This recipe originated from the royal kitchen of the Nizams. It is a dish that doesn’t call an elaborate process but requires a lot of tender love and care. Kaccha (raw) Biryani is in Hyderabadi style, where marinated raw chicken and partially cooked Basmati rice are layered and cooked on dum, over low heat. I have prepared this Biryani several times, but as I’m from Lucknow I wanted to try the same recipe in Awadhi style of Lucknow and believe me Lucknowi Chicken Biryani Recipe comes out so perfect and has never failed me. Once the Biryani is cooked on dum, as you open the lid, the kitchen smells fragrant, rich with the reassuring aroma of pure ghee, saffron and the chicken cooked to melt in the mouth with tenderness.
Just a little piece of info about this version of biryani, Lucknowi Chicken biryani is prepared the same way as Hyderabdi Biryani but is far less spicy and simple than the Nizam’s style.
Lucknowi Chicken Biryani Recipe Steps
SERVES: 5
Cooking time: 45 mins
STEP 1: MARINATION OF CHICKEN BIRYANI RECIPE
Ingredients For the Chicken Masala
- Chicken with bone 1kg
- Salt to taste
- Red chilli powder – 2tspns
- Ginger-garlic paste – 3tbspns
- Garam masala powder – 1tspn
- Green chillies – 15 (slitted)
- Coriander leaves – 1 bunch (finely chopped)
- Mint leaves – 1/2 bunch (finely chopped)
- Fried onions – 2 handful
- Yogurt – 400gms
- Oil – 3/4 cup (use the leftover oil that you used to fry the onions)
Method of chicken marination:
Wash the chicken and leave it in a strainer at least for an hour so that you don’t have any water in it.
Add all the ingredients one by one into the chicken. Leave it to marinate at least for an hour. Now in ginger garlic onion paste and masala cook the marinated chicken once it is tender and let masala dry up not fully gravy…
STEP 2: BOILING THE RICE FOR LUCKNOWI CHICKEN BIRYANI RECIPE
Ingredients for the Rice
- Basmati rice – 5 cups (I use India gate basmati rice)
- Salt – 9tspns
- Caraway seeds (shazeera) – 1tspn
- Cardamom (elaichi) – 5 both big & small
- Cloves (loung) – 4
- Cinnamon (daalchini) – 2 sticks
- Bay leaves – 2
- Mint leaves (chopped)
- 2 to 3 slit green chillies
Method of preparing the rice:
Soak rice in lukewarm water for a minimum of 30 minutes.(this will make your rice grain longer). Simultaneously in a big wide vessel, boil lots of water with salt, caraway seeds,cinnamon,cardamon,cloves and bay leaves and green chillies. When the water starts boiling add the soaked rice to it. Give it a stir, don’t keep stirring every time as this will break your rice grain. Cook till the rice grain can be broken into 2 when held between two fingers. This will take 2-3 minutes as you have already soaked the rice for 30 minutes. Keep checking now and then. Drain the rice in a strainer and keep the rice aside.
STEP 3: LAYERING LUCKNOWI CHICKEN BIRYANI RECIPE
Ingredients for the layering
- Coriander leaves 1cup
- Mint leaves 1/2 cup
- Fried onions
- Desi ghee 2Tbspns
Method of layering the chicken biryani
Now this was the thing that made me nervous as to doing the DUM part as I never had the earthen pot which it traditional done but after how it came out will surely buying a earthen pot…so here I used a pressure cooker without whistle on it
LAYER 1:
Grease the base of cooker with ghee and Put a very thin layer of rice as your first layer This is a protective layer so that you don’t burn your chicken in case you over cook.
LAYER 2:
Put the cooked masala chicken as your second layer.
LAYER 3:
Put half of the cooked rice as your third layer.
LAYER 4:
Sprinkle evenly fried onions,corianderleaves,mint leaves and fried onions should be put in this layer and not the final layer as they go darker if put in the last layer because of the steam).
LAYER 5:
Put the remaining half rice in the fifth layer.
LAYER 6:
Desi ghee mixed with oil should be put in from the corners to make full circle.
Seal this with aluminium foil.
FINAL STEP IN COOKING OF LUCKNOWI CHICKEN BIRYANI RECIPE
- Cook on high flame for 8-10 minutes till you see some steam escaping.
- Now lower the flame for 15minutes.
- Keep rotating your vessel clockwise every 3 minutes.
- Switch off the stove and leave aside for 10minutes.
- Don’t mix in the whole biryani when you serve.
- Take them out in layers like the chefs do.
Easy shortcut to cook Lucknowi Chicken Biryani
If for some reason your Biryani is not coming out great due to some bad luck… then you can always try out these simpler means of making the same Lucknowi Chicken Dum Biryani using the below Masalas available in the market / online stores.
Buy Lucknow Biryani Masala Online
