Chicken Biryani

‘Royal rice’ sealed with dough & baked with whole spices and nuts

from the kitchen

Biryani is not a rice dish with chicken in it. It is a method, and the method is called dum.

Rice and marinated chicken go into the pot in layers with whole spices between them. Then the lid goes on and the seam is sealed with dough, and nothing escapes after that. The pot goes into the oven and everything inside cooks in its own steam: the rice takes on the chicken, the chicken takes on the whole spices, and the aromatics have nowhere to go but into the grain. When the seal is broken the first thing out is the smell, which is the entire point of sealing it in the first place.

Hyderabad against Lucknow

There are two schools, and they have been arguing for centuries. Kachchi biryani goes into the pot raw — meat and rice together — and lives or dies on timing. Pakki biryani cooks the meat first and layers it with rice already part-way there. Hyderabad argues for one, Lucknow for the other, and nobody involved expects a resolution.

‘Royal rice’ is not a marketing line either. Dum biryani came out of Mughal kitchens, cooked for people who could afford saffron by cooks who could afford time, and the technique has not got any quicker in the centuries since.

The raita is not optional either, whatever anyone tells you. Cool yogurt resets the palate between mouthfuls, which is why a biryani eaten without it tastes hotter than it actually is.

At the table

One rule at the table: do not stir it. Lift from the side of the dish so the layers come up intact, rice from the top and chicken from beneath, because the architecture is the dish.

Ours comes with raita on the side, which is not an afterthought — cool yogurt against hot spiced rice is a piece of engineering. Order it for the middle of the table and let people take from it. A biryani cooked properly does not really want to be portioned in advance. The same rice and the same spicing turn up at weekend brunch in the Biryani Breakfast Bowl, with a fried egg on top of it.

Dietary & spice

There are cashews baked in, so it carries tree nuts, though the kitchen can leave them out. The raita brings dairy, and the naan alongside brings gluten — both can be served on the side or skipped. The allergy menu sets out exactly what every biryani carries.

Chicken Biryani.