A masalaydaar Pakistani Chicken Biryani simplified, tested, and retested to create a Classic Karachi style Biryani that delivers authentic flavours without spice packets or bits of whole spices in your mouth!
Table of Contents
- Karachi & Biryani
- The Influence of Masala Packets
- Problem solving:
- Look Ma No Onions!
- Breaking it Down: Components of a Chicken Biryani
- Step by Step: Making some Zabardast Biryani
- Biryani FAQs
Karachi & Biryani
I may have mentioned this once or twice, but I am originally from Karachi, that raucous addictive city by the sea which we firmly believe has some of the best food in the country. Are we biased? Maybe. While I am willing to make that minor concession, I am firmly wedded to the belief that we do Biryani best.
The iconic Karachi biryani eatery for Biryani is Student Biryani, it is where my father grew up getting Biryani and where his daughter would get it for work lunches. Other Biryanis have gained immense popularity over the years while Student Biryanis inconsistency mirrors the Pakistani cricket teams - wowing sometimes, soul crushing other times. Wherever you get your Biryani there are some commonalities.
The thing most actually good Karachi biryanis have in common are: a "karara" flavour, a mix of colours of rice, well balance bold flavors.
- Kararapan: a distinctly savory sour quality
- The rice is a mix of colours - whereas the origin of the coloring comes from saffron student biryani aint buying that in bulk so food color it is
- They are flavorful, not just hit you on the head spicy, but flavorful and this my friend brings me to my lament.
The Influence of Masala Packets
They are so handy aren’t they? Just follow the instructions and you are on your way. I have used them often myself, but over time as I became more and more confident in my cooking skills they have wound up on the back of the top shelf which my 5' 3" self can't reach. While I absolutely get their appeal I do think nothing beats homemade.
This funny thing has happened though where boxed biryanis have changed our sense of what a biryani should be like. It has gone from being a dish with many layers of flavour to being primarily mirchein and salt and an overwhelming amount of masala.
That’s not the kind of biryani I grew up with or the kind of biryani that I want more than a few bites of.
Problem solving:
A long time ago I asked my instagram family what they were looking for in a biryani and they said
- No whole spices
- Easy to make
- Aloo
- Simplifying making the rice
- A briyani that isnt dry
This Biryani hits all those spots and here’s how
- All the spices are ground together except for the ones in the rice but I have a fix for that
- Easy process - marinade, saute, cook, layer.
- Generous amounts of Aloo
- Rice boiled in the most forgiving way
- Moist masala thanks to yoghurt & tomatoes
Look Ma No Onions!
Have you ever had a biryani and felt like this is a touch sweeter than I’d like or it just doesn’t have the edge you hoped for? While I 100% stand by my decision to use onions in my home style Beef Biryani where the meat holds it’s own, you will see that even there I don’t caramelize them.
Caramelized onions are sweet which is why often recipes that use caramelized onions will call on an overwhelming amount of salt and spices (or multiple boxed mixes) to counteract that sweetness.
It occurred to me a little while ago that I had never had biryani with visible onions (apart from a garnish). With mutton and beef the cooking time is long so the onions can meld away, but with Chicken that isn’t the case. That realization sent me down a YouTube rabbit hole and I spent hours watching videos of Biryanis being made in Pakistan.
While the onions are sometimes used as a garnish or in layering, it’s sparing - too many of them and you get what we often call a Pulao Biryani with a Korma Masala. If you are looking to make an actual Pulao then hands down this one pot chicken pulao is the one to make!
Psst: If you can’t resist you can saute half an onion when you start this biryani until the edges are golden, but remember to dice it nice and fine for the sharpest taste and none of them slimy bits.
Breaking it Down: Components of a Chicken Biryani
This particular ingredient list has been many years in the making, here is a quick explanation of my approach with each.
The Chicken
Nothing beats a freshly ground masala if you want to create a chicken that is undeniably flavorful - smoky, spicy, and just scrumptious! It takes minutes to whizz it up (the bulk of which will be spent reaching into your cabinet), but the mix of powdered and whole spices will give you that depth you so want. The yoghurt is there to make the chicken tender, but also to add to the biryani masala when it cooks. We keep the amount small because too much yoghurt can change the texture of your rice, but don't worry it won't get dry because of the olive oil!
If you love them garam masala vibes and lots of spice in your biryani then you can increase the powdered mix by 25% without hurting the overall balance.
The Masala
This fuss free masala base gets it's twang, body, and sauciness from a few tomatoes. I always love the richness of ripe plum or Roma tomatoes, but you can sub for your favorite kind. A Roma tomato is roughly 60g, but if you are subbing for a larger variety then you can do the same number of tomatoes because we don't want to compromise on the richness of flavour. For petite tomatoes increase the number.
