ET's attempt at recreating

Hyderabadi Chicken Briyani

What I used: Ingredients

Chicken & Marinade:

• 2 ¼ lbs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• ½ cup full-fat Greek yogurt
• 3 ½ Tbsp Briyani Masala
• ½ tsp powdered Kashmiri Chillies
• 1 ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• A bit of peanut oil

Rice:

• 1 ½ cup Basmati rice
• 4 pods Bakara Cardamon, lightly crushed
• 4 – 6 whole cloves
• 1 stick of Cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Toppings:

• 2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 Tbsp of full cream + butter
• Pinch of saffron

What I did: Timeline

Late morning, at least 4 hours before cook time:

• In a large bowl, combine the marinade (yogurt, biryani masala, Kashmiri chili, salt, and a bit of oil) and mix until smooth. Add the chicken and stir to coat each piece in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to overnight.

45 minutes before cook time:

• Place rice basmati rice in a medium bowl, fill with cold water, swish and clean rice. Drain and repeat for a few times until water runs clear. Soak washed rice for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Fry up the sliced onions. Heat butter in a Dutch oven pot over medium high heat. Fry onions in small batches, I did it in 3 batches. Stir occasionally, it took me between 7 – 10 minutes to achieve desirable golden-brown colour. Remove and drain onions on paper towels.

Cook the chicken:

• On medium heat, using the same Dutch oven pot with the remaining butter, add the marinated chicken and leftover marinade. Stir, coat chicken in the butter, cook until the chicken turns opaque and no longer raw looking, it took about 7 minutes.
• Add ½ cup water, stir, scrap any bits from bottom of the pot. Cover and reduce heat to medium low and simmer. Stir occasionally until chicken is cook through and tender, 25 minutes for me.
• Preheat oven to 400°F

Parboil the rice & prepare saffron milk mixture:

• Bring a pot of water to boil, add salt, crushed cardamon pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf. Drain the soaked rice, add to boiling pot of water and cook till al dente, about 7 minutes. Remove, whole spices, drain and set aside.
• Heat full cream & butter in the microwave until hot, about 30 seconds. Add saffron into hot cream mixture and steep for about 10 minutes.

Layering the Briyani:

• After chicken is cooked and tender, Note: there was quite a bit of liquid at the end, but not to worry, it will dissipate in the oven! See photo below for reference.
  
  


• Layer the parboiled rice on top of the chicken in an even layer. Sprinkle the steeped saffron cream mixture over the rice, sprinkle a generous amount of fried onions. Save some for later.
• Cover and bake until rice is fully cook through, about 25 minutes.
• Remove from oven, keep covered and let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Serve Chicken Briyani with added friend onion toppings! Enjoy 😋