By ShowMeStepByStepPublished Updated
Based on a video by Andy Cooks.
Biryani is not a curry with rice tipped into it. The chicken and the rice cook separately up to a point, get layered, and then finish together in a sealed pot on low heat. That last stage is the dum, and it is where the rice takes on everything underneath it.
Andy Hearnden of Andy Cooks works to the Hyderabadi method. Three large onions get fried down to crisp, a third of them go into the marinade and the rest are held back for the top. The chicken sits in yogurt and spice for at least four hours, and the rice is aged basmati, rinsed and soaked before it ever meets heat.
It is a long recipe rather than a hard one, and most of the time is waiting. If you want the shorter Indian dish first, the site also has butter chicken.
8 steps · about 15 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Slice three large red onions as thin as you can manage and get 200ml of peanut oil up to a medium high heat. Add the onions in batches.
Crowding the pan drops the oil temperature and the onions stew instead of frying. Batches take longer and are the difference between crisp and soggy.
Tip
A mandoline gets the slices even, and even slices brown at the same rate. Uneven ones give you burnt shreds next to pale ones. Watch this step
Take the onions out with a spider strainer once they are deep golden, and spread them on paper to drain. They crisp further as they cool.
A third of them goes into the chicken marinade. The rest is the garnish, and it is worth being strict about that split because they disappear fast.
Tip
Pull them a shade before they look done. They keep colouring in the residual heat and go bitter if you wait for dark brown in the pan. Watch this step
Into a large pot go the chicken thighs, a third of the crispy onions, four tablespoons of yogurt, chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala, ginger and garlic paste, a cinnamon stick, eight cardamom pods, a sliced green chilli, cumin seeds, cloves and a teaspoon of salt.
Mix it through with your hands so every piece is coated, then leave it. Four hours minimum, and up to twenty-four.
Tip
Thighs, not breast. Breast dries out over the long dum stage and thigh meat stays soft. Watch this step
Rinse a kilo of aged basmati twice, until the water pouring off is noticeably clearer, then leave it to soak for forty minutes.
Rinsing takes off loose surface starch so the grains stay separate. Soaking lets them absorb water gently, which stops the tips shattering when they hit the boil.
Tip
Aged basmati is worth seeking out. It absorbs more water and holds a longer grain than new season rice. Watch this step
Put the marinated chicken over heat and let it start cooking down. The yogurt loosens, the spices bloom and the base thickens into a rich gravy.
Stir occasionally so nothing catches on the bottom. This layer is what flavours all the rice above it, and a scorched base ruins the whole pot.
Tip
Use the widest heavy pot you own. A deep narrow one makes the bottom layer too thick and the chicken cooks unevenly. Watch this step
Par-boil the soaked rice in a big pot of salted water until it is roughly two thirds done, drain it, and spread it over the chicken in an even layer.
Do not stir it in. The whole point is two distinct layers, with the rice steaming above the chicken rather than boiling in it.
Tip
Undercook the rice at this stage deliberately. It finishes in the sealed pot, and rice that was already done comes out mushy. Watch this step
Roll a rope of simple flour and water dough and press it around the rim, then set the lid on so the dough squeezes into the gap.
That seal traps every bit of steam inside. It is what dum means, and it is why the rice ends up perfumed all the way through rather than just at the bottom.
Tip
No dough? A sheet of foil pressed over the rim under the lid gets you most of the way there. Watch this step
Break the seal, spoon the biryani onto a platter and lift from the bottom so the chicken comes up through the rice.
Scatter over the crispy onions you held back, plus torn mint and coriander. Serve straight away while the steam is still coming off it.
Tip
Serve it with a plain yogurt raita. The cool dairy is the counterweight to a kilo of spiced rice. Watch this step
Keep going
How to Make Beef Wellington
How to Make Chicken Biryani (Hyderabadi Style)
How to Make Chicken Biryani (Hyderabadi Style)
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5 questions covering what you just read. No signup, no score saved, and you can stop after this one.
Question 1 of 5
Why fry the sliced onions in batches instead of all at once?
Quick reference
5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.Why fry the sliced onions in batches instead of all at once?
Answer: Crowding drops the oil temperature
A crowded pan stews the onions instead of frying them crisp.
2.Where does a third of the crispy onions go?
Answer: Into the chicken marinade
The rest is garnish, and it is worth being strict about that split.
3.Why rinse the basmati before soaking it?
Answer: To take off loose surface starch
Loose starch is what makes the grains clump instead of staying separate.
4.How far do you par-boil the rice before layering it over the chicken?
Answer: About two thirds
It finishes in the steam above the chicken, so it goes on deliberately underdone.
5.What is the rope of dough around the rim actually doing?
Answer: Trapping the steam inside
That seal is what dum means, and it perfumes the rice all the way through.
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