Chicken Dum Biryani (Pakki style)

The easiest Pakki style Chicken Dum Biryani recipe made with store-bought Biryani masala powder. Super delicious. I promise you'd definitely think twice when you order Biryani from a restaurant next time. There are thousands of different biryani varieties out there. But in my opinion, nothing can beat Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani. "Dum" means cooked with steam. All the dum biryanis fall into two different categories. One is kacchi and the other is pakki. Kacchi means "raw" and Pakki means "cooked". In Kacchi Biryani, you marinate the meat for a very long period of time and then layer with half cooked rice and cook with steam (aka Dum). In Pakki style, you cook meat and rice separately and then layer and cook again in a Dum. Kacchi vs Pakki styles There are a few cons and pros to both of these methods. The kacchi (raw) style definitely takes longer to make. You need at least 12hours of meat marination and then you need to cook it with steam for longer until the meat is cooked. But the hands-on time is very short since you cook it only once. And I can guarantee that you're going to have melt-in-your-mouth tender meat at the end because of the longer marination in yogurt. The yogurt helps to breakdown the proteins and make the meat super moist and tender. Please refer to my Kacchi style chicken dum biryani recipe. So whenever I have time to prepare ahead of time, this is the biryani I always go for. The cons are, this method is a little tricky. if you didn't cook it enough, you can end up with raw meat. And if you cook in high heat, you can burn the chicken and masalas on the bottom. On the other hand, Pakki style chicken dum biryani recipe is my favorite to make in a hurry. Let's say I just got to know that my friends are going to visit for dinner, and I want to make Biryani, then this is the recipe I always go for. In Pakki method, you cook the meat as you cook a curry. And you make your rice in a different vessel at the same time. Then you layer your cooked meat and rice and cook in dum again. What I love about this method is, you can always taste the curry and adjust the seasoning, spices as you make it. And you definitely know that your meat is cooked. So it's fool-proof. But your hands-on time is longer since you cook the curry too. Also, your meat wouldn't turn out to be as tender as your kacchi style meat. (trust me it's still tender and delicious). If you want to try the Kacchi method, visit my kacchi style chicken biryani recipe for the most simplified and detailed recipe. Important info:

1. For this pakki style chicken dum biryani, I use store-bought masala for the convenience. The brand I'm using is called "Shan" and I'm using their "Bombay biryani masala"  (not sponsored). You can use any other biryani masala that is available in your grocery stores.
2. I do not use whole spices for the curry since they're included in the biryani masala packet I use. But if your biryani masala doesn't have them, add 1/8 tsp of cumin seeds, 3 cloves, 3 cardamoms, a piece of cinnamon, 1 star anise when you fry the onions.
3. I also add some Kashmiri red chili powder for the color of the biryani and cayenne for heat. You can substitute with any other red chili powder or skip if you don't want heat.
4. The chicken needs to cook longer in the curry to get them tender. So don't do that in a hurry. Cook the curry in low flame for a longer time.
5. Turn off the heat when you add your yogurt. When yogurt heats up the protein in it curdles and starts to separate. So make sure you turn off the heat when you add your yogurt, mix with your chicken, and then turn the heat to medium-low when you cook.
6. Also use room temp, full-fat yogurt if possible. The sudden heat difference and the lower fat content can also make the yogurt to curdle.
7. When you cook rice, it's very important that you salt the water properly. Most of the time, the culprit of bland biryani is under-salting. Taste the water your boil your rice with. It should taste pretty salty. (for your reference: for about 3l of water I add about two palms salt. Of course, this depends on how salty your salt is)
8. cook the rice until they're about 90%. I know this doesn't make sense. What you're aiming for is almost cooked rice. I usually take a rice grain out and bite it to test the doneness. You should feel that the rice grains are cooked all the way through (no white raw starch in the middle) but firm and need a bit more cooking. Do not wait until they get mushy. Drain the rice immediately and spread them around the colander to stop them from further cooking.
9. Use good quality basmati rice. And wash the rice thoroughly until water runs clear to remove all the starch. Otherwise starch would become gummy and rice grains would stick together.
10. Soak the rice before you cook. This helps the rice to cook faster and to cook all the grains thoroughly.
11. You can make the curry ahead of time. Then later you can cook the rice, layer, and steam it before you serve. Or you can also layer the chicken and rice in a baking tray, cover with an aluminum foil and bake it a 350F preheated oven for about 30 - 40mins.

Serving options: Serve with onion or cucumber raita and hard-boiled eggs. Use fried onion, fresh cilantro, and mint to garnish the biryani. Some items that are mentioned in the recipe (Affiliate Links):