About this recipe
The dum method means the rice finishes cooking in the steam trapped by the lid, absorbing everything rising from the chicken below. Two things decide whether it works: the rice must be pulled at 70 per cent cooked, and the pot must be genuinely sealed. Traditional recipes seal with a dough rope, which is wheat based, so this version uses foil instead.
Ingredients
- 1000 g chicken thighsbone-in, skinless, slashed
- 4 tsp fine sea saltmost goes into the rice water
- 1 whole limejuice only
- 25 g fresh corianderchopped
- 25 g fresh mintleaves picked
- 4 tbsp whole milkwarmed, for the saffron
- 0.5 tsp saffron threadssoaked in 4 tbsp warm milk
- 3 whole bay leaves
- 2 whole cinnamon stick
- 8 whole green cardamom pods
- 2 tsp garam masalacheck it is gluten free
- 0.75 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
- 4 whole green chilliesslit
- 40 g fresh gingergrated
- 8 clove garlic clovescrushed to a paste
- 4 tbsp ghee
- 150 ml vegetable oilfor frying the onions
- 4 whole onionsvery finely sliced
- 250 g greek yoghurtfull fat
- 500 g basmati ricesoaked 30 minutes then drained
Method
- 1
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the sliced onions in two batches over a medium heat for 15 to 18 minutes each, until deep brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and reserve the oil.
Take them a shade further than looks comfortable. Pale fried onions give a flat, sweet biryani; properly browned ones give it depth.
- 2
In a large bowl, mix the yoghurt, garlic paste, ginger, green chillies, Kashmiri chilli, turmeric, garam masala, lime juice, 1.5 tsp of the salt, half the fried onions, half the mint and half the coriander.
- 3
Add the chicken, rub the marinade well into the slashes, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- 4
Bring a very large pan of water to a rolling boil with 2 tsp of the salt, the cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Add the drained rice and boil for 4 to 5 minutes only.
- 5
Test a grain: it should still have a firm white core. Drain immediately in a colander and spread out on a tray so it stops cooking.
This is the step people get wrong. Fully cooked rice at this stage turns to porridge during the dum.