Hyderabad Chicken Biryani

I love biryani, but most recipes are really complicated and not worth the time to cook for one person. I found a biryani kit at Jewels (they do make other biryani kits, but this is the only one Jewels carries, apparently), so I thought I’d give it a try. It comes with rice, which I don’t really need, but, oh, well. I mostly followed the measurements; I think it’s a bit too saucy, and I made more rice after the fact.

What’s annoying is, the recipe is inside the box, so you can’t tell what you need to buy until you open the box. I found the recipe on their website, but it is slightly different from the recipe in the box. They really need to be more consistent! 

I had to source several recipes to come up with this particular recipe. It’s still fairly complicated, but at least I didn’t have to assemble the spices. Most recipes say marinate the chicken, but neither of the biryani kit recipes mention marinating the chicken, so I didn’t. Marinating would probably give it more flavor, but that would take overnight.

• 1 biryani kit (comes with rice, biryani paste, whole spices)
• 4 1/3 cups water
• 3 tblsp oil
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 serrano peppers, sliced in quarter lengthwise
• 2 chicken thighs
• 2 chicken drumsticks
• 1 pinch saffron strands, soaked in 2 tblsp hot water
• 1/2 cup green peas
• fresh mint leaves

1. Add 4 cups water with 1 tblsp oil and whole spices to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the rice and boil, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat 2 tblsp oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat and fry the onion until golden brown. Remove the onion and set aside.
3. Add the chicken and fry until brown in all sides. Remove the chicken and set aside.
4. Add biryani paste and serrano peppers and sauté for a few minutes. 
   
5. Add 1/3 cup of water and return the chicken to the Dutch oven. Let simmer covered until the chicken is almost fully cooked, about 15 minutes. Remove the chicken, serrano peppers, and half the gravy.
6. Layer 1/2 of the rice, 1/4 of the fried onions, half of serrano peppers, all of the chicken, another 1/4 of the fried onions, and the remaining serrano peppers and rice in the Dutch oven.
7. Drizzle the gravy that was set aside and sprinkle with the soaked saffron and another 1/4 of the fried onion on the rice.
8. Cover tightly and cook on medium for 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low and cook for another 20 minutes. 
   
9. In the meantime, pour boiling water over the green peas. Let sit for 15 minutes and drain.
10. Turn the heat off and let rest for 10 minutes. Stir in the drained green peas.
11. Garnish with mint leaves and the remaining fried onions before serving.