Chicken Dum Biryani |चिकन दम बिरयाणी| Restaurant Style Chicken Dum Biryani

Chicken Dum Biryani | Restaurant Style Chicken Dum Biryani
Ingredients needed for the marinade
: 500gms whole chicken
: Salt as per taste (I used 1/2 tsp salt)
: 1 tsp turmeric powder
: 1 tsp red chili powder
: 1 tsp biryani masala (I used Everest biryani masala)
: 1 tsp kasuri methi
: 2tbsps yoghurt
: 1 tsp ginger garlic and green chili paste
Ingredients needed for the gravy
: 3tbsps oil
: 1 inch cinnamon stick
: 4-5 cloves
: 2 bay leaves
: 4 medium sized onions finely chopped
: 3 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped
: Marinated chicken
: 1/4th tsp turmeric powder
: 1 tsp red chili powder
: 2tsps biryani masala
: 1 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder
: 3/4th tsp any spicy garam masala (I used xacuti masala)
: Salt as per taste (I used 1/2 tsp salt)
: 1tbsp finely chopped coriander
Ingredients needed for frying onions
: 4 medium sized onions sliced thin and vertically
: oil for frying
Ingredients needed to prepare rice
: 1 1/2 cup rice (preferably long grain basmati rice)
: 2 1/2 cups of boiling water
: 2tbsps oil
: 1tbsp ghee
: 1 inch cinnamon stick
: 4-5 cloves
: 2 bay leaves
: washed rice
: Salt as per taste ( I used 1/2 tsp salt)
Ingredients needed for layering biryani
: 3 tbsps finely chopped coriander
: 3 tbsps finely chopped mint
: fried onions
: chicken gravy that we prepared
: Prepared rice
: A piece of charcoal heated up
: Butter
: Wheat or refined flour dough or silver foil to seal the pot
Steps
: In a bowl add whole chicken, turmeric powder, red chili powder, kasuri methi, biryani masala, yoghurt, salt and ginger garlic and green chili paste. Rub all the spices to the chicken pieces and let the chicken rest for minimum 30 mins.
: Heat up a kadhai to a high flame and add oil. Once the oil is heated up, lower to a medium flame and add cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves and finely chopped onions. Let the onions cook until they are completely soft and turns brown in color. This may take around 6-7 mins
: Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes turn soft which may take another 5-6 mins.
: Then add turmeric powder, red chili powder and biryani masala and roast the spices until they lose their rawness. Add marinated chicken. Give it a good stir and let chicken cook at a low flame for around 6-7 mins with the lid on.
: Once the chicken is cooked, add Kashmiri red chili powder, spicy garam masala and salt.
: At last garnish with some fresh coriander and keep it kadhai aside while we prepare fried onions.
: Heat up oil in a kadhai to a medium to medium high flame. Once the oil is hot, add vertically sliced onions in batches and fry them until they turn brown and take them out immediately or else onions will turn black and taste bitter instead of giving a sweet taste. Do not add too many sliced onions or else the temperature of oil will drop and onions will be turn out to be super oily.
: Now wash rice preferably basmati rice in a strainer and let the excess water drain off.
: Heat up a pot and add oil and ghee. While the oil is being heated up, boil water in a separate pot. Then, add cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and washed rice and saute rice for around 3-4 mins in order to prevent the rice from becoming sticky and to ensure each grain of rice puffs up well.
: Once the water comes to a boil, add the boiled water onto rice along with salt and let the rice cook for 4-5 mins until all the water dries up and rice is cooked well and not too soft.
: Now spread out the rice on a plate so that the rice grains don't stick to each other and become sticky.
: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius. If you do not have an oven, skip this part.
: While the oven is being preheated, lets do the layering.
: First apply butter to the base and sides of the pot in which you will bake biryani so the rice grains don't stick to the base of the pot.
: Add part of the cooked rice and even out with your hand. Add some finely chopped coriander, mint, fried onions and then add cooked chicken. At last drop in a piece of butter. Repeat the same sequence 2 more times. Remember the uppermost layer should always be rice followed by coriander, mint and fried onions.
: Heat up a piece of charcoal on a stove and once the charcoal is heated and releases smoke, add charcoal in a small bowl, place the bowl at the center of the pot and seal the pot with either wheat flour dough or refined flour dough or a silver foil. Adding charcoal while cooking biryani enhances the taste of biryani and gives a smoky flavor to it.
: By this time the oven will be preheated. Place the pot in the oven and let it bake for 20 mins. If you do not have an oven, let biryani cook on the stove but make sure you place a cast iron or a thick pan underneath the pot in order to prevent rice from sticking to the base of the pot and burning. Cook on the stove for around 10-15 mins at a low medium flame.
: After 20 mins, take biryani out of the oven and let it rest for a few mins before opening up the lid. Biryani is all ready.