Teach me about biryani

Finally a thread where I can contribute in some detail.

At it's very core, the idea of Biryani is slow cooked rice over marinated meat. There are multiple regional variations, each with their own changes to it, but this is bare minimum idea. This is also why a lot of people (myself included) consider "Veg biryani" to be a misnormer. As vegetables won't take that long to cook even over low heat, it can't really be biryani. That said, Vegetable Biryani (or more accurately Vegetable Pulao) are really popular across various circles, and I try not to be pedantic about it.

I will highly recommend this video from Ranveer brar, who's a pretty famous Indian chef. This video is for the Hyderabad stlye biryani, which is one of the more popular biryani variations in India. The other main ones are Lucknow style (funnily enough can't find the video for it, even thought the chef himself hails from Lucknow), and Kolkata style which are also available on his channel. There are other regional variations as well, but they are generally minor deviations from these three.

I'm not Indian but my hometown is very well known in Indian circles because of the concentration of Indian people. I also went to London a couple of times last year and had some really really good Indian food out there, but I'm not sure what the rest of the country is like for it.

This is the biryani from there, it's very good!: https://www.dishoom.com/journal/dishoom-chicken-berry-britannia-biryani-recipe/

The supermarket stuff probably doesn't come with raita, which I think adds a lot to the biryani as a whole, especially if it's super spicy, it's very nice and refreshing.

Ethnically Malayalee Syrian Christian here. It's a difficult question to answer. All biryanis are based on the concept of spiced rice but from there the permutations of spices and cooking methods are near infinite. We do prawn biryanis as well as sometimes beef or pork biryanis which, understandably, aren't seen in many other Indian ethnic groups foodways.

One thing I do tend to notice about the types of biryani that I like the most (Bangladeshi biryani and Malabar Muslim biryani) is that they tend to use shortgrain rice varieties. This allows the oils of the meat to coat each grain more effectively, resulting in a much richer taste.

I can’t really tell you, because a) wrong background and b) not much for biryani. But I thought I’d drop a link to the best Indian recipe website on the net (primarily in English, that I know of):

https://www.archanaskitchen.com/search?q=Biryani

From a quick scan, at least a couple dozen different types, regions are typically in the title, and there’s a little description of what makes them unique. Happy hunting!

In the states and a big fan of the chicken or goat biryani from the more authentic Indian restaurants near me. No idea how authentic my recipe is but it's what I've cobbled together from online ones to try and mimic restaurant style biryani.

Think the rice and whole spices are definitely key at least for mine. Really wanted to explore all the different varieties so thanks for the post reminding me to do just that!

INGREDIENTS

Brown Onions: (Note 1)
2 large Onions, sliced evenly
Vegetable Oil

Chicken Marinade:
800 grams or 1.75 lbs - Chicken Thighs and Drumsticks, bone-in and skinless (Note 2)
165 grams or 3/4 cup -Yogurt (or hung curd)
55 grams or 1/4 cup - Tomato Puree
55 grams or 1/4 cup - Vegetable Oil
1 tablespoon - Ginger minced
1 tablespoon - Garlic minced
1 tablespoon - Red Kashmiri Chilli Powder (can sub with Paprika + Cayenne)
1 teaspoon - Turmeric Powder
1 teaspoon - Garam Masala Powder
2 tablespoon - Brown Onions
1.5 teaspoon - Salt
1~2 - Serrano Peppers thinly sliced (optional for some extra heat)

Saffron:
2 tablespoon - Hot Milk
10–15 - Saffron strands

Parboiled Rice (70% cooked):
420 grams or 2 cups - Basmati Rice (Note 3)
1400ml or 6 cups - Water
2 tablespoon - Salt
1 Bayleaf
5–6 Cloves
3-4 Cardamom Pods
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 teaspoon - Cumin Seeds

Other Biryani Ingredients:
~75 grams or 1 cup - fresh Mint Leaves
~75 grams or 1 cup - fresh Cilantro (Coriander) Leaves
20 grams or 1 1/2 tablespoons - Ghee (or Butter)

To Serve:
Crispy brown onions
Fresh cilantro
Lime
Raita

INSTRUCTIONS

Brown Onions:
To make the brown onions, pat the onions dry and if time permits, leave them out on a kitchen towel for 15-20 minutes to dry them out slightly.
Heat oil a few cm deep in a pan up to 180° C.
Add onions and fry for about 15 minutes until golden brown.
Keep the stove on medium low, I find once the oil temp comes up to around 130-140° C they're done.
Drain them out on a paper towel, and set aside. These can be made ahead and stored in an air tight container overnight. Burnt onions will add a bitter flavour to the biryani so be sure to take them out earlier rather than overshooting it. They tend to carry over cook and darken quite a bit once out on the paper towel.

