How One of NYC’s Best Indian Chefs Makes Biryani

Biryani's considered this quintessential dish

that almost defines Indian food.

It is easily one

of the most ordered dishes at any restaurant.

Everyone always has this preconceived notion about biryani

that it's an extremely time-consuming recipe,

but there's nothing to be really worried about.

If you just look at it, it's all about layers.

Today I'm gonna be making a biryani

with the dum method of cooking.

And dum literally means to cook under pressure.

It's a very uniform and even method of cooking,

and it just makes the biryani super fluffy

and super moist on the inside.

[lively music]

A masala is just an aromatic blend of spices.

I have a recipe for a biryani masala.

It uses all these really nice warm aromatic spices.

I'm gonna toast them and then I'm gonna grind them up.

Do you need a biryani masala? 100%.

Do you need to make it yourself? No, you can buy it.

I have a really nice wide skillet.

I wanna get the pan really nice and hot

and then when the spices go in,

you can obviously reduce the flame

'cause you don't want those spices to overtoast and burn.

So the whole point of this is to kind

of release the essential oils that are on all these spices.

So I'm not gonna have any oil in the pan.

Dry red chilies.

So these chilies are spicy,

but they also have that really nice floral fragrant aroma

of dry red chilies, which is perfect for the biryani masala.

Whole bay leaves, mace, which is the outer bark

or the coating of a nutmeg.

Very fragrant, very flavorful.

Cumin seeds. Caraway seeds.

A biryani masala needs to have green cardamom in it

and it's usually the aroma that stands out the most

when you're smelling a biryani masala.

Whole black cardamom is a very strong spice,

whole black peppercorns, coriander seeds.

So the cinnamon is gonna add that sweetness.

Whole cloves.

So I would think about four to five minutes

and you can start seeing it.

The one thing that you wanna do

is you wanna just keep swirling your pan.

You don't want the spices to burn.

That's the last thing you want.

If you start smelling the spices

and you feel they're really nice and aromatic,

pull them off.

So my spices are toasted right now.

They're perfect, but what I'm gonna do

is rather than leaving them in this pan,

I am gonna transfer them into another bowl.

[spoon banging]

have the nutmeg. It's a very delicate spice.

Probably 1/4 of this nutmeg

with so much of biryani masala.

That's perfect.

Half a teaspoon of the turmeric powder,

which doesn't need toasting

'cause this on the heat would immediately burn.

dried fenugreek leaves, which is also called kasuri methi.

It's got this bitter umami

and it gives a lot of depth.

Teaspoon of salt.

Very important tip,

you don't want your spices to be too fine.

You want that biryani masala

to have a little bit of a coarse finish.

[grinder whirring]

It's perfect. I exactly want it to look this consistency.

It's not a fine powder,

and some of the spices didn't even completely grind.

I want it to look like that.

[lively music]

I have chicken thighs and chicken drumsticks.

The fact that it's on the bone lends a lot

of character to the final dish.

Chicken is a much more common protein

that's found in biryani,

though traditionally biryani was made with goat or mutton.

With marinating a chicken,

make your marinade and then add your chicken.

First things first, and the most important

is the reserved oil from your birista.

Birista is fried onions that we use for biryani.

So traditionally if you were slicing onions,

you would go along with the grain.

You will literally follow the lines that are on the globe

of the onion.

For birista, you'll do it slightly a little differently.

You cut it across the grain.

So what you get are these even slices

and strands of onion, which you need

to pull apart and break apart.

And what this ensures is that your onions caramelize

and they turn golden brown,

but they also crisp up at the same speed

and at the same rate.

If you haven't had the time to fry the onions

and make your own birista,

you can just use regular neutral oil.

I'm gonna be using four tablespoons

of the ginger garlic paste.

So this is just equal parts of ginger and garlic.

Ginger and garlic are two ingredients

that Indian cooking cannot do without.

Green chili paste is just thin, slender green chilies

blended with oil, but this just adds that fresh heat

that takes my chicken to a whole different level.

