Biryanis & Pulav · Kolkata

Kolkata Chicken Biryani

Kolkata's gentle, perfumed biryani with Awadhi roots: mild chicken, golden potatoes and boiled eggs under long-grain rice scented with kewra, rose water, mace and saffron.

Prep 30 min · Cook 60 min · Total 90 min + 2 hr marinade · Serves 4

Ingredients

Chicken

• 750 g Chicken, bone-in, large pieces
• ¾ cup Thick yogurt
• 1 tbsp Ginger paste
• 1 tbsp Garlic paste
• 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
• 1 ½ tsp Salt
• 3 tbsp Ghee
• 2 Onions, thinly sliced and fried crisp
• ½ cup Oil, for frying

Potatoes and eggs

• 4 Medium potatoes, peeled and halved
• ¼ tsp Turmeric
• ½ tsp Salt
• 4 Eggs, hard-boiled and peeled

Biryani masala

• ¼ tsp Mace (javitri), ground
• ¼ tsp Nutmeg, grated
• ½ tsp Green cardamom, ground
• ½ tsp Garam masala
• 1 tsp Sugar

Rice

• 2 cups Aged basmati rice
• 1 Bay leaf
• 4 Green cardamom pods
• 4 Cloves
• 1 inch Cinnamon stick
• 2 tbsp Salt, for the water

Layering

• ¼ tsp Saffron strands
• ¼ cup Warm milk
• 1 tsp Kewra water
• ½ tsp Rose water
• 2 tbsp Ghee
• 1 tsp Mitha attar

Method

1. Marinate. Fry the onions in the oil until deep brown and crisp; drain. Mix the chicken with the yogurt, ginger and garlic pastes, chilli powder, salt and half the fried onions, crushed. Chill for at least 2 hours.
2. Fry the potatoes and eggs. Boil the potatoes in salted water with the turmeric for 8 minutes until just tender. Drain, prick all over and fry in 3 tbsp of the onion oil until golden. Roll the boiled eggs in the same oil for a minute to give them a golden skin.
3. Cook the chicken. Heat the 3 tbsp ghee in a heavy pot and add the chicken and its marinade. Cook on medium, stirring now and then, until the chicken is tender and the masala is thick and glossy, about 25 minutes. Stir in the mace, nutmeg, cardamom, garam masala and sugar.
4. Par-boil the rice. Boil 2 1/2 litres of water with the whole spices and salt. Add the drained rice and cook until 70% done. Drain at once.
5. Layer. Push the potatoes and eggs into the chicken masala. Cover with the rice and drizzle with the saffron milk, kewra, rose water, mitha attar and ghee. Scatter the rest of the fried onions.
6. Dum and serve. Cover with foil and a tight lid and cook on a hot tawa over the lowest flame for 25 minutes. Rest 10 minutes, then serve every plate with a potato, an egg and a piece of chicken, with a cucumber raita on the side.

Tips

The potato is the soul of a Kolkata biryani, so pick a waxy variety that holds its shape. Go easy on the kewra, rose water and attar: the rice should smell fragrant, not floral.