Hyderabadi Biryani learnt during pandemic

Lt Col M Ranjit Singh (Retd)
One of the good side effects of prolonged lockdown during last Covid pandemic was the discovery of latent talent of cooking inside of me ! I tried my hand on many dishes : Indian, Chinese, Italian, French, and many others. Today I am sharing with you all, my way of cooking Hyderabadi Katchi Biryani with one Kg of rice and one Kg of chicken. Biryani, believed to have originated from Iran, is made of rice and meat/chicken with varieties of spices cooked together. Hyderabadi Biryani is the most famous Indian Biriyani. According to urban legend generally circulated in and around Hyderabad, the Chinese sportsmen who participated in World Military Game held in Hyderabad in 2007, in departure of their habit of eating Chinese dishes both for lunch and dinner, ate only Biryani while in Hyderabad !
Basically, there are two types of Biryani. One is Pakki Biryani and other one is Katchi Biryani. In Pakki Biryani, both the rice and meat are cooked separately. Later they are mixed and again cooked for some time to allow the flavours to combine. In Katchi Biryani, half cooked rice and raw meat/chicken with spices are cooked together in slow heat. Cooking Katchi Biryani takes longer time than cooking Pakki one. It is worth it, and one must always remember that Katchi Biriyani tastes better than the Pakki Biryani. Even in the Chef’s world, I believe, they sort of looked down chefs who are used to cook Pakki Biryani.
Dry fried onions would be required for cooking Biryani. Three to four onions should be sliced and fried beforehand. There are three main steps in cooking Biryani. The first step is the marination of chicken for six to eight hours. Marination makes the chicken soft and succulent. An easy thumb rule is that marination be done the previous night if you are cooking Biryani for lunch next day and marinate in the morning if you are cooking for dinner on the same day. The sizes of the chicken pieces for cooking Biryani should be slightly bigger one. Except for the salt and chillies, one must not give too much emphasis to the quantities of spices used here. Spices (with Manipuri names) I generally used to marinate chicken are few sticks of cinnamons (ushingsha),  two to three bay leaves (tejpatta), six to seven small cardamoms (elaichi), one or two large cardamoms (elaichi achouba), six to seven cloves (labango) and six to eight grains of black peppers (goon marich), two to three strands of mace (javitri), small quantity of nutmeg powder (jaiphal), one tablespoon of powdered cumin (jeera) seeds and coriander (phadigom) seeds, red chillies and salt as per my taste. I sometimes add one or two U-moroks and few twigs of awa phadigom (Burmese coriander?) to give a Manipuri twists to the dish. The other ingredients are one to two tablespoons of ginger and garlic pastes, few twigs of mints (nungshi hidak), fresh coriander leaves, few cut green chillies, and half of the fried onions. Chicken pieces along with above ingredients are nicely mixed with one cup of refined oil and one cup of curd. I generally crush the tips of elaichis and add one to two tablespoons of Deshi (sangi) Ghee in the marination for nice flavour. The whole mixture is covered and kept inside fridge for the duration mentioned earlier.
The second step is the cooking of rice and it is the most important one. Manipuri rice being sticky is not suitable for cooking Hyderabadi Biriyani. Instead I use aromatic Basmati rice because of its distinctive fragrance and flavour. The Basmati rice should be soaked in water for forty minutes before cooking and drained. The Basmati rice increases in length and become soft after soaking in water. The water for cooking rice must be added enough salt to cater for the entire rice. I always taste the hot water before adding the rice. If the water is not salty, the complete Biryani would be bland and not tasty. One can add any numbers of spices in the boiling water, but I add few cumin seeds, few elaichis, one to two star anises, tejpattas, dalchini and one tablespoon of deshi ghee. When the water is boiled for five to six minutes, add the soaked and dried rice. One should not stir frequently while cooking Basmati rice so that the grains retain their shape; are not broken and are separate from each other. The rice should NOT be fully cooked but cooked up to sixty to seventy per cent only.
The final step is the actual cooking of Biryani. One must always use heavy bottom cooking utensil. I prefer small Manipuri Korfu for this. While the rice is cooking, transfer the marinated chickens to the Korfu in a single layer. Place half of the sixty to seventy per cent cooked rice in layer over the chicken. At this time, the semi cooked rice must be hot, steamy, and not dripping. Spread mints, coriander leaves, awa phadigom (Burmese coriander?), few chopped green chilies and some fried onions over the rice. Also sprinkle some biriyani masala (garam masala if not available) and one tablespoon of deshi ghee. With the balance cooked rice, make second layer on top of the first layer. Place the same ingredients over the second layer. To enhance the look of Biriyani, I always sprinkle half cup of water/milk already soaked with few strands of saffron over the second layer of rice.
The rim of Korfu is then lined with a strip of atta dough and a tight and heavy lid is pressed on it so that steam cannot escape. Alternatively, a steel rice plate can be placed upside down over the rim of Korfu. A slightly heavy item should be placed on top of the plate so that steam does not escape. The Korfu is then placed on high flame for about ten minutes. As there is a risk that the bottom portion of Biryani may get burned while the interior’s contents are still raw, the Korfu is then transferred on top of a tawa and cooked on low flame for forty minutes. The Korfu must not be open immediately after completion of cooking. The Biryani after cooking should be allowed to settle for at least ten to fifteen minutes.  That’s it.
The same method can be used for cooking mutton biryani also. But for mutton biryani, one must use some tenderiser otherwise mutton pieces would not be cooked properly. In case tenderiser powder are not available in the market, use two to three tablespoons of raw papaya paste during marination. If Biryani did not come out properly in the first cooking, please remember the quote of Robert the Bruce “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again”.