hyderabadi-inspired chicken biryani

I’ve been going to the library lately to check out books related to a project I’m working on. I can’t help but gravitate to the cookbook section each time I visit, though. My last trip to the library yielded in an Iraqi cookbook. I was immediately drawn to a chicken biryani recipe with hard-boiled eggs, raisins, and cashews. The photography in the book is phenomenal, but the recipes themselves leave a lot to be desired. The directions are confusing and the measurements don’t seem to add up. So I went searching for other biryani recipes and came across this one from Arabic Bites. I combined the two recipes together and changed things according to what I had on hand. I used ground spices where I didn’t have whole ones, used chicken breast instead of a whole chicken, and added a generic curry powder instead of biryani masala. I’m sure the end result is quite different from the biryani served in Hyderabad, so this dish is merely Hyderabadi-inspired. Don’t be intimidated by the long ingredient list, this dish came together in about an hour and a half. This biryani was incredibly flavorful and delicious and definitely will become a regular in my kitchen.

Tip: Turmeric stains! Wear an apron or a shirt you don’t care about when preparing this dish.

Hyderabadi-inspired Chicken Biryani
(adapted from Arabic Bites and The Iraqi Cookbook by Lamees Ibrahim)
Print this recipe
Chicken:
1 lb chicken breast, cut into long thin strips
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 t turmeric
salt & pepper
1 green chili, crushed
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 t ground clove
1/4 t ground cardamom
1/2 t cumin
dash cayenne pepper
1/2 t curry powder
2 1″ inch cinnamon sticks
1 bay leaf
1/2 c yogurt
1/4 c parsley, chopped
a few sprigs of fresh mint, chopped

Rice:
1.5 c rice
1 t salt
1 1″ cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
2 cardamom pods
1 T butter, cut into small slivers
1/4 c cashew pieces
1/4 c raisins

Reserve:
1 T rose water
pinch of saffron
juice of 1/2 lemon

Serve with:
more raisins and cashews
hard-boiled eggs, quartered
raita

- Heat oil, butter, or ghee in a large skillet. When hot, add chicken, turmeric, salt, and pepper and cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add onion and green chili. Cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add ground clove, cardamom, cumin, cayenne, curry powder, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaf.

- Add yogurt and stir into the mix. Turn the heat to very low and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. In the last few minutes of cooking, stir in the chopped parsley and mint. Turn off the heat and set aside.

- In a small bowl, microwave rosewater for a few seconds or until warm. Add saffron, once it has dissolved add lemon juice. Set aside.

- Meanwhile, in a large saucepan boil rice in salted water. Add a cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, and a bay leaf to the water. Cook rice according to package directions. Remove from heat and drain. Mix in raisins and cashews.

- Return half of the rice to the large sauce pan. Pour half of the rosewater/saffron mix over the rice. Arrange half of the slivers of butter over the rice.

- Arrange chicken pieces over the rice mixture and add the rest of the rice, slivers of butter, and rosewater/saffron mixture. Cover and steam on very low heat for 20 minutes.

- Serve with boiled eggs, raita, fresh parsley, and more cashews and raisins.

Serves 4

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Related posts:

1. chicken with apricots and raisins
2. cardamom and yogurt chicken
3. spicy chicken stew
4. butter chicken
5. mitra’s sunshine chicken

Tags: chicken, dinner, gluten-free, indian