan, reduce the flame to low. Add about 2 full tbspns of the chicken gravy(remember it shouldn’t be very watery) spread all over the bottom. Next add cooked basmati rice over the chicken and gently spread the rice to cover the chicken. At this stage you can use the watery gravy that you removed in step 6. Use a tea spoon and remove the top oily layer from gravy and drizzle over the rice, this will add flavors to the rice and also give color or you can add colors(saffron soaked in milk and orange food color)
- Repeat step 7 until you have used up all rice and chicken. Over the top sprinkle coriander and mint leaves and browned onions and close with a lid. Ensure the flame is low and place a heavy weight on top of lid to trap the steam inside. Leave it alone for 10 minutes and your dum biryani is ready.
- Scoop out biryani from the edges of the pan, making sure not to break the rice grains. Serve hot with onion raita.
Notes
- Use long grain rice (basmati rice) for making chicken dum biryani. Do try not to replace basmati rice with other normal rice.
- Rinse rice and soak it for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking. It helps cook rice perfectly.
- Use chicken with bones for great flavors. Boneless chicken will result in dry and tough chicken.
- Marinate chicken in all the spices for at least 4 to6 hours. Marinating it overnight in refrigerator would yield tasty chicken biryani.
- The spice quantity can be increased as per your taste preference.
- Feel free to replace chicken with mutton in this recipe to make mutton dum biryani.
Nutrition
Calories: 1084kcal | Carbohydrates: 174g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 51mg | Sodium: 1328mg | Potassium: 952mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 3266IU | Vitamin C: 35mg | Calcium: 185mg | Iron: 5mg
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I love to see your creations. Tag me on instagram @CurryTrail or tag #CurryTrail!
Meena Kumar
I can’t take my eyes of those grains of rice… is it food u are confusing my brain 😀 sooo beautiful each grain looks.
Very well styled and presented biriyani.
jyothirajesh
Thank you Meena 🙂
Amy
You never state in the recipe when to use the garam masala?
jyothirajesh
I just updated the recipe, thanks for pointing out Amy
kumar
nice recipe thanks for uploading
jyothirajesh
Glad you liked it
Jessica Formicola
I am adding this to my dinner line up! It looks wonderful!
jyothirajesh
Thank you Jessica
Sherri
What a stunning dish! I’ve never made biryani before but it looks incredible! Love all these flavors coming together!
jyothirajesh
Thank you Sherri. We love it as Sunday biryani :D. Hope you can try it sometime, it’s actually not very complicated 😀
Lizzie Butterworth
Wow, that looks so tasty, and your sundays sound blissful! I used to work with an India based team in my office job, and they talked about chicken Biryani as a celebration meal. I’d love to try a slow cooker variant of this meal, cooked for a few hours on high so the rice didn’t turn to mush.
jyothirajesh
Lizzie, yes biryani is definitely a celebration meal. We love it on Sunday’s when family gets together. Slow cooker will be amazing to cook biryani, but I dont know if you can have mushy rice in biryani 😀 Biryani for us means perfectly cooked fluffy rice.
Vicky
This is such a pretty and I bet fragrant dish. I can see why you have it on Sundays. It looks like a great meal to serve to close out the weekend with family and friends.
jyothirajesh
Biryani brings family and friends together on to the dinner table. It’s definitely a great weekend get together meal to be enjoyed with friends and family
Sandi
The colors make me want to try this. It looks like it is full of flavor.
jyothirajesh
Thank you Sandi
Carol
As stated its fail proof amd really easy and tasty. I tried it and my family members liked it alot. Thank u so much for sharing it. Really tasty. All should try.
jyothirajesh
Thank you Carol. I so glad you trusted and tried our recipe. Happy to hear you’ll loved it. Thanks for sharing your feedback
carol
Hey could you share fail proof mutton biryani receipe. I would like to try it as I can trust on your receipe now.
jyothirajesh
Thank you Carol. I will try to share mutton biryani recipe soon
Pinkey Sen
WoW………your presentation skills are awesome. I am from Hyderabad and I know how it feels to have Dum Biryani.and your step by step recipe just got me straight to the kitchen. Thanks for this wonder recipe.
jyothirajesh
So glad you liked it Pinkey Sen. I can’t say how much I love biryani!
Silpa
Wao. Biryani is tempting. Im a big fan of biryani. And this recipe is awsome. Thank you for the recipe.
jyothirajesh
Silpa so glad you liked this recipe. It’s our favorite too. Biryani is my weakness, I can eat it any day
Danny Davis
I didn’t quite understand how to later the dish. What are the steps?
Jyothi Rajesh
Can you be more specific on what you did not understand? Layering the rice and chicken?
Mohammad nadeem
I am fond of biryani. Thanks for sharing the delicious recipe.
Jyothi Rajesh
Glad you liked it
Rehan
Looking so delicious recipe thanks for sharing
Jyothi Rajesh
Glad you liked the recipe
Jyothi Rajesh
Glad you liked it