Kolkata chicken biryani is a Bengali dish made mainly from rice, chicken and spices. The process involved in making this dish includes making the biryani masala, preparing the chicken, then the rice, saffron milk, assembling the Kolkata Biryani and finally putting it on the dum.
The process is an interesting one so follow us as we bring you the full guide to preparing “Kolkata Chicken Biryani”. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 kilogram of Basmati rice
1200 grams of chicken
4 medium potatoes
2 teaspoons of garlic paste
3 medium onions
1 ½ teaspoon of ginger paste
½ lemon (with juice squeezed)
½ cup of curd
1 teaspoon of Kashmiri chilli powder
3 ½ teaspoons of biryani masala
3 drops of rose essence
1 1/3 teaspoons of kewra water
4 tablespoons of milk
5 bay leaves
8 drops of mitha attar
A pinch of saffron strand
10 green cardamom
10 cloves
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
12 tablespoons of ghee
½ cup of refined oil
6 hard boiled eggs
1 teaspoon of white peppercorn
1 teaspoon of shah jeera
1 ½ mace
¼ nutmeg
1 teaspoon of kebab chini
5 cloves
1 ½ inch of cinnamon stick
What Kolkata Chicken Biryani Is Served With
It can be served with salad.
Special Utensils
- Pressure cooker
- Oven
- Grinder
Steps
- Wash and peel potatoes, then cut them into four pieces. Boil them in a pressure cooker.
- When the potatoes cool down, heat ghee in a pan and keep on medium heat.
- Fry the potatoes in it till it turns golden brown. Transfer the potatoes into a bowl and set aside. Fry onions in same pan and set aside.
Bengali Biryani Masala
- Put a pan on fire and toss white peppercorn, shahi jeera, cardamom, mace, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, kebab chini and cloves into it. Roast it on low heat.
- Turn off the fire when you start perceiving the aroma. Let it cool down and use the grinder to grind the spices into powder. Set aside.
Chicken
- Wash and clean the chicken pieces. Put the curd, Kashmiri chilli powder and ½ teaspoon of salt into a bowl and mix.
- Now, add the chicken, 2 teaspoons of garlic paste and 1 ½ teaspoon of ginger paste and mix well.
- Add 1 ½ teaspoon of powdered biryani masala and mix with the chicken.
- Squeeze ½ lemon over the chicken coated in biryani masala and stir.
- Add a handful of fried onions to it and mix together. Keep the chicken in the seasoning for about 45 minutes.
- After the time is up, put the seasoned chicken into the pan used to fry the onions and allow it to cook.
- After 5 minutes, turn over the chicken in the pan, cover with the lid and let it cook for 10 minutes.
- Turn the chicken pieces in the pan again and cook for about 8 minutes without covering it.
- Turn off the fire when the gravy around the chicken dries up.
Rice For Biryani
- Wash 1 kilogram of rice and soak in water for about 30 minutes.
- When the time is up, pour some water up to ¾ of a big pan and put it on fire.
- Add salt, oil, bay leaves, green cardamom, cloves and cinnamon sticks and leave the water to boil.
- When the water boils, strain the soaked rice through a colander and add it to the water on fire.
- Rice should not cook fully. It must be 80 percent cooked. At that point, turn off the fire and drain the starch from it.
- Spread the rice on a plate and let it cool down. Set aside.
Saffron Milk Preparation
- Put some warm milk into a bowl and add a little saffron strand to it. Allow it to soak in the milk for about 20 minutes.
- After this, use your fingertips to rub the saffron strands to bring out more colour from it.
- Add the kewra water and 3 drops of rose essence.
- Add 8 drops of mithaattar to the milk and mix well. Set aside.
Assembling of Kolkata Biryani
- Obtain a thick bottom wide mouth container and dry it. Now, spread the bay leaves at the bottom of it.
- Spread about ¾ inch thick layer of rice on the bay leaves.
- Put two chicken pieces and three pieces of aloo on the first layer of rice. Add 4 tablespoons of the chicken gravy to the rice and chicken pieces.
- Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of biryani masala all over the layer and 33/4 teaspoon of saffron milk over it.
- Sprinkle 3 teaspoons of ghee from the top of the layer. Then sprinkle some fried onions on the layer and add ½ teaspoon of salt.
- Add rice from the top to fully cover it. Assemble the next layer by following the same method.
- Cover the last layer with a lot of rice.
- Finally, sprinkle 4 teaspoons of ghee and a little biryani masala from the top. Add salt and the eggs to the top of the rice and close the lid.
Put Biryani on Dum
- Place the biryani vessel on the lowest heat in the oven.
- Put another pan on top of the biryani vessel with hot water.
- Let it cook for about 45 minutes. When it is ready, turn off the heat and serve.
