Name: Authentic Chicken Biryani
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 3 Fried onions; 3 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 tsp black peppercorns; 4 green cardamom pods, lightly bruised; 1 x 2.5cm (1 inch) cinnamon stick; 1 star anise; 400g tomatoes, thinly sliced; 3 generous tbsp garlic, ginger and chilli paste (see above); 1 tsp salt; 1 ½ tbsp Kashmiri chilli power; ½ tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 tbsp garam masala; 750ml (3 cups) water; 150g natural plain yoghurt; 500g (1 ¼ lb) potato, skinned and cut into large bite sized pieces; 1 whole chicken, skinned and cut into about ten pieces; 1 small bunch mint leaves, finely chopped; A pinch of saffron; 4 tbsp hot milk; 125ml (1/2 cup) melted ghee; FOR THE RICE; 600g (3 cups); 4 litres water; 4 tbsp salt; 2 Indian bay leaves; 1 tsp black peppercorns; 3 green cardamom pods, lightly bruised; 1 x 2.5cm (1 inch) cinnamon stick

Jump to Recipe

This is my favourite way to prepare chicken biryani

I have made my share of biryanis over the years. There are so many different recipe but I think this chicken biryani is the best of them all.

There is a lot more sauce which all gets soaked up into the rice. This is chicken biryani perfection!

If there is one chicken biryani you've got to try, make it this one.

It's so good served with coriander and mint chutney.

How is this chicken biryani different?

It's all in the amount of liquid. Many authentic chicken biryani recipe and lamb biryani recipes for that matter can be a bit dry.

In this recipe I upped the amount of sauce.

Once cooked and ready to serve, the biryani is moist and delicious. Not at all dry!

What is garlic, ginger and chilli paste?

Exactly what it sounds like.

To make garlic and ginger paste, you take equal amounts of garlic and ginger and blend with just enough water to make a paste.

For this recipe, I added chillies to the blend. I used 4 green bird's eye chillies but you could use more or less to taste.

And the fried onions?

Golden fried onions feature in many chicken biryani recipes.

You could just purchase crispy fried onions and they will work.

I prefer to fry my own as it's cheaper and easy to do. For this chicken biryani recipe, I thinly sliced through red onions and then fried them in about 5cm (2 inches) of oil until golded brown.

Then I just transferred them to a paper towel to soak up any excess oil.

Substituting other meats...

This biryani recipe works perfectly well with lamb too. You could cook the lamb in cubes but I prefer to cook it on the bone.

I purchase lamb leg that has been cut and left on the bone for more flavour.

This can be a bit messier to eat but the flavour is worth the effort.

The importance of adjusting the cooking heat...

When I first started cooking biryanis in this way, I burnt a few.

It is important to get the sauce simmering below the rice but it is equally important to ensure it doesn't boil so much that it dries up and burns the chicken.

For this reason, I suggest cooking on high heat for 5 minutes and then lowering the temperature to very low to continue cooking.

About that dough rim...

This is the authentic way to seal a biryani pan while cooking.

Doing this ensure no steam, or very little steam is able to escape while cooking.

Just mix flour and water together to make a soft dough. There is no recipe for this. It isn't eaten.

If you would like to cheat a bit, tightly wrap the top of the pan with foil and place the lid on top.

Photos of the chicken biryani cooking process...

infusing whole spices in oil and cooking garlic/ginger paste — Add the oil to the pan and then stir in the whole spices to infuse for about 30 seconds. Stir in the garlic, ginger and chilli paste and fry for a further 30 seconds.

Adding chopped tomatoes to pan — Stir in the chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

Adding whole spices to the pan — Stir in the whole spices and about 750ml (3 cups) water or unsalted chicken stock.

Adding fried onions to the pan — Add about half of the fried onions.

Adding potatoes to the pan — Stir in the potatoes and simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes or until they are about 50% cooked through.

Adding yoghurt to the sauce — Stir in the yoghurt and bring to a simmer.

Adding chicken to the pan — Now stir in the chicken and cook until about 80% cooked through. This should take about 5 - 8 minutes.

Simmering chicken biryani sauce — Let it simmer while you prepare the soaked rice.

Bring water to a boil. Add the salt and whole spices to the water and add the rice to cook for five minutes.

Making chicken biryani — Using a strainer or large slotted, transfer half of the par-cooked rice to cover the sauce. Add half the remaining onions, saffron milk, ghee and mint leaves.

Top layer of biryani rice. — Cover this layer with the remaining rice and ingredients.

Covering pan to cook. — Cover the pan. It needs to be sealed tightly. Use a dough or foil to seal it.

Finished chicken biryani — Simmer on high for 5 minutes and then low for 25 minutes.

Stirring chicken biryani — Stir the rice carefully from the bottom. Basmati rice will split and turn to mush if you stir too hard.

If you like the look of this authentic chicken biryani, you might like to try some of these curry house favourites.

Chicken Korma
Chicken Madras
Chicken Dhansak
Lamb Rogan Josh
Lamb Vindaloo
Chicken Chilli Garlic
Chicken Patia
Lamb Bhuna

Yield: 6 - 8