MURG DUM BIRYANI (HYDERABADI):

4 min readApr 27, 2021

Chicken Biryani is one of the most favorite dishes of every non-veg lover and definitely one of the most requested meals from my friends. We often pair it with cooling raita and some mint-tamarind sauce for a delectable meal.

There are many variations of this recipe that originate in several states of India. Traditionally there are only two most acclaimed recipes around the country. let’s start from the southern part of India Hyderabadi biryani is one of them, which is more towards the spice buds on the tongue. Whereas the second one is Lucknowi biryani aka ‘yakhni’ biryani which mostly hits your flavor buds instead of spice.

In today’s blog, we`re discussing the ‘Hyderabadi Murg dum biryani’ which is a warm, deep spiced Chicken Biryani, with freshly ground spices, caramelized onions, marinated tender chicken cooked over long grain basmati rice.

Biryani is an intricate rice dish made with layers of curried meat(chicken, lamb, or beef) & rice. Given its use of adornment & luxurious finishes, it’s no surprise that the biryani has the in Persian cuisine, which is migrated to the country through silk route.

This dish is often served on special occasions such as weddings, parties or Ramdans, etc. It has a lengthy preparation, but the work is definitely worth it. For biryani, always use long-grain (basmati or golden sella) rice. Basmati rice with its thin, fine grains is the ideal variety to use. Ghee is butter that has been slowly melted so that the milk solids and golden liquid have been separated and can be used in place of vegetable oil to yield a more authentic taste, and if we talk about Dum, that is the key ingredient to this dish without this you can't get the accurate taste of it. Dum is basically defined as the cooking of food with its own liquid-generated steam which is locked by an air-tight lid.

So let's start the recipe without any more delays, & as usual, your reviews are really valuable to me. Donate some claps if you like it.

RECIPE

Serving : 5pax ; Time : 60–80 min ; cooking temperature : medium-low

Ingredients for:

1. Curried chicken: Layer-1

Ghee-60ml

Whole spices-(cardamom:3–4 , bayleaf: 1–2 ,black cardamom-2 ,cinnamon-1, cloves:3–4 ) Nos.

Sliced onion -150gm

Chicken curry cut — 600gm

Ginger garlic paste-30gm

Powdered spice-(red chilli:10gm, turmeric:5gm ,coriander:20–25gm)

Fresh yogurt — 70gm

Salt — to taste

2. Par-blanched rice: Layer-2

Water- 2500ml

Salt — 40–50gm

Rice — 500gm

Whole spice- (mace:4–5,green cardamom:3–4,star anise:1–2)Nos.

Vinegar — few drops

3. Fresh herbs mix: Layer — 3 (Garnish) or (Barista)

Mint leaves

Brown sliced onions

Ginger julienne

Slitted green chili

4. Jhol for glazed shine: Layer — 4 (final layer)

Milk-40ml

Cream-15gm

Unsalted butter-15gm

Kewra & Rosewater — few drops

Cardamom & Mace powder (1:1) — 4gm

Method:

STEPS:

1) Take a heavy bottom pan(Lagan). Heat the ghee & add the whole spices along with the sliced onion. Cook it till golden brown on a medium-low flame. Add G.G paste along with the chicken, cook it to 60%. Add salt. Mix all the powdered spices along with yogurt & then add it to the pan cook it till the gravy loses the oil.

2) Take out the curried chicken into a separate bowl.

3) Take a vessel and add water along with the Layer-2 ingredients, apart from rising & vinegar. Take the water to boil temp then add the rice & cook it to 75% add vinegar while boiling. Take them out in a separate colander.

4) In lagan starting from the bottom add a bit of gravy of chicken & cover it with Layer-2 over it add Layer-1 then Layer-2 then Layer-3, repeat the process till the lagan gets 80% filled. At the end go for Layer-4 on the top.

5) Cover the lagan with an airtight lid or use the dough to seal the ends for Dum.

6) give a dum for about 20min on low heat. Open the dum after 20 more minutes of rest off the flame.

7) Garnish it with the Layer-3 ingredients.