Chicken Dum Biryani is cooked with basmati rice and boneless chicken marinated in awesome herbs and spices. Biryani’s were originally made in the kitchens of Mughal Emperors, who of course, expected nothing but the best. Chicken Dum Biryani is one of the most famous Biryani recipe made in India and around the world. The reason it is called dum biryani because it is cooked on low heat (dum) to get all flavors out from the herbs and mix them in meat and rice.

Main Ingredients :

• 2 cups long grained basmati rice
• 500 gm boneless chicken thighs or 750 gm chicken on bone
• 4 cups water
• Salt to taste

Marination Ingredients :

• 1 cup hung curd
• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 4 green chillies crushed
• 1/2 tsp white sesame seeds paste
• 2 tbsp cashew nuts-almonds paste
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro finely chopped
• 1 tbsp mint leaves thinly chopped
• Salt to taste

Whole Garam Masala Ingredients :

• 1 bay leaf
• 2 whole Kashmiri red chillies
• 2 green cardamoms
• 2 cloves
• 1-1/2 inch cinnamon stick (cut into bits)
• 1 mace
• 2 star anise
• 3/4 tsp whole cumin seeds (jeera)

Other Ingredients :

• 1 big onion (cut into slices)
• 1 small onion coarsely chopped
• 2 tsp fennel or saunf powder
• 1 tsp yellow chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1/2 cup fresh cream
• Few saffron strands
• 4 tbsp milk
• 1-1/2 tbsp rose water
• Few ginger julienne
• 2 tbsp pure ghee
• Some brown onions to garnish

How to make Chicken Dum Biryani :

Cook the Rice :

1. Wash the rice thoroughly in normal tap water and soak for about 30 minutes.
2. Soak the saffron in milk and set aside.
   
3. Heat 2 cups of water in a big pan.
   
4. Add salt and rose water
   
5. When the water starts boiling then add rice into it.
   
6. Cook the rice over medium high heat for about 10-12 minutes and then simmer the flame.
   
7. When the rice are 3/4th done, then take out half of the cooked rice from the pan and remaining rice are to be set aside.

Cook the Chicken :

1. In a medium size bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients.
2. Cut the chicken into small size pieces and add into marinade mixture.
3. Coat the chicken pieces well into the mixture, cover and set aside for about 30-40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat a big non-stick pan and melt the ghee in it.
5. Add whole garam masala and saute for few seconds over moderate heat.
6. When the spices turns into little brown then add onions.
7. Cook the onion on a low flame and make sure that they should not change their color.
8. Stir constantly if the heat is getting too high.
9. Put little bit of water to get a nice and glossy color of onions.
10. When onions are well cooked, add marinated chicken along with its whole mixture.
11. Now add fennel and yellow chilli powder.
12. Mix it well and adjust with the salt.
13. At this moment, add 1-1/2 cups of water and leave to cook for 6-8 minutes on medium heat.
14. Once the chicken seems almost done, then you can mix cardamom powder along with fresh cream.
15. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down.
16. When the chicken cools down, take the chicken pieces out and strain the whole gravy over the pieces of chicken.
17. Garnish with some chopped cilantro and set aside.

Lets make Chicken Dum Biryani :

1. Spread an even layer of the prepared chicken over the rice left in the pan and spread some saffron mixture.
2. Garnish the biryani with some brown onions.
3. Now make the layer of remaining rice and chicken, top with the saffron mixture, chopped cilantro and ginger julienne.
4. Now we have to cook this biryani on very low flame and there are two ways to cook it on dum without exploring out the steam. Here I’m showing you both ways to cover the biryani for proper cooking.
5. Cover the pot either with an aluminum foil.
6. Now carefully put the lid over the foil and immediately reduce the flame.Or you can make a flour dough, stick on the lid and cover the pot.
7. Make sure the steam should not come out.
8. Let it cook on low flame on dum (low heat) for about 6-7 minutes.
9. Serve this delicious chicken dum biryani piping hot with few round onion slices, lemon wedges and raita of your choice.

Cooking Tips :

1. You can use any long grained rice, but I prefer “India Gate” basmati rice for the perfect biryani texture.
2. You can add food colors such as yellow, red or orange to make your biryani look more colorful.  However, I prefer not to add any colors in my biryani because saffron, rose water and yellow chilli powder leaves its own color in the rice and make it look little bit yellowish, which looks good and natural.
3. Chicken dum biryani tastes better with chicken on bone but I prefer cooking my biryani with boneless chicken, so that no bone get stuck in my mouth.
4. The important aspect of making a proper Chicken Dum Biryani is to cook it on dum with a proper cover or lid. Although there are many methods to cook it on dum, like I have shown two of them. One more method is to cover the pot with aluminum foil and keep the pot on the hot griddle on low flame for 10-15 minutes, until it gets ready.
5. You can serve chicken dum biryani with boiled eggs as well, as shown in this image.

External Links :

• History of Biryani

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