Lemon Vs Aloo Bukhara: A Sindhi style biryani uses either dried prunes or dried plums for it's Imli like tartness. You can absolutely use them here if you have them, but lemon works so nicely so I no longer buy anything else.
The Rice
For rice that has flavour, and a little bit of attitude we use cumin seeds, whole pepper, green chilies, salt, and a little bit of vinegar. For rice that has all that, but less pieces of spices we use a muslin cloth, a trick I use for my white biryani, or a tea strainer ball which I always have handy.
Layering Ingredients
Lemon, Mint, Cilantro, Chilies, that iconic orange colour and a few drops of biryani essence (not pictured).
Whether you use Kewra or Biryani essence they will both add a more complex note to your Biryani. While kewra is distilled from the screwpine flower (I did not make that up) Biryani essence is a mix of essential oils. I do have a preference for Biryani essence over Kewra but they both work.
Step by Step: Making some Zabardast Biryani
Grind the biryani masala ingredients to a powder and add them to your Chicken with the remaining marinade ingredients. Let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour. While that's happening wash your rice until it runs clear and then soak it.
Heat oil in a nice big pan, you want half an inch of oil going here and when it's hot saute off your garlic, ginger for about 30 seconds to cut the rawness and then add the tomatoes, stir and let them reduce on medium heat until they look jammy. This takes 10 minutes or so depending on the pot/tomatoes/your stoves heat.
Add in your marinated chicken, sauteing it for a minute and then add your potatoes, half a cup of water, and cover it with a tightly fitting lid for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken and potatoes are cooked through.
Halfway through bring a pot of water to boil and add in your salt, vinegar and rice spices however you choose to add them (loose, tea ball, or muslin cloth).
Taste your masala, adjust to preferences - you want it to feel feisty because it's what will flavour all your rice and add in a squeeze of lemon, half your coriander, mint and chilies. Taste again - just for fun.
Boil your rice for 7-7.5 minutes - you want the rice to break with a little pressure but not be soft. Drain the rice.
Layer: Rice, Biryani Masala, remaining mint, cilantro, chilies, more rice. Dissolve your food coloring in a little milk and drizzle it over, followed by a few drops of your essence of choice, and a few slices of lemon.
Cover it with a tight fitting lid and leave it on the lowest heat possible for 25 minutes. Mix gently, starting from the outside of the pot to avoid breaking the rice, and serve with Biryani Raita and Kachumbar.
Biryani FAQs
Can I Use Boneless Chicken?
While bone-in chicken produces a better depth of flavour and more masala thanks to that bone juice (lol), I do get that sometimes the craving strikes and boneless is what you have. In that case drop the quantity of chicken to 1lb, but feel free to keep the remaining ingredients the same. You may need to add a little water towards the end to avoid getting a dry masala, aim for the same consistency in the picture and videos.
What kind of rice should I use?
Basmati. Always. Now I get that Sela is popular because it's less likely to overcook, but I do far prefer the mouthfeel of basmati.
Can I make Biryani ahead of time?
As any biryani afficianado will tell you biryani just tastes better the next day. Absolutely feel free to make it ahead of time. One of my favorite things to do if I am hosting and won't have time the day of is to make it a day ahead and layer it in a casserole dish for an oven dum.
How do I give Dum in the oven?
Layer your biryani ingredients in an oven proof casserole dish, sprinkle over a little water with your hand, cover tightly with oil and leave in the oven for half an hour at 325F. Fluff, and serve.
Tried this Biryani? Would love for you to share your thoughts below!
Authentic Pakistani Chicken Biryani SIMPLIFIED!
Equipment
- 1 saute pan for cooking the chicken
- 1 pot for the rice
Ingredients
Biryani Masala for Chicken
- 1 inch piece cinnamon stick
- 1 black cardamom
- 2.5 tsp red chili powder (cayene)
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tbsp bhunna zeera (roasted cumin powder) can sub with cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp bhunna dhania (roasted coriander powder) can sub with seeds, but try to dry roast first!
- 1 tsp black peppercorns (sabut kaali mirch)
- 6 cloves
- 1 tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp powdered mace can sub with a small piece of mace
- ⅛ tsp powdered nutmeg can cub with a small piece of nutmeg, but you'll have to break it first!
Chicken Masala
- 2 lbs bone in chicken (1 lb for boneless)
- 3 tbsp lemon juice (half a lemon)
- ¼ cup yoghurt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp green chili paste
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 3 diced tomatoes
- 2 potatoes cut into thick wedges
- Lemon Juice OR 5-6 dried aloo bukharay
Rice
- 2.5 cups long grain basmati rice
- 2.5 tbsp salt (if using the excess water method)
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1 tsp black pepper corns
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1-2 green chilies
Layering Mix
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup chopped mint
- 3-5 green chilies cut long or in rounds
- 1 tsp food coloring dissolved in a 2 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp kewra or biryani essence
- slices of lemon and/or tomatoes
Instructions
Chicken Masala
- Take all the ingredients listed in Biryani Masala and grind them to a powder. A small taste should give you a mix that's spicy and punchy!
