@indranil16im
Biriyani is most probably a favourite food for Bengali. I will discuss most of the culture of west Bengal. Bengali mostly served biriyani in wedding ceremonies, birth day and all common programs.
I also love biriyani. Biriyani has various type
- Mutton biriyani
- Chicken biriyani
- Egg biriyani
- Potato biriyani
Lets come to the point the recipe of bengali biriyani
INGREDIENTS
Rice: Use long grain good quality basmati rice for biryani. You can use Giftree unpolished long grain basmati rice
Meat: Fresh, tender chicken is perfect for biryani. I would recommend making this biryani with bone pieces such as leg and thigh pieces.
Whole Spices: Cinnamon stick, clove, green cardamom, shah jeera, javitri, bay leaf, black peppercorns, black cardamom, kabab chini, jaiphal, star anise, etc.
Spice Powders: Turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, etc.
Ginger-Garlic: Fresh ginger paste and garlic paste.
Onion: For beresta, you should use sliced onions. Use chopped onion for cooking the mutton.
Vegetables: Potatoes are must for Bengali style biryani recipe.
Oil/Ghee: Vegetable oil & deshi ghee
Others: Salt, Sugar, yogurt, milk, saffron, eggs, etc.
HOW TO MAKE BENGALI CHICKEN BIRYANI?
- Making of Biryani Masala or Biryani Spice Powder
- Marination of Chicken
- Cooking the Rice for Biryani
- Cooking the Chicken for Biryani
- Assembling the bengali Chicken Biryani
MAKING OF BIRYANI MASALA
Dry roast the ingredients for bengali Biryani masala (excluding the nutmeg powder) in a skillet for a few minutes.
cool completely before grinding into a fine powder.
Mix the nutmeg powder with the ground spice mixture. Biryani Masala, commonly known as bengali Biryani Spice Powder, is now ready to use.
Once the chicken pieces have been well marinated, set them aside for at least four to five hours. If you don’t have enough time, marinate the chicken for at least an hour.
Wash the rice properly and soak it in water for 20 minutes. Drain the water and cook the rice with the whole spices indicated under the tab ‘For Cooking Biryani Rice‘.
Drain the water when the rice is 80% cooked. Place the rice on plates to cool. Season the rice with salt to taste.
In a skillet, heat the oil and add the sliced onions. Fry it with a little salt and sugar until it is golden and crisp. Remove them from the oil and place them on absorbent paper. Now ‘beresta’ is ready.
Meanwhile, parboil the potatoes and drain the water and keep aside. Later fry the potatoes in the remaining oil with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder.
Remove them and set them aside.
ASSEMBLING THE BENGALI CHICKEN BIRYANI
Soak the saffron in heated milk for 10 minutes. The milk will turn pale yellow.
You can also add few drops of food coloring to the milk.
Grease a big pot generously with ghee. Place one-third of the cooked chicken in the bottom, followed by rice, fried onions (beresta), a few potato halves, and a boiled egg. Add a splash of saffron milk to this layer.
Add a similar layer on top of this by layering cooked chicken, fried onions, rice, potatoes, boiled egg, and saffron milk. Finally, add kewra water and meetha attar to the top layer.
Cook for 2 minutes on high heat. Take the pot off the heat. Place an iron skillet on the gas fire and place the biryani pot on top.
Allow the gas to heat for around 10 minutes on a low flame. Turn off the heat and set aside for 10 minutes. Unseal the edges and serve the Kolkata style chicken biryani with raita.
Now serve bengali biriyani.
