Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani is a very lengthy process but at the same time is the easiest. Once you understand it then you can master the art of making biryani of any kind be it a chicken biryani or mutton biryani or a veg biryani.
Chicken Dum Biryani is a slow cooking process and this process is very essential to bring the perfect flavors out of the dum biryani.
Wash the chicken pieces well with lemon juice and water and strain the chicken completely.
Add ginger garlic paste into it.
Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix well.
In a blender add a bunch of coriander leaves, a bunch of mint leaves, green chillies, add a pinch of salt and make the paste called as green paste or hara masala paste.
Add the green paste to the chicken marinade.
Add whole garam masala that is cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper corns, caraway seeds.
Mix the whole mixture well.
Crush the onions and add into the marinade.
Add beaten yogurt and mix well.
Add oil over the marinade and mix well.
Add garam masala powder and lemon juice and mix well.
Check the taste of salt and add if required.
Rest this marinade inside the refrigerator for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Procedure To Cook The Rice
Firstly, wash the basmati rice and soak it for about 35 minutes.
Take a cooking pot, add water generously into it.
Into the water, add salt as per taste, cinnamon stick, cloves, shahi zeera, black pepper corns, cardamoms.
Bring the water to a boil.
When the water starts boiling, add the soaked rice into it.
Cook the rice for about 6 – 7 minutes until it is three fourth done.
Strain the rice completely and rest the strained rice aside.
Procedure To Give The Dum
In a cooking pot, to the base add oil and spill it all over the base.
Add the chicken marinade into it and spread it evenly.
Add the rice which has been cooked into it.
Spread the rice evenly all over the marinade.
Season the rice with coriander leaves, mint leaves, fried onions.
Add lemon juice all over the rice.
Add saffron flavored milk(2 saffron strands added into the ¼th cup of milk to get orange red color).
Add ghee into it.
Add little water all over the rice(optional).
Make a chapathi dough and seal the lid and the cooking pot tightly with the dough.
Switch on the flame, put the cooking pot onto the flame.
Dum the biryani on sim flame for about 45 minutes.
Procedure to take the biryani out
Take the biryani out with a spatula from one corner side and when taken out, the spoon has to go deep down and should come out with the rice and chicken.
Serve the lip smacking biryani on a serving plate.
Garnish the hyderabadi chicken dum biryani with fried onions.
Also it can be garnished with coriander and mint leaves.
And also serve it with lemon slices and raw onion rings.
NOTES
Using basmati rice while making biryani makes the biryani very delicious.
Always soak the rice when the period of chicken marination is about to complete.
Start boiling rice for water when rice has been soaked for about ten minutes.
Do not cook the rice for a long time as the rice becomes soggy while giving dum.
The longer the time of marination, the more tastier the chicken would turn out.
If one is looking for more spicy flavor then the spices can be added more in quantity or can be reduced if less spicy flavor is required.
Using fresh herbs gives wonderful fragrance to the biryani.
Always check the salt taste while cooking rice, else the biryani would not get the required taste.
Another way of giving dum is, the cooking pot should be placed on a high flame and then simmer the flame and place a tawa/griddle below the cooking pot and dum for about 35 minutes.
Placing a tawa below the cooking vessel prevents the base of the cooking vessel from burning.