HYDERABADI CHICKEN DUM BIRYANI

Ingredients:

• Rice 1kg (soaked for 30 mins)

• Chicken 1kg

• Curd 250g

• Salt to taste

• Oil 150ml

• Ghee 150g

• Butter 2tbsp

• Onion 4 medium pieces (sliced and light-browned in oil)

• Clove 7-8 pieces

• Green cardamom 5-6 pieces

• Cinnamon stick 1 inch

• Black cumin 1tsp (Shahi jeera)

• Biryani garam masala 1tbsp

• Kewra water 1 tbsp

• Mint leaves ½ cup

• Coriander leaves ½ cup

• Green chilli 4-5 pcs

• Red chilli powder 1tbsp

• Turmeric 1tsp

• Cumin powder 1tbsp

• Garlic paste 2tbsp

• Ginger paste 2tbsp

• Milk ¼cup

BIRYANI MASALA

• Green Cardamom 1tsp

• White pepper 1tsp

• Kebab Chini ½tsp

• Shahi Jeera ½tsp

• Clove 5-6 pieces

• Cinnamon stick 1 piece (of ½ inch)]

• Javitri (nutmeg) 2-3 piece

Grind all dry spices.

Method

Step 1

Grind together the mint leaves, coriander leaves and green chilli.

Marinate all ingredients with the chicken except the clove, cinnamon and green cardamom. Leave the marination for 1 hour. For best results, marinate overnight.

Step 2

Heat a vessel on the stove. Pour in oil and add the marinated chicken. Cook until it’s 90 per cent made.

Take another vessel and place it on the stove. Add 4-5 litres of water. Put five tablespoons of salt (adjust according to taste). Add the rest of the spices in the ingredients and let the water boil. Add the soaked rice and cook until its 90 per cent prepared.

Now, strain the rice.

Step 3

Grease a vessel with ghee. Now add half of the rice and layer it flat with the cooked chicken. Sprinkle biryani garam masala and pudina. Add the rest of the rice and sprinkle with the biryani garam masala again. Add ghee and butter on the top. Mix the milk and kewra water together and pour it on top of the rice.

Place the lid on the vessel and cover it to let it cook for five minutes on medium-high flame and 10 minutes on low flame.

Serve your Hyderabadi Dum Biryani and serve with raita or salad.

SQUARE PARATHA

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour/ whole wheat flour 500g

• Salt ½tsp

• Milk ½cup

• Ghee/ butter/ oil (as required)

Method

Step 1

Mix all ingredients and make a soft dough out of it. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Make a plane chapati. Pat some ghee/ butter/ oil onto the chapati. Now roll it into a square.

Step 2

Heat a pan and place the paratha onto it. Let it cook till both sides are light brown. Now add ghee/ butter/ oil onto the paratha and flip it to the bottom side of the pan. Let it stay till both sides are golden-brown. Serve hot.

DESI MUTTON HANDI

Ingredients:

• Oil 125ml

• Mutton 1kg

• Curd 200g

• Garlic 2 bunch medium-sized

• Ginger 1½ inch

• Red chilli 10 pieces (whole)

• Black pepper 10-12 pieces (whole)

• Cumin seeds (1 tbsp)

• Clove 5 pieces (whole)

• Green cardamom (6 pieces)

• Cinnamon stick (a piece of ½inch)

• Turmeric (½ tsp)

• Onion (3 pcs)

• Salt (as required)

For sizzling

• Black Cardamom (2pcs) lBay leaf (2-3 dried leaves)

For garnishing

• Coriander

Method

Step 1

Grind all ingredients except curd and turmeric to make a fine paste. Place a vessel on the stove. Pour in 100ml of oil. Add bay leaves and black cardamom. Let it crack. Add all spices and stir it at low-medium heat till the oil is separated.

Step 2

Place a pressure cooker on the stove. Pour the rest 25ml of oil. Add black cumin seeds and then the meat.

Light-fry the meat until the purge is no more. Now stir the curd into a thin texture and add it to the meat. Let the water get dry. Mix in the spices that have been fried. Pour in two glasses of water. Cover the pressure cooker and let it cook until tender. Garnish with coriander.

SPECIAL ZARDA

Ingredients:

• Long grain Basmati rice (500g)

• Ghee (125g)

• Sugar (500g)

• Orange food colour (½ tsp)

• Khoa 100g

• Almond 10-15 pcs (chopped)

• Cashew 15-20 pcs (split)

• Raisin 15-20 pcs

• Kewra water 1tsp (optional)

• Cloves 6-7 pcs

• Green cardamom 4-5 pieces

Method

Step 1

Soak the rice in water for half and hour. Place a vessel on the stove and pour two litres of water. Add orange food colour and kewra water. Let it boil.

Add the soaked rice into the vessel and let it stay till the rice is 100 per cent cooked. Drain the rice.

Step 2

Add 1tbsp of ghee in the same vessel. Now place the dry fruits in and fry it for a minute then pull them out.

Step 3

Add in rest of the ghee into the vessel. Add clove and cardamom and let it crackle for a second. This will enhance the taste and add an aroma.

Now, let the sugar melt at a low flame and add the cooked rice into it.

Cover the vessel at low flame for two minutes.

Open the lid after 2 minutes and pour ¼cup of water.

Cover the vessel again for 4-5 minutes.

Open the lid and shift the flame to medium-high.

Mix it with light hands till the sugar syrup dries and is consumed by the rice. This process shall take seven to eight minutes on high flame and shall not be disturbed until then. To check if the syrup is consumed, you can dig into the rice with your cooking spoon.

Lastly, add all dry fruits and khoa. Mix well.

Nazish Pervez Khan, is a Uniworld City resident