Kashmiri red chili powder,

Kashmiri red chili powder gives you

this really nice bright red color.

The turmeric and just that much is enough for the color

that I want in the final product,

the biryani masala that we made.

Coriander powder, salt,

and this is completely up to your discretion,

probably half a lemon into this.

The reason why I'm rolling it like this on the wooden board

is just it's gonna release a lot more juice

and it's gonna be a little easier for me

to squeeze it when I put it into the lemon press.

I'm very happy with the way that tastes

is when I can go in with my chicken.

I cannot forget to put the fried onions

that we made earlier.

We are gonna be using about 70% of the fried onions.

The remaining we save for later for the layering process.

We're just gonna let our chicken rest in the refrigerator

for the next two to three hours.

We're all ready to go in with the yogurt.

I have full fat Greek yogurt, which I just whisked

with a little bit of water.

I just got it really nice and smooth.

I want it to evenly really coat the chicken.

The water from the chicken and the yogurt breaking down

that really adds body to this chicken curry

for our biryani layering.

Traditionally we use dahi,

which is the yogurt that we get back home.

Greek yogurt is a fantastic alternate to that.

Greek yogurt, readily available everywhere.

I haven't been able to tell much

of a difference when I've used Greek yogurt

versus when I've used regular dahi.

So I have a nice generous bunch of mint

and coriander, cilantro. [knife chopping]

So my greens are cut.

I'm gonna go in with half this mix

of the coriander and the mint.

So this looks great.

The chicken's marinated with the yogurt

and the herbs now, good to go.

I'm just gonna set this to the side.

[lively music]

When you think of biryani,

the first ingredient that comes to your mind is the rice.

For today's biryani,

what I'm gonna be using is called a Sella Basmati rice.

If you look at it, the rice has this lightest yellowish hue

to it, which means that the rice has been aged

and I can smell the age on it.

I have my soaked rice here, soaking for an hour,

hour and a half, and it's perfect.

So I simply soaked it, one, to rehydrate the grain of starch

and to also reduce the cooking time

when I'm cooking the rice.

If I hadn't soaked this rice,

it would easily take about 11 to 12 minutes.

But with the soaking

and with the fact that the grain's been rehydrated,

this should not take more than four minutes to cook.

I have a pot of water, which is at a vigorous rapid boil.

It's not just boiled rice,

we're literally perfuming the rice.

So I have a bunch of whole spices, star anise.

I have some black peppercorns.

I have green cardamom and cloves,

a stick of cinnamon and bay leaf.

I'm gonna add a slit green chili.

I'm gonna add a little bit of oil to my rice.

I just like the fact that the rice has a nice sheen on it

when it's done cooking.

I have some caraway seeds again.

Just like you're cooking any starch

or any grain, I'm gonna go in generously with salt.

Adding lemon juice and then the whole lemon itself

just preserves the color of the rice.

You don't wanna keep agitating with a spoon,

you don't wanna keep stirring it.

That'll break the rice.

When I feel that it's 70 to 75% done,

I am gonna immediately take it out.

Just saw the rice and it's perfect,

like I'm able to smash it, but it doesn't completely smash.

It still holds its shape, which is perfect.

I have a sheet tray

and I'm gonna start fishing the rice out of this pot.

I wanna spread this out.

If this just sat on top of each other,

the steam is gonna completely overcook the rice

and I don't want that.

I want the rice to be nice and distinct from each other.

Rice looks perfect.

We're gonna move on to making our jhol next.

So jhol is the fuel for a dum-cooked biryani.

Jhol is literally a thin broth

or a thin liquid that adds perfume

and aroma to the rice and to the meat.

Slowly start heating up this cream

and let it get nice and warm.

I don't want it to boil, I just want it to get warm enough

where I add the saffron strands to it and it slowly

and steadily releases its aroma into the saffron.

We pull out all the special big guns for this dish.

So saffron is not something that we cook with

on a regular basis.

It's a very luxurious ingredient.

