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a plate with orange red and white spicy rice with 2 pieces of chicken on it and some sliced cucumber and onions on the side on a black plate
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4.64 from 74 votes

Pakistani Chicken Biryani

A traditional spicy Karachi Chicken Biryani, made with layering spicy chicken curry with rice.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time50 minutes
Total Time1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: South Asian
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 650kcal
Author: Wajiha

Ingredients

Chicken Qorma

  • 1 kg chicken cut into smaller pieces.
  • 1 tbsp garlic ginger paste
  • 3 large tomatoes cut into 4 slices or 1 cup of canned tomatoes
  • 7 to 8 green chilies
  • 1 cup mint leaves
  • 7 to 8 dried plums aloo bukhara (OR dried apricots)
  • 4 medium onions sliced or 1 1/2 cup brown fried onions
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube optional
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp red chili powder
  • 1 tbsp kashmiri red chili powder
  • 2 tsp cumin powder
  • tsp coriander powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala powder
  • 2 tbsp kewra water
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 1/2 tsp mace and nutmeg powder optional (jayfil javetri)
  • 1 cup water

For the Rice

  • 3/4 kg long grain basmati rice soaked in water for 20 mins
  • 3 to 4 bay leaves
  • whole spices: 10 black peppercorns 5 cloves, 3 black cardamom, 5 green cardamom, 1 stick of cinnamon.
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • 3 tbsp salt

Garnish

  • 1/4 cup milk mixed with orange food color.
  • 1 tomato cut in slices
  • 4 green chilies
  • 3/4 cup coriander leaves chopped
  • 3/4 cup mint leaves chopped
  • 1/2 cup brown fried onions removed from qorma or 1/2 cup pre-made brown fried onions
  • maze
  • nutmeg

Instructions

Chicken Qorma

  • Blend the green chilies with the yogurt to form a smooth paste and set aside.
  • Add oil in a pot along with sliced onion and mint leaves. Fry them at medium flame till the onions turn golden brown. Reduce the flame to low and remove roughly about 1/2 cup of brown onions for garnish.
  • Add 1/4th cup of water in the onions to stop frying. Add all the spices (except nutmeg and mace powder) and tomatoes. Saute for a minute and add 3/4th cup of water and cover the pot to allow the tomatoes soften up for 5 mins.
  • Use a hand blender to blend the tomatoes and onions together.
  • Now add the chicken, garlic ginger paste, dried plums, chicken cube and the yogurt chili mix. Mix everything well.
  • Cover the pot and let the qorma simmer for 15 to 20 mins at medium to low flame.
  • Remove the lid and check if the chicken is cooked. Turn off flame and add kewra water and mace nutmeg powder and simply mix.
  • You can also remove extra oil at this point if your want

Rice

  • In a large pot, boil water for the rice at high flame. Add all whole spices, vinegar, salt and bay leaves.
  • Once the water starts bubbling, add in the pre-soaked basmati rice.
  • Boil the rice for 5 mins and check a grain of rice. You should be able to break the grain of rice with fingers but the grain should still be hard and in-edible. That's the perfect rice for Biryani layering.
  • Strain the rice in a large strainer and set aside for layer.

Assembling

  • Use a large pot for assembling the rice. Usually this is the pot used to boil the rice.
  • Add 1/3 of the rice to layer the bottom of the pot.
  • Garnish the rice with mint, chopped coriander, slices of tomatoes, 1 green chili. Sprinkle a little maze nutmeg powder.
  • Add 1/2 of the chicken qorma on the rice spreading it out as evenly as possible.
  • Add another 1/3 of the rice on top of qorma
  • Repeat same garnish.
  • Layer with the remaining chicken qorma
  • Finish off with the remaining rice.
  • Drizzle the rice with milk and color mix in the form of a cross.
  • Garnish the top layer as well, this time including fried onions as well.
  • Cover the pot with foil and then add the lid to make a strong seal.
  • Place an insulator below the pot on the stove, like an old pan, a tawa or a a flat griddle pan.
  • Turn on the flame at high for 5 to 6 mins, then reduce to medium low for another 10 mins.
  • Remove the lid and open the foil slightly to check if you can see steam (be careful to not burn yourself. If you can see steam, that means your biryani is done. Cover the foil again and place the lid back on. Let the biryani rest for another 10 mins before serving.
  • If you don't see steam, increase the flame for 2 to 3 mins.

  • Serve with raita and salad.

Notes

If you don't want to use home made biryani masala, you can also use half a packet of Shan bombay biryani masala and half a packet of shan sindhi biryani masala,

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 650kcal | Carbohydrates: 82g | Protein: 56g | Fat: 61g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 45g | Cholesterol: 177mg | Sodium: 980mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 21g