Mouth Watering Hyderabadi Dum Biryani: a successful attempt to satisfy the exotic palate.
Biryani holds a special place in Mughlai food and is known for its aroma and rich taste.Many have asked me for the recipe of hyderabadi Chicken Biryani. The recipe is very generic and simple, but I would still say that getting a perfect biryani is an art. I agree to this 100% after I started making biryani and perfecting it every time I failed. Authentic hyderabadi Biryani is mainly made from gosht(leg portion of goat meat). There are many videos available online nowadays that give a very detailed and good demo of steps involved in the making to this delicacy. Here is the link that I first read:
History of Biryani
My first attempt was to make Hyderabadi Lamb Biryani. It turned out into a gooey mess of rice as my rice was overcooked and also the masala had too much oil in it. In my next attempt, I kept the rice and lamb both uncooked and it turned out to me amazing. This is actually hyderabadi stlye Kachhi Biryani in which both rice and meat are layered uncooked.
Another good tip for making biryani is to use the best of the best basmati rice you can buy for money. Rub the grains of the rice between your palm and you should smell the aroma of rice. I have always used Tilda or any other dehradun basmati rice.
Another trick is to marinate the meat for atleast 8hrs for goat and 4 hrs for Chicken, before you put it in layers with rice. Dont forget to put tenderizer (raw papaya pulp) in the marinate for lamb/goat meat.
Authentic biryani calls for bone-in pieces of meat but if you dont have much time feel free to go for boneless.
Ingredients
Mutton pieces in chunks (avoid shoulder cut) ===2 pounds
authentic Indian Basmati rice ==============2 cups
Salt to taste
2 Bay leaves
10 Green cardamoms
25 Black peppercorns
3, 3 inch Cinnamon sticks
Oil ===1 tablespoon + to deep fry onions
Onions, sliced==5 large
Caraway seeds (shahi jeera)==1/2 teaspoon
10 Cloves
Ginger paste ==2 tablespoon
Garlic paste ===2 tablespoon
Red chilli powder =1 tablespoon
fresh whole milk Yogurt ==1 cup
Fresh coriander leaves, torn==1 cup
Fresh mint leaves, torn=1 cup
Pure ghee ==4 tablespoons
Black cardamoms=2
Saffron (kesar), mix in 1/4 cup lukeworm milk
drops pf rose water and kewara (screwpine) water
fried in ghee dryfruits for garnish
Method
For rice:-
Heat five to six cups of water in a deep pan. Add drained rice, salt, bay leaves, five green cardamoms, seven to eight black peppercorns, one cinnamon stick and cook till three fourth done. Drain and set aside.
Heat sufficient oil in a kadai and deep-fry half the onion slices till golden. Drain and place on an absorbent paper.
Grind caraway seeds, one cinnamon stick, remaining black peppercorns, cloves and remaining green cardamoms to a fine powder and set aside.
Take mutton pieces in a bowl. Add ginger paste, garlic paste and salt and mix. Add the spice powder, red chilli powder, half the fried onions crushed, yogurt, coriander leaves, half of the mint leaves and one tablespoon oil and mix. Let it marinate for about two hours or longer (8 hrs max.)in the refrigerator.
Heat two tablespoons ghee in a pan, remaining cinnamon and black cardamoms and sauté till fragrant.
Add remaining onions and sauté till light golden. Add marinated mutton, stir and cook on high heat for three to four minutes. Cover, reduce heat and cook till almost done.
Heat the remaining ghee in a thick-bottomed pan. Spread half the rice in a layer. Spread the mutton over the rice. Sprinkle remaining torn mint leaves. Spread the remaining rice. Sprinkle saffron milk. Cover and cook under dum( very low flame ) till done.