South Indian wedding style muslim biryani recipe, can be used to make mutton or chicken biryani. Serve it with salan, brinjal curry or just raita.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 40 minutes
  • Total time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 nutmeg (Very small piece/ jaiphal)
  • 4 green cardamoms (/ elaichi)
  • ¼ to ½ tsp Pepper corn (/ kali mirch)
  • 5 cloves (/ laung)
  • 1 cinnamon stick (Small / dalchini)
  • ½ tsp fennel seeds (/ saunf)
  • ½ tsp stone flower (/ kalapasi/ dagad phool)
  • 12 to 15 mint leaves (/ pudina)
  • 12 to 15 stems coriander leaves (, small / daniya patta)
  • 1 ½ inches ginger (/ adrak)
  • 3 pods garlic (large, or 6 to 8 small/ lehsun)
  • 2 to 3 green chilies (/ hari mirch)
  • 1 onion (large, chopped)
  • 1 bay leaf (/ tej patta)
  • 1 black cardamom (small / badi elaichi)
  • 4 green cardamoms (/ choti elaichi)
  • 4 cloves (/ laung)
  • 1 Cinnamon stick (/ dalchini)
  • 1 Star anise (/ chakra phool)
  • 2 strands mace (/ javitri)
  • ¼ to ½ tsp shahi jeera
  • ½ kg chicken (or tender mutton)
  • 2 cups basmathi rice (, aged)
  • 3 ¼ to 3 ½ cups water
  • 3 tbsp Oil
  • Salt (as needed)
  • ¼ tsp turmeric
  • ¼ tsp red chili powder
  • 1 tomato (medium)
  • 1/2 cup curd (/ yogurt / dahi)
  • 1 tsp rose water (or kewra)

Method

Preparation for muslim biryani

  1. Soak rice for at least 20 mins.
  2. Wash chicken or mutton under running water, drain off the water completely and marinate with little curd or 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 muslim biryani

  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 on a low heat 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 1 to 2 whistles till it turns tender and soft. Cook till the oil begins to separate and the gravy thickens.

Water to cook muslim biryani

  1. Pour 3 ¼ cups water and add salt
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Serve muslim biryani with onion raita and a salan.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.