Marinate Chicken:
Mix together all the ingredients under chicken marinade and marinate for at least two hours or overnight for best results.

Saffron:
When you are ready to make the biryani, soak saffron strands in hot milk and rub them slightly with the back of a spoon. Set this aside.

Parboiled Rice:
Bring water to a roaring boil and add salt, whole spices and basmati rice. Cook for exactly 5 minutes and drain completely, leaving the whole spices in the rice. (Can put whole spices in a sachet and remove after entire dish is done cooking but letting them mingle is better imo)
This will cook the rice to about 70% doneness which can be checked by pressing a grain of rice between two fingers – the rice should still be raw in the middle.
Drain spices and rice into colander and set aside.

Layering and Cooking Chicken Biryani:
Heat a heavy bottomed pot like a dutch oven on med/high, and add the chicken to it.
Cook for 4 minutes and then turn the chicken pieces once. Cover and cook for another 3 minutes.
Turn off the heat.
Reserve some of the brown onions for garnish.
Scatter half the remaining brown onions all over the chicken, and then half the coriander and mint leaves, finally half the rice. Repeat layering with remaining onions, coriander/mint and rice.
Drizzle saffron milk and ghee all over the rice.
Optionally seal the pot using a simple dough. (Note 4)
Cover and cook on a low flame for 20 minutes – this will help steam the rice, cook it to doneness and cook the chicken.

To Finish: Once the biryani is cooked, let it rest for 5 minutes, and finish by scattering the remaining onions on top. Serve hot topped with cilantro, lime juice, and your favourite raita.

NOTES

1. Brown Onions can be time consuming and tricky to make, and you can substitute them here with store bought fried onions. Just make sure that the onions are not batter fried. Usually available at Asian and Indian grocery stores.

2. Pieces like chicken breasts dry out during the long cooking process, and that’s why I recommend using only chicken thighs and drumsticks while cooking biryani at home. You can ask your butcher to cut each chicken leg into two parts to divide it into thighs and drumsticks. Leaving the bone in keeps helps keep the chicken juicy.

3. While buying basmati rice, make sure you buy rice that’s labelled basmati and not just long grain rice. Basmati Rice is fragrant and has slightly thinner grains than long grain rice.

4. One extra step you can take here is making a simple dough out of water and flour to seal the pot. Don't really have amounts, just shoot for something that holds together well after kneading a couple minutes. Form a thin log of dough long enough to coil around the rim of the dutch oven. Place the dough around the rim ensuring there aren't gaps and place lid on top pushing down on the dough gently to seal. Just helps keep all the steam in for more even cooking and makes for fun meal presentation.

Earlier this week I watched a video with Brad Leone making some Japanese style Mapo Tofu and one of the passing remarks made in that video really made me re-think the concept of "ethnic food". Brad had asked if he should season the rice they were cooking to go with it, and the cookbook author who he was making it with responded with something to the effect of "No, you shouldn't season the rice because it's being served with heavily seasoned food. It's about the contrast."

There is no such thing as the definitive version of any given recipe. Any "staple" dish is going to have regional variences, and those will have further variations in every kitchen it's cooked in. Just as with the rest of the world, India is full of many different peoples with different cultures, ideas, and tastes. That's why it's not surprising that there's 15 biryani out there; I'd be much more surprised if there were only 15 of them. So the most important thing is not the exact technique or ingredients, but the idea of the dish.

So I guess in a way there's no way for you to make authentic biryani. Even if you imported all the ingredients and tools from India, you would still be missing some of the most important parts of the dish - the people who made it, their history, and the cultural context. I've made Japanese mapo tofu, and I've had it made for me at a restaurant by a Japanese chef. But because I haven't had it in Japan, I haven't actually experienced real Japanese mapo tofu.

But this is all philosophy; it's equally valid to say that these contextual elements don't have any real weight. I just wonder if your hunger for more biryani might have come from this kind of hole rather than just simple hunger. Maybe when we feel this kind of desire, what we actually hunger for is human connection?

I guess, for me it's pretty simple:

The rice should have really nice long grains, and be perfectly cooked -- not mushy, but not al dente either.

The meat needs to be tender.

There should be some fragrance, but not an overpowering amount. Hints of cardamom, clove and black pepper. Maybe cinnamon, too... but it shouldn't be a pot pourri.

It should be vibrant, you should see the yellows and reds interacting with the rice.

And finally, it should have some heat. A pleasant burn.

All biryanis are different, but the good ones for me have always shared those qualities.

Nik Sharma's recipe is pretty good and well adapted to Western kitchens.