Chicken Dum Biryani Recipe | How to make South Indian Style Chicken Dum Biryani |chicken dum biryani recipe instant pot

When comes to Biryani my all-time favorite is Chicken Dum Biryani. I hope most of you will have the same opinion as mine. It’s a dish made with steamed rice, marinated meat, plain curd, and a lot of spices. When comes to preparing Biryani most of us step back thinking it's a tedious process and prefers ordering from restaurants. But trust me with a little patience and knowing some of the simple techniques anyone can make biryani at home even better than restaurant ones. My family and I always prefer making Biryani at home rather than order from restaurants. 

In my Biriyani I always prefer the masalas to be medium spicy since as any mother I wanted to make food according to the choice of my kids. They really enjoy the less spicy Biriyani, which I love watching.

Tips For Making a Perfect Biryani:

 

• To make perfect Biryani the first thing you need is to select good quality rice. In my recipe, I am using Basmati rice.
• Cook rice in enough salted water to cover. 
• And always try to use fresh onions, ginger, garlic, green chilies, cilantro, mint, and whole spices.
• Before cooking rice we need to soak the rice for about 20-30mins. But make sure you wash the rice before soaking. Washing rice after soaking may lead to the breaking of rice.
• Rice should only be cooked like 70-80 %
• If immediately not putting your rice to dum make sure to spread the cooked rice onto a large plate to avoid cooking while resting.
• Never use water while making chicken masala. Allow to cook it in medium flame.
• Reserve some drained water from rice for layering, so that nothing gets stick to the bottom. 
• don't stir rice while cooking that leads to breaking of rice, instead swirl the pot to mix
• don't mix with a spatula, when ready to serve never try to scoop out rice, it will lead to breaking the rice. Instead, slice rice using a spatula and serve to a plate. And make sure while slicing you slice ut all layers together.
• While frying onion adds a pinch of salt and sugar to get a caramelized effect.

Ingredients:

  Ingredients for the chicken masala:

• chicken - 5large pieces
• Onion - 2
• Curd - 2tbsp
• Ginger garlic crushed - 1tbsp
• Pudina and coriander leaves - a handful
• Lemon juice - 1/2lemon
• Coriander powder - 1tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1tbsp
• Garam masala - 1tbsp
• Kasuri methi - 1/2tbsp
• Whole Pepper - 10
• Green Chilli - 3(optional)
• Oil - 4tbsp
• Salt - as required

  Ingredients for rice cooking:

• Basmati rice - 1.5cup
• Bay leaf - 2
• Whole Pepper - 6
• Cinnamon - 1-inch stick
• Cardamom - 2
• Cloves - 5
• Star anise - 2
• Fennel Seeds - 1/2tsp
• Ghee - 2tsp
• Salt - as required

  Ingredients for garnish:

• Ghee - 2tsp
• Pudina and coriander leaves - a handful
• Onion for frying - 2 medium
• Oil - 4tbsp
• a pinch of salt and sugar

Procedure:

• Fry the onion for garnishing as well as for mixing in masala.
• While frying onion adds a pinch of salt and sugar to get a caramelized effect.
• Transfer fried onions to plate when they turn golden brown.
• Before cooking rice we need to soak the rice for about 20-30mins. But make sure you wash the rice before soaking. Washing rice after soaking may lead to the breaking of rice.
• Rice should only be cooked like 70-80 %
• Cook rice in enough salted water to cover. 
• Once they are cooked drain them.
• Reserve some drained water from rice for layering, so that nothing gets stick to the bottom. 
• To the chicken add fried onion, sliced fresh onion, ginger garlic paste, mint, coriander leaves, curd, lemon juice, coriander powder, chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, Kasuri methi, whole pepper, and required salt. Marinate chicken and rest for at least 1hr. Even you can marinate and keep overnight. 
• To a Kadai add 5tbsp of oil. To that add the marinated chicken and give a good mix.
• Reduce the flame to medium and cook chicken without adding water.
• In between open the lid and give it a quick mix so that nothing gets stick to the bottom
• After a while, you can see that the chicken starts oozing water.
• Approximately in about 20-25 mins chicken should be cooked.
  
  Layering the Biryani:
• For layering, I start with adding a glass of water which we have already reserved while draining rice. I always prefer following this step to avoid my biryani getting burnt while steaming.
• Next, a layer of cooked rice
• next comes a layer of chicken masala, to that adding mint, coriander leaves, and some ghee
• next another layer of rice
• above it spread mint, coriander leaves, and fried onion. And finally, drizzle ghee above the rice.
• Finally, cover with an airtight lid to trap the steam/dum. If you don't have an air-tight lid make sure you put some weight over the lid, or use atta dough around the rim of the lid and press it off onto the pot to make it airtight. Place the pot on low flame for about 15-20mins and allow it to cook gradually.