Well this Chicken Dum Briyani is one of those purely created in my mind for sheer want of keeping up my image. After a very long time, I felt I had two days to myself. That is, if you consider the fact that I stayed at home most of the time. Else I am always left with a lone Sunday, never enough for anything. And imagine I planned to cook so many new dishes, finally couldn't find time for anything. My kiddos ensured they kept me on toes. Whoever told me that weekend spent at home will energize, let me tell them again. You need energy to sustain 20 elephants and some. Few weeks back, I tried teaching the twins to show me their nose. They were so quick to learn it. I twist and turn the statement and ask them, they end up showing me their nose, only concern is, they end up digging gold! During one of my playing session with them, I suddenly remembered how Sree, my brother taught Konda to say her age. When she crossed a year, he used to ask her, 'Kutty, how old are you'. And she will lift her index finger up and say oonne!. This continued for nearly 4 years. The second year was toughest, because she won't understand why she has to show two fingers. Finally he managed to make her understand. But the first time, he did in all secrecy and sprung the surprise to all the family members one fine evening. Then we were just 5 elders smitten by our little angel. Everything she did was a great source of joy and that which engaged us for many hours. It still continues to be, just that the little angels have multiplied. And we feel 24 hrs in a day is not enough for us.
This incident came to mind and I wanted to teach the twins to tell their age. I can make Peddu stay in one place for a sec but very difficult to catch the younger one. I caught the elder and taught him to lift his index finger and say one, he ended up saying 10, I kept asking him and he kept repeating 10. I gave up and tried catching Chinnu. He lifted both this hands up and said Unn..Well I can only assume he will learn French someday. Konda was rolling down laughing each time she heard her brothers saying it. She was also quite proud of the fact that she had said it correctly. Well today I am going to try out this exercise again and see how they respond. Thinking about the Sunday lunch menu, I thought I will prepare a briyani, since I always end up making it quite spicy as in clove and ginger spice and hubby dear was reluctant on that. I was lucky that I was able to lay my hands on the chicken quite early, so thought I will prepare a Dum Briyani. Both Athamma and hubby dear enjoyed it and what more can I ask for than this.
This is slow cooking best done in handi or non-stick pan with a heavy lid and I marinated for 2 hours. It can be marinated for just 30 mins but more it does, makes the chicken very soft and tasty.
Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Marinating Time: 2 hrs
Cooking Time : 30 mins
Ingredients Needed:
For Marinade:
Chicken - 1 kg
Curds - 1/2 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Lemon Juice - 1/2 of a lemon.
For Paste:
Shallot or Sambar Onions - 5 medium
Green chili - 1
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Mint leaves - 10
Coriander leaves - few
For Rice
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Onions - 2 medium
Tomato - 1 small
Bay leaf - 1 big
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 2
Cinnamon - 2"
Chilli powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Mint Leaves - about 6-7 leaves
Coriander leaves - few
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Ghee - 3 tsp
Method to prepare:
Clean and chop chicken to required size. Rub the chicken with curd, ginger garlic paste and squeeze lime juice over it. Let it marinate for 2 hrs.
Once you are ready to start, clean and soak Basmati.
Heat a pan with ghee and oil, preferably a non-stick one. Sauté the onions, chopped in julienne. Add the whole spices also. Fry till its brown in colour.
Meanwhile, make a paste of sambar Onions, mint leaves, coriander leaves and ginger garlic paste. Add this to the onions in the pan. Fry well.
Once the paste gets well cooked and you see oil coming out, add the chicken marinade. Cook on high flame and then add the chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala. Saute well so that it gets mixed to the curd and chicken. Then add the chopped tomatoes and fry for 2 mins. Once done, add the mint and coriander leaves. All these have to sautéed in high, so ensure it doesn't get burnt. After frying for 5 mins on high, simmer it till oil comes out.
By now lot of moisture would've come out of the chicken. Cook on high to get most of it evaporated.
Drain the rice from the water. And add to the chicken. Gently stir so that it gets mixed well. Simmer and let it get cooked for 5 mins. Then add 3 cups of water, cover with lid and let it cook for 20 mins in sim. Check in between to ensure its not burnt in the bottom. If required, gently stir so that its well mixed.