Our saffron's completely infused,

and while it sits in that bowl, it continues to infuse.

In the meanwhile, I'm just gonna melt out some ghee,

which is clarified Indian butter.

And I have a whole slender thin green chili.

I'm just gonna slit it in half.

I'm gonna let the fat do its thing.

And again, the same philosophy, the same principle,

you're building flavor in layers, so you're kind of infusing

that fat with the green chili.

And we go straight inside.

Now is when we add real perfume to the jhol

and this just takes your jhol to a complete different level.

This is what makes restaurant biryanis

taste so fragrant and aromatic.

So I'm gonna go in with my rose water, which is gulab jal.

That's more than enough.

It's pretty strong, it's pretty flavorful.

That by itself should be more than enough to give the kind

of flavor that I'm looking for.

I'm gonna add the same amount of kewra pani into the jhol

and it's perfect 'cause it kind

of emulsifies everything together.

And you have this beautiful liquid, almost like liquid gold,

just so fragrance, so perfumed.

This looks perfect, smells perfect.

Our biryani jhol is ready.

[lively music]

The next part of the biryani is making the dum dough,

the thing that seals the gap between the pot

and the lid of the pot.

And what this does is it traps all the steam inside.

Of course, you can definitely use aluminum foil

and definitely you can use a damp muslin cloth

to create that dum seal.

But, of course, nothing beats the traditional way

of actually making a dough, rolling it out,

putting it on the lid, putting it on the edges,

and really locking that steam inside.

I'm gonna go in with some wheat flour,

or atta as they call it, a little bit of oil and water.

This is just for the simple purpose

of making a really nice dough, a tactile dough

that's gonna seal the pot.

I'm just gonna roll it up into a ball.

Have it covered with a damp cloth.

And then I'm gonna use this to seal my biryani

when I'm done with all the layering process.

[lively music]

We're down to our last step

before we actually start layering the biryani.

So I have a really nice heavy bottom cast iron skillet.

The plan or the goal here

is to not cook the chicken all the way through.

So the reason why we are only gonna cook it

about 70 to 75% right now

is to also preserve the moisture in the chicken.

Full heat. I'm gonna use a combination of two fats.

I'm gonna use the onion oil

that we have from frying the birista,

some clarified butter or ghee.

Probably drop a little bit off that marinade

[oil sizzling]

just to see if the oil's hot enough.

I'm very happy with that.

I'm gonna go in with all my chicken all at once

with the marinade, everything.

[food sizzling]

I hate wasting any sort of flavor just left in the bowl

'cause it's just gonna go into the dish pit.

I would rather get my hands dirty

and then wash my hands off rather than just losing all

that marinade and all that flavor in the bowl.

Try to get a sear on the chicken so that it locks

that juiciness and that freshness inside the chicken.

I'm just trying to get a little bit of color on the chicken

where I can tell that the chicken skin's been exposed

to that heat.

That's where all the flavor is.

If you look at it,

I haven't added any water, I haven't added any stock.

I'm just waiting for the yogurt to break down.

I'm just waiting for the chicken to break down.

That's what is gonna be the main base

for this fantastic chicken biryani.

Chicken's fully seared.

I am gonna get the heat down now

so that I can slowly just put the lid on this

and let the chicken cook.

This chicken is gonna take about seven

or eight minutes to get there,

75 to 70% of the way done in terms of its cooking.

I don't wanna overcook this.

The chicken should be done by then.

[lively music]

It's time to assemble our biryani.

What I have are all the components that I need

to build layers in this biryani.

I'm gonna start off with first and foremost, the jhol.

Spread out a very thin layer right

at the bottom of my Dutch oven.

So the whole point of just adding a spoon of this jhol

is for it to be the first layer of lubrication

between the pot and the rice.

So I'm just gonna go in with an even layer of rice.

Take your time with this. It's all about patience.

So spread the rice out evenly.

You wanna make sure that you just have a little bit of rice.

That is gonna be the first layer. The chicken's 70% cooked.

