Dutch-Oven Dum Chicken Biryani

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A restaurant-style layered biryani built for a home kitchen: yogurt-marinated chicken thighs, basmati parboiled to exactly 70 percent, deep-fried onions, and saffron milk poured over the top before the pot goes under a sealed lid for dum. The Dutch oven does the work of a sealed handi, and the written timings take the guesswork out of the two things that usually go wrong — undercooked rice and scorched masala.

Ingredients

• 2.5 lb bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks, skin removed
• 1 cup whole-milk plain yogurt (not Greek)
• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1.5 tsp Kashmiri chile powder
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1.5 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp neutral oil

• 3 large yellow onions, sliced thin
• 1 cup neutral oil, for frying

• 3 tbsp ghee
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 green cardamom pods, cracked
• 1 black cardamom pod
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 serrano chiles, slit lengthwise
• 1 cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup chopped mint leaves

• 3 cups aged long-grain basmati rice
• 4 qt water
• 3 tbsp kosher salt, for the boiling water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1/2 tsp saffron threads
• 1/3 cup whole milk, warm
• 3 tbsp ghee, melted
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp rose water or kewra water (optional)

• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 1 cup diced cucumber
• 1/2 tsp toasted ground cumin
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions

1. Marinate the chicken: pat the pieces very dry and slash each thigh and drumstick twice down to the bone. In a large bowl whisk the yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, 2 tsp salt, Kashmiri chile, turmeric, garam masala, coriander, lemon juice and oil. Add the chicken, massage the marinade into the slashes, cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 24 (overnight is noticeably better). Pull it out 30 minutes before cooking.
2. Fry the onions: heat 1 cup oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high to about 325°F. Add the sliced onions in two batches and fry, stirring often, 10 to 14 minutes per batch, until deep even gold — pull them the moment they go from blond to caramel-colored, since they darken off the heat. Drain on paper towels in a single layer; they should crisp as they cool. Reserve 2 tbsp of the onion oil and set aside a generous 1/2 cup of the birista for layering.
3. Bloom the saffron: crumble the saffron between your fingers into the warm milk, add the rose or kewra water if using, and let it steep at least 20 minutes until the milk is bright orange.
4. Build the masala: in a 6- to 7-quart Dutch oven, heat the ghee plus the 2 tbsp reserved onion oil over medium. Add the cinnamon, both cardamoms, cloves and bay leaf and fry 45 seconds until fragrant. Add the serranos and tomatoes, and cook 6 to 8 minutes, mashing, until the tomatoes break down and the oil separates at the edges.
5. Add all the marinated chicken with every scrap of marinade, plus half the fried onions and half the cilantro and mint. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, 12 to 15 minutes, until the yogurt tightens into a thick clinging gravy and you can see fat pooling on the surface. There should be roughly 1 cup of loose gravy — no more, or the rice will go mushy. Taste and salt firmly; it must be slightly over-seasoned to season the rice above it. Spread the chicken in an even layer and turn off the heat.
6. Parboil the rice: while the chicken cooks, rinse the basmati in 4 or 5 changes of cool water until it runs nearly clear, then soak 25 minutes and drain. Bring 4 quarts water to a hard boil with 3 tbsp salt, the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, cumin seeds and lemon juice. Add the drained rice, stir once, and boil vigorously 4 to 5 minutes — start testing at 3.5. You want 70 percent done: a grain should bend and break with a firm opaque core still visible. Drain immediately in a colander and shake to release steam.
7. Layer: spoon half the hot rice over the chicken in the Dutch oven and level it gently with a fork, never pressing. Scatter half the remaining fried onions, half the remaining herbs, and drizzle with half the melted ghee. Add the rest of the rice, then top with the remaining onions, herbs, the garam masala, the cream, the rest of the ghee, and finally drizzle the saffron milk over the surface in ribbons so you get white and orange grains rather than a uniform yellow.
8. Seal for dum: lay a sheet of foil or a clean damp kitchen towel over the pot mouth and clamp the lid down tight over it (fold any towel ends up onto the lid, away from the burner). Set the pot over medium-high heat for 4 minutes to bring the base back to a sizzle, then drop to the lowest possible flame — set the pot on a heat diffuser or an upturned cast-iron skillet if your smallest burner still runs hot — and cook 30 minutes. Alternatively, sizzle 4 minutes on the stove and transfer the sealed pot to a 325°F oven for 35 minutes.
9. Rest and serve: take the pot off the heat and let it stand sealed 15 minutes — do not peek, this is when the top rice finishes on residual steam. Unseal, insert a wide spatula down the side to the bottom, and lift sections up and over rather than stirring so the layers and whole grains stay intact. Serve with yogurt whisked with cucumber, toasted cumin and a pinch of salt, plus lime wedges.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

More from Sprig Originals

One-Skillet Blackened Cajun Chicken Pasta

One-Pot Chicken Creole

Dark Roux Seafood Gumbo with Quick Shrimp Stock

Are you this recipe's original author or publisher? Report a problem