- Marinate the chicken in the biryani masala, lemon juice, olive oil, yoghurt, and green chili paste for at least 30 minutes.
- Heat ¼ cup of oil in a large saute pan and add your ginger and garlic pastes and cook on medium high heat until they no longer smell raw - about a minute.
- Now add your diced tomatoes and cook, sauteing occasionally until the excess water dries and the oil rises above the tomatoes.
- Stir in your marinated chicken, sauteing until the color changes.
- Add your potatoes, aloo bukharay (if using), half a cup of water, cover the pot, and bring it to a simmer, cooking for 25 minutes or so or until the chicken is tender. Check on it halfway through to see if the masala is sticking (add more water if it is), but otherwise there's no need to disturb it.
- When the chicken is tender, turn up the heat to dry out any excess water, turn the stove off as soon as it starts to stick a little and the oil is above the masala. I like to add half my green masala from the layering (mint, cilantro, chilies) now along with a squeeze of lemon juice.
Rice
- Rinse your basmati rice until the water runs clear and soak it for at least 30 minutes. We will start on the rice halfway through the chicken cooking time.
- 10 minutes into the chicken cooking bring a big pot of water to boil with the salt, vinegar and flavorings. I like to put my whole pepper, cumin seeds and chilies in a tea ball, but you can use a muslin cloth to tie them in or boil the water with them and use a strainer to pull it out if you don't want whole spices in there.
- Once the water comes to a boil, drain and add your rice, cook for 6.5-7.5 minutes until the rice is almost cooked through. It shouldn't be soft, but should break under slight pressure. Strain immediately.
- Taste and adjust seasoning, remember this masala will flavour the rice too!
Layering
- Place half your rice at the bottom of the pot you used to cook it
- Spoon over your chicken masala, your remaining mint, cilantro and chilies.
- Cover with the remaining rice
- Top with a few drops of kewra or biryani essence, drizzle over your rice coloring, and add a few slices of lemon and/or tomatoes, extra cilantro over top and cover with a tightly fitting lid. If your lid has a steam vent then please block it.
- Let it sit at the lowest heat on your stovetop for 20-25 minutes and then carefully fluff and serve with raita and kachumbar.
This looks so delicious. InshaaAllah will convince my family to let me try. My cooking skills aren't the best🤭
I'm loving the positive vibes and practical advice in your posts.
Thanks! I appreciate that!
I made this recipe and absolutely loved the authenticitu of flavors. This is coming from a person who always used boxes because I thought making Biryani from scratch would be too much work. But somebody wronged me haha.
Loved the flavors, it exactly took an hour as the recipe suggests and my guests loved it so much that I packed some for them.
Mehar thank you SO SO much for this review! I am thrilled that you made it and enjoyed it!
I’ll definitely try this ! This looks toooo good 😊
Great recipe! Ticks all the boxes: spice balance, heat level, color contrast, aroma. Only change I made was to use saffron in place of food coloring. You can eat it by itself, or with fried onions, raita, kachumber, etc. Flavor was so good, I didn't want to dilute it with too many accompaniments. I ate 3 plates in one sitting, not ashamed to say.
You are my kinda person! When I got this right I ate one plate and then two more just to be certain! Thank you very very much for this review!
I made this and it was amazing! A solid 10/10 and this will be THE biryani recipe I use every time going forward. I took Sarah’s suggestion and I omitted the yoghurt and used an extra tbsp of oil because my son has a dairy allergy and it was still perfect.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe Sarah!
10/10 - be still my beating heart! Thank you so very much Hajira for this!
This was SO GOOD! I’d always been intimidated to try making biryani after a prior failed attempt but I finally decided to give it a try using your recipe and it was so delicious. Thank you!
Cannot even describe how happy it makes me to hear that!! Thank you SO much for this review!
Hey wanted to try this recipe but I don’t have mace or nutmeg on hand - can I sub garam masala for some of the powdered spices?
Hey Maheen! I do feel like those two ingredients add that Biryani Umami, but if you don't have them then when the masala is ready you can taste it and see if you want more back of the mouth heat/smokiness in which case add a teaspoon of garam masala at that point! Some GM are nutmeg/mace forward but for others it's not the same, so trust your tastebuds here!
So I made biryani for the first time using this recipe and the hubs absolutely raved about this! Thank you so much for sharing
Woohoo!!!! I am SO happy to hear that! Thank YOU!