Cooking Orientation | Recipe Groups | F A Q | Visitor Recipes | Submit Recipes

Chicken Biryani Awadhi (Lucknow) style Recipe

This a type of Pakki Biryani using commercial chicken broth chicken breast and Basmati Rice

How to cook Biryani | Biryani Food Fight Lucknow versus Hyderabad

I want to make a predictable Awadhi Biryani. Predictable meaning, you can repeat the recipe with good results every time. This is a form of Pakki Biryani. I will not make Murgh Shorba, instead I will cook rice in commercial chicken broth emulating a part of Lucknow Biryani. This is not a Shahjahani Chicken Biryani, but I will color the chicken red. Combination of saffron rice and red chicken looks pretty. I will vary from tradition in choosing chicken, as well as rice. To be truthful, originally I made it with Tandoori chicken and saffron rice.

Choosing Chicken

Normally, whole chicken is used in making Biryani, including both the white (breast) and dark (thighs and legs) meats. The cooking times for dark and white chicken meat are different. Bones also influence cooking time. For a predictable chicken Biryani, one needs to settle on one type of chicken part, either all skinless boneless chicken breast, or all skinless thighs, or all skinless drumsticks. This makes sure that each chicken piece has the same cooking characteristics. My preferred parts are breast followed by thighs. Here, I will use one pound of boneless skinless chicken breast cut into about 24 equal pieces.

Choosing Rice

I will use Basmati Rice. For more chewable texture, you may use 'parboiled long grain rice'.

Ingredients

Savory warm broth

We will need 5 cups of savory warm broth. 4 cups for cooking Rice, ½ cup for cooking chicken, and ½ cup during layering

1. Commercial Chicken stock: 5 Cups

Spice Potli

1. Cheese Cloth: 1

2. Cotton string: 6 to 18" long

3. Ginger chopped: 2" x 1"

4. Black Cardamom cracked open:6

5. Black Peppercorn: 10

6. Cinnamon stick 3"x¼" Broken in half: 2

7. Whole Cloves: 8

8. Fennel seeds: ½ teaspoon

8. Bay leaf: 2

10. Nutmeg powder: ¼ teaspoon
11: Salt: 1 teaspoon

Sweet aroma milk

1. Milk: ½ cup
2. Yellow Cardamom cracked: 2
3. Saffron strands: 6
4. Kewra Essence: ½ teaspoon
5. Rose essence: ¼ teaspoon

Rice Layer

1. Ghee: 3 Tablespoons
2. Basmati Rice: 2 Cups
3. Savory warm water: 4 cups

4. Saffron: ¼ teaspoon

Chicken Layer

Marinate

1. Skinless boneless chicken breast cubed (24 equal pieces): 1 Pound

2. Chopped onion: ¼ cup

3. Chopped ginger: ½"x1"

3. Garlic Cloves: 1 peeled

4. Coriander powder: ½ teaspoon

5. Ground cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon

6. Ground cayenne: ¼ teaspoon

7. Cinnamon Ground: ¼ teaspoon

8. Cloves Ground: ¼ teaspoon

9. Nutmeg ground: ¼ teaspoon

10. Salt: ¼ teaspoon

11. Fresh lime juice: ¼ teaspoon

12. Degi Mirch: 2 teaspoon

13. Ratan Jot: ¼ teaspoon

If Ratan Jot is not available use Maval petals or Red food color about 8 drops.

14. Dahi Yogurt: ½ cup

Sautéing

1. Ghee: ¼ cup
2. Onions finely Chopped: ½ Cup

Garnish layer

1. Ghee: ¼ cup
2. Onions thinly sliced vertically: 1 Cup
3. Almonds sliced: ¼ cup
4. Cashews halves: ¼ cup
5. Fresh Ginger sliced into thin sticks: 1 Inch
6. Fresh Cilantro chopped: ¼ cup
7. Fresh Peppermint: ¼ cup

Lid Seal

1. Flour: ¼ cup

2. Water: 1 Tablespoon

Method

Step 1: Savory aroma broth

Fold the cheese cloth two time. Make a surface about 6"x6". Put spices in the center. Gather edges and tie a string.

Put chicken stock and spice Potli in a pot. Bring it to a boil. Cover. Let it steep on low heat for 20 minutes.

Step 2: Sweet aroma milk

Add Cardamom pods to milk. Warm milk to 100º F. Crush saffron. Add saffron. Let it cool about 10 minutes. Add Kewra and Rose. Cover.

Step 3: Rice

Wash and rinse Rice. Presoak in water for a minimum of 30 minutes. Drain. Heat Ghee in a heavy bottom pan. Stir in rice. Cook till it just starts to turn opaque white. Crush and sprinkle saffron. Add 4 cups of savory warm aroma broth. Bring it to a boil. Simmer covered for about 14 minutes. Turn off heat. Wait 10 minutes, the moisture will be absorbed.

Step 4: Chicken

1. Marinate

Put all ingredients except the chicken in a food processor. Process to make a smooth paste. Rub the chicken with the paste. Cover and let it marinate for at least 4 hours. Overnight in refrigerator is preferred.

2. Sautéing

Heat Ghee in a heavy bottom pan. Add onions, sauté till onions are clear. Pull out the marinated chicken Sauté till chicken dry. Add 2 Tablespoons of marinate and ½ cup of savory warm broth. Cook covered about till almost all the moisture is gone.

Step 5: Condiment layer

Now we need to prepare items for the garnish layer. Keep all items separate. Sautee onions in Ghee till they are brown and caramelized. Stir-fry Almonds and Cashews so they start to turn brown.

Step 6: Layering

Choose a deep pot to assemble Biryani. You must have a tight fitting lid for the pot.

Remember the top and bottom layers are always Rice. Lay a layer of rice. Add a bit of savory broth and sweet milk in circular motion, add a layer of chicken, add a 'garnish layer'. Now start over with the layer of rice. If it is the top layer of the rice, add the savory warm broth and sweet milk as before and the garnish layer.

Step 7: Baking

We need to now emulate Dum cooking (Cooking on low heat) in a Handi.

Make the seal by kneading dough. Apply sticky dough to the lid all the way around. Seal the pot with the lid.

Preheat oven to 425º F. Place the Biryani pot in the oven.

After 10 minutes turn down the oven temperature to 275º F.

You can remove the pot after 15 minutes, or hold it for up to 90 minutes.

Remove the pot from the oven 15 minutes before service. At the time of service, break the seal (remove the lid).

Note: You can use Aluminum foil in-lieu of the lid and the dough.

Google Group | Disclaimer | What do you think!