If you want a chicken biryani with juicy meat and rice that stays in separate grains, the dum method is the way to cook it. This is the chicken dum biryani Sarada makes at home: yoghurt-marinated chicken, partly cooked basmati, fried onions, mint, coriander and saffron, sealed in a heavy pot and cooked in its own steam.
The recipe below comes from Sarada herself. She described it in a voice note and we wrote it up in the order she cooks it. The photos are from her earlier cooks (2019 and October 2020), not from a fresh cook this week.
Chicken dum biryani at a glance
- Chicken: 1 kg, cut evenly
- Rice: 1 kg basmati, soaked for 30 minutes
- Marinate: 1 to 2 hours in the fridge
- Dum: 5 to 10 minutes on high heat, then 20 to 25 minutes on low
- Makes: a large pot, roughly 6 to 8 servings (our estimate for 1 kg of rice and 1 kg of chicken)
- Heat level: medium. Cut the chilli powder down if you want it milder.
What you need
- 1 kg chicken, cut into even pieces
- 1 kg basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes
- 1 cup curd (plain yoghurt)
- 2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste
- 2 teaspoons red chilli powder
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala or biryani masala
- 1 cup chopped mint and coriander leaves
- 4 to 5 green chillies, slit
- 4 onions, sliced and fried until brown
- Oil and ghee as needed (2 teaspoons of ghee go on top before dum)
- Whole spices for the rice water: cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, shahi jeera and a bay leaf
- Juice of 1 lemon wedge
- A few saffron strands soaked in milk (or a pinch of food colour)
- Salt to taste
Sarada did not give amounts for the whole spices, so use a small pinch or a small piece of each. Her main point is not to overdo them.
How to make chicken dum biryani
Step 1: Marinate the chicken
Put the cleaned chicken in a large bowl. Add the ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric, salt, curd and lemon juice. Add a little of the chopped mint and coriander, a handful of the fried onions and 2 teaspoons of oil, then mix well. Cover and chill for at least 1 to 2 hours. Sarada says the longer it marinates, the juicier the chicken turns out.
Step 2: Cook the rice only part-way
Bring a big pot of water to the boil with the whole spices, salt and a little mint. Tip in the soaked basmati and cook until the rice is only 70 to 80 percent done. That is about one boil. Drain it straight away. The rice finishes cooking in the steam later, so it must not be soft at this stage.
Step 3: Layer the pot
Take a heavy-bottomed pot or handi. Spread the marinated chicken evenly over the bottom, then add the drained rice on top as one layer. Scatter the rest of the fried onions, the coriander and mint over the rice. Add 2 teaspoons of ghee and the saffron milk (a pinch of food colour works if you have no saffron).
Step 4: Seal the pot and give it dum
Close the pot tightly so no steam escapes. Sarada seals it with a ring of wheat dough, or uses a heavy lid. Cook on high heat for the first 5 to 10 minutes, then turn the flame to low and leave it for 20 to 25 minutes without opening it.
Step 5: Open, check and serve
Open the lid and check the chicken before you serve. Cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink and with clear juices. The Food Standards Agency uses this skewer check for poultry (FSA, checking food is cooked). A probe thermometer is more reliable if you have one. Then mix gently from the sides so the rice grains stay whole, and serve hot.
What Sarada says to remember
- Marinate longer if you can. The chicken comes out juicier.
- Stop the rice at 70 to 80 percent. It finishes in the steam.
- Seal the pot well. If the steam escapes, the top layer stays hard.
- Start on high heat, then go low for the rest of the dum.
What to serve it with
You can see a bowl of raita next to the pot in our photo, and that is the simplest pairing. Cucumber or onion raita cools the masala and goes well with the saffron rice.
Where we are less sure
Sarada gave the quantities for the chicken, the rice and the main masalas. She did not give a figure for the whole spices, the ghee beyond the 2 teaspoons on top, or the oil in the marinade, so those are left as “as needed”. The serving count is our own estimate for this much rice and chicken. If you halve the recipe, keep the same method and dum times and check the pot after the earlier end of the range.
Frequently asked questions
Why cook the rice only 70 to 80 percent?
Because it keeps cooking in the steam during dum. If it is fully cooked before layering, it turns soft and sticky by the time you open the pot.
Do I have to seal the pot with dough?
Sarada seals it with wheat dough or uses a heavy lid. The point is the same either way: keep the steam inside the pot.
How long should I marinate the chicken?
At least 1 to 2 hours in the fridge, according to Sarada. A longer marinade gives juicier chicken.
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