Since the chicken was cooked for 10 mins, and again for 20 mins, it was well cooked when I switched off.
Cooking in a pan gives you a non-sticky, yet soft briyani. For more Dum effect, you can seal the lid to the vessel with chapati dough.
This was just right on its own.
Meeta says
Love biryani and I love the way you have prepared it here.
Purnima says
Lovely pic, thanks for sharing a wonderful recipe!
Happy cook says
You know it is dinner time here and i don't have anything so delicious like this.
Here on weekdays diiner is bread with something....
And i don't want to eat bread i want your biriyani.
Pooja V says
this looks so yummy !! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Asha says
HeHe!! Kids are so cute when they are young and NOT when they grow up!!;D
Biryani looks yummy, I can smell the aroma!
Anonymous says
*Drooling* I love your collection of recipes Srivalli.
Mamatha
Nags says
Looks really yummy. Pass me a a plate and you will see a happy face at the end of 10 mins 😀
Sig says
LOL @ "purely created in my mind for sheer want of keeping up my image" .. Biryani looks lovely Srivalli, your image is totally safe here... 😛
sra says
I quite like the clove in the biriyani! Yours looks good.
Srivalli says
Happy cook, oh I would love bread too..:D..thanks
Pooja, you are welcome
Meeta, thank you...glad you liked it
Asha, yeah they are isn't it?..thats really bad to know...glad you liked it..
Purnima, thank you
Mamatha, thanks for dropping by. Glad you like my collection!
Sig, yeah..thanks for the words...they sure help!
Nags, you are most welcome!
sra, is it?..good then I will ensure I add them for you!
Kalai says
Mouth watering!! Awesome pic! 🙂
Rachel says
tell me about teaching kids....they catch up with a lot of words from theirr teachers...for instance my lil one has to end all her sentences with the word "darling"!
Chicken biriyani looks delicious....I did smell a biriyani the we/end..If only I had known it was from your place :DD
Srivalli says
Thanks Kalai
Srivalli says
Rachel, your daughter is so cute...and that must be so sweet coming from her...
than you..you could've come following the trail!...
deep says
hallo ,
I tried your recipe & here is my honest feedback.
Its not the first time I am making biriyani. but I thot of trying an alternative this time.
It came out like masala rice cooked with white chicken.
I think cooking rice along with chicken by adding water was a badd idea.
Also the chicken was looking so white in color. I dont know if it is becuz marinated with curd .
No mentioning about turmeric anywhere. Are we using it anywhere ?
Anyway I followed the exact recipe & it came out horrible.
The one u cooked is LOOKING nice
May be u should hav explained a bit more clear other than mentioning like 'add rest of the ingredients.'
like that....
Thanks for reading.
Srivalli says
Deep, thanks for your honest feedback. I really appreciate it and sorry it didn't work out for you. I can understand that recipes sometimes need to be really specific but I guess at times, we assume people who read will have some idea on what they are reading. For a novice, I can understand this recipe might be little difficult in following. That's why I have updated it again with exact steps.
Blogging is my passion and I am always happy reading people who comment that they loved what they tried from my blog. But I never put on something that only looked good. My husband is a strict critic of my food and more on non-veg items. And I only upload if its met his approval. Though I don't claim to be an expert cook, I have never had a bad experience. Still I can understand how frustrating it is to land on a flop dish, esp. if there isn't anything else planned to replace.
FYI, curds are normally used in most traditional biryani cooking, and you need to roast it well so that it doesn't remain pale. And turmeric is so common to our cooking as like salt that its understood, though yes if its not mentioned for some it might be confusing. I have updated the list now.
What I cooked was much appreciated by my family, maybe if you live in somewhere close by, you can drop in home, and I will cook this for you...I am not joking!
Thanks for taking time to comment. Maybe I can persuade you to try something else from my humble blog!
Jhanani says
Hi Valli, I made this biryani last sunday and it came out well.
My hubby was asking me while marinating that chilli powder is not used, whether it will come spicier or bland. But I assured him and followed the recipe. It came out really spicy and tasty.
Thanks for sharing.