Fragrant, comforting, and easy to serve as a complete meal, Thalassery biryani is a non-vegetarian Kerala main made with simple everyday ingredients in about 45 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 30 minutes
- Total time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 3
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Kerala
Ingredients
- 1 star anise (small)
- 4 green cardamoms (/ elaichi)
- 4 cloves (/ laung)
- 2 inch cinnamon sticks (, thin / dalchini)
- 2 strands mace (/ javithri)
- ¼ tsp nutmeg (/ jaiphal, grated)
- ½ tsp shahi jeera
- 1 tsp fennel seeds (/ saunf / sombu)
- 1 red chili
- ½ tsp pepper corn
- 3 to 4 tbsps ghee (/ oil)
- 1 Handful cashews ((about ¼ cup split & cleaned))
- 2 tbsps raisins ((use sweet raisins))
- ½ to ¾ cup onions (thinly sliced, for making fried onions)
- ½ cup onions ((heaped) sliced, for gravy)
- 2 tbsps ginger garlic chili paste ((1 tbsp ginger paste, 1 tbsp garlic paste, 2 to 3 green chilies))
- ½ kg chicken (cleaned & cut)
- ¼ tsp turmeric (/ haldi)
- ½ cup tomatoes (chopped & deseeded, ripe)
- Salt (as needed)
- 2 tbsps curd (/ yogurt/ dahi)
- ¼ cup mint (/ pudina, chopped)
- ¼ cup coriander leaves (chopped)
- 2 cups Jeerakasala rice (/ kaima (or basmati))
- 1 to 2 tbsp ghee ((use more if desired))
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 star anise (/ biryani flower)
- 4 green cardamoms (/ elaichi)
- 4 to 5 cloves (/ laung)
- 1 inch cinnamon stick (, thin)
- ¼ to ½ tsp fennel seeds (/ saunf/ sombu)
- Salt (as needed)
- 3 ½ cups Hot water
- ¼ to ½ tsp kerala garam masala
- 0.5 Handful pudina (, chopped)
- 0.5 Handful coriander leaves (, chopped)
- 1 tbsp ghee
- ½ tsp rose water (, edible (optional))
Method
- Please follow the step by step photo instructions for the method.
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.