I like the fact that all the fat that we used, the onion oil

and the ghee's kind of surfaced to the top.

Kind of swirl them around in that sauce

'cause that's where all the flavor is.

Fried onion, the mint,

very nice uniform layer of the chopped mint.

Same with the cilantro.

Nice uniform layer of chopped cilantro.

We'll go in next with my slit sliced green chilies.

Not a lot, or depending on how spicy you want it,

you can go in with more.

I like my biryani nice and spicy.

A lot of freshness and really controlled heat.

Ginger juliennes.

The ginger's gonna provide heat,

a very comforting heat at the back of your throat.

Our jhol, one little nice spoon of it.

All of this is gonna create steam

and that's what's gonna help

the biryani complete its cooking process.

And we repeat the same process again.

We go in with our rice. This is all about repetition.

So what I'm also doing when I'm putting the chicken

is I'm really swirling it in the sauce, getting it nice

and evenly coated with that beautiful, rich, thick sauce

that we have with the yogurt

and just with the chicken juices.

That is literally what's gonna add body to your biryani.

Spoon it over the chicken, spoon it in the rice.

So the biryani I'm making can easily feed

about four or five people.

I like three layers. You can obviously do two.

If you have a bigger pot,

you wanna go in with four, that's fine also.

You wanna have a little bit of space just for that steam

to evenly move and distribute throughout the pot.

Do not mix this right now. Your time to mix will come.

The whole point of doing this right now

is to build the layers.

You're gonna mix it up when you serve it.

If you mix this up right now,

the chicken's not completely cooked.

The rice is not completely cooked.

And now for the fun part, this is the lid

for the dutch oven.

I'm gonna put this on and the whole point of now

is to create a dough seal right around the edge.

When I'm rolling the dough, I just wanna make sure

that I get a long even strand.

Something I like to do personally

is like literally go outwards.

So I start off in the middle

and I just put gentle pressure, just allowing the dough

to stretch with my rolling.

I have a little bowl with water in it,

and what I'm gonna do

is I'm literally just gonna dip my fingers

and just run it around the edge of the pot.

And the water kind of ensures that the dough sticks to it.

And it's just like a little trick that I learned.

I've realized that when you put water around the edge,

it really seals it up super nice.

And what I'm doing is I'm literally just like putting it

on the circumference of the pot.

Perfect, nice and even.

My lid goes right on top of that.

I can just press it a little bit.

Pop this in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit

for about 30 to 35 minutes.

It's been cooking for the last 30 to 35 minutes.

I'm very happy with it.

The dough has completely firmed up,

which means that as the dough cooked,

it ensured a really foolproof way

of the steam not escaping this pot.

Be very careful because this is a Dutch oven,

so it is gonna be ripping hot.

If you saw that poof of steam coming out of the biryani,

you know you did your job correctly.

All you have to do now is literally take a spoon,

fluff it up and serve and see all the different layers

and how the biryani came together.

It's just the perfect consistency. The rice is not breaking.

I can still see the steam escaping.

Ready to start plating this now.

So, of course, biryani, equal parts of chicken and rice.

So whenever I eat a biryani at home

or even at restaurants across the world,

the most traditional accompaniment for a biryani is raita.

The way I like to make it is just by whisking yogurt,

some salt, some cumin powder,

and then just bring chopped cucumbers and mint inside it.

Biryani, and in general all rice preparations back in India,

meant to be eaten with your hands.

There's something really very comforting

about shredding into the meat and the rice with your hands,

and that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

Don't let anyone tell you anything otherwise.

Literally just taking some of the chicken, some of the rice,

making sure I get those fried onions.

Make sure that I get those slit green chilies.

That is perfect.

I'm not gonna lie about this.

It took time, took a lot of patience

and a lot of persistence but it's so worth it.

If you're entertaining people

and if you put this on the dining table,

I don't think anyone's gonna leave unhappy.

It shows in the final product.

And I feel biryani is one of those dishes

that is a true example of labor of love.