Muslim Biriyani Recipe

1. Slice onions and chop tomatoes, set them aside separately. Soak rice in water for atleast 20 minutes.
2. Marinate chicken or mutton with lemon juice, salt and turmeric. Set this aside to tenderize. If your
mutton is not tender you can use meat tenderizer.
3. Add pepper corn, cinnamon stick, cloves, nutmeg, fennel seeds, stone flower and cardamoms to a
blender and make a fine powder. Keep this aside in a plate.

4. To the same jar, add onions, ginger, garlic, mint and coriander leaves, make a fine paste

5. Heat a heavy bottom utensil, add bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, mace, black and green
cardamons, shahi jeera.
6. When they begin to splutter, add the mint and coriander paste. Fry till the paste begins to smell nice. It
takes around 2 to 3 minutes

7. Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric. Fry or cover and cook till the tomatoes turn fully mushy
8. Add chicken or mutton and fry on high flame till the meat looks white. Takes around 3 minutes.

9. Add masala powder from step 3, and red chili powder. Fry for about 3 minutes without burning.
10. Add curd and stir well.

11. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes for the chicken. If using mutton cook till soft and tender, it
doesnt get cooked well with rice later. you can even pressure cook mutton for one whistle at this stage.
The oil begins to separate and the gravy thickens. We do not want watery gravy.

12. Pour 3 cups water and add salt, we have already marinated the chicken with salt and used salt to
cook tomatoes, so use less salt.
13. Bring the water to a rapid boil. While the water boils, drain off the rice to a colander.Make sure there
is no water left in rice

14. Cook till the rice is almost cooked with very less water left and the rice must be 75 percent cooked. If
you feel the rice is undercooked, sprinkle some hot water over the rice and stir. However you must not
exceed using 3 cups water on the whole.
15. Add kewra or rose water. Stir gently and cover the lid and put on dum for about 5 to 7 minutes.

16. For the dum process, if you have an induction stove, you could switch it to the min. If on gas stove,
heat an old dosa tawa, place the biryani utensil on the tawa and dum it for about 5 to 7 minutes.
Consider the time when the tawa becomes hot. Do not open for atleast 10 to 15 minutes after you switch
off the stove. When still hot, fluff up the rice with a fork.You can even dum this in oven for about 15 to 25
minutes at 180 c preheated oven.

Ingredients (240 ml cup used)

To powder
Very small nutmeg piece
4 cardamoms
to tsp. Pepper corn
5 cloves
Small cinnamon stick
tsp. fennel seeds / saunf
tsp. stone flower / kalapasi
To make a fine paste

12 to 15 mint leaves / pudina

12 to 15 small stems of coriander leaves, leaves plucked
1 inches ginger
3 large pods of garlic or 6 to 8 small
2 to 3 green chilies
1 large onion chopped
To Temper
1 bay leaf
1 small black cardamom
4 green cardamoms
4 cloves
Cinnamon stick
Star anise
2 strands of mace
to tsp. shahi jeera
Other ingredients
kg chicken or tender mutton
2 cups of aged basmathi rice
3 to 3 cups water
3 tbsps. Oil
Salt as needed
tsp. turmeric
tsp. red chili powder
1 medium tomato
cup curd / yogurt
1 tsp. kewra or rose water

Instructions
Preparation:
1.
Soak rice for at least 20 mins.
2.
Wash chicken or mutton under running water, drain off the water completely and
marinate with lemon juice, salt and turmeric. Rub the meat with the marination for about 5
minutes keep this aside.
3.
Chop tomatoes, slice onions, keep them aside for later use.
4.
Pluck the mint and coriander leaves and wash in lot of water, set them to drain.
5.
Powder all the ingredients mentioned under To powder in a blender. Transfer this to a
plate and keep it for later use.
6.
Make a paste of the green chilies, onions, mint, coriander leaves, ginger and garlic.
Cooking:
1.
Heat a heavy bottom pan, add spices mentioned under To temper. Let them crackle.
2.
Add the onion mint paste to the pan and fry for about 2 to 3 minutes
3.
Add tomatoes, turmeric and salt. Cook or fry till the tomatoes turn soft. If needed you
can cover the pot and make the tomatoes soft.
4.
Add chicken or mutton and fry for 3 to 4 minutes.
5.
Add powdered masala and red chili powder and fry till it becomes fragrant
6.
Pour curd and mix. Cook until the meat turns tender, if mutton you can pressure cook for
one whistle till it turns tender and soft. Cook till the oil begins to separate and the gravy
thickens.
7.
Pour 3 cups water and add salt
8.
When the water begins to boil rapidly, drain off the water from the rice completely
otherwise the rice turns mushy. Add the rice to the water and cook till it is 75% cooked. If
the water is not sufficient, you can sprinkle hot water and stir.
9.
Drizzle kewra or rose water.Cover the pot with a tight lid .Place the biryani utensil on a
hot tawa and dum it for about 5 to 7 minutes. Switch off the stove.
10. Serve with onion raita and a salan.

Notes
If you are making mutton biryani, use tender mutton and before adding the rice make sure it is
cooked
fully
You can increase the quantity of oil by another one to 2 tsps for added taste
For oven method: place the rice for dum in the preheated oven at 180 c for 15 to 25 minutes
For the pressure cooker method: close the cooker lid when the rice is cooked 75% and lower
the stove flame to minumum and cook for 5 minutes, don't let the cooker whistle