The national dish of Pakistan is Biryani. There are different versions of the aromatic and colourful Biryani: from meat (chicken, mutton, and beef) to seafood (fish and prawn), legumes and lentils. However the most famous recipe of all time in Pakistan is Chicken Biryani.
Pakistani cuisine, known for its richness and flavour, is the inheritor of Indo-Aryan culture and Mughal Muslim culinary traditions.
March 23 is the national day of Pakistan, celebrate it by making this recipe for Chicken Biryani created by our Country chef Sumrina.
Recipe: The national dish of Pakistan - Chicken Biryani
Ingredients
Rice
- 250 g rice preferably basmati rice that has been soaked for 30 min
- 600 ml water
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 whole cloves
- 2 whole cardamom
- salt
The gravy
- 2 large onions
- 2 large tomatoes
- 125 ml canola oil
- 1 large potato optional
- 3 whole cardamom
- 3 whole cloves
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 5 whole peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 500 g yoghurt
- 1 tsp salt
- 500 g chicken you can also use lamb, beef or prawns
- 5 dried plums soaked
- 3 green chilies or jalapeños
- 25 g fresh cilantro ½ cup chopped
- 25 g fresh mint ½ cup chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp saffron dissolved in 3 tbsp of warm milk
Instructions
The Rice:
- In a deep non-stick pot combine the rice, water, salt and rice spices. Cook on high flame, when it starts boiling reduce the flame to medium, let it simmer under a lid until rice is cooked (around 20 min)
- Strain the rice, and keep aside
The Gravy:
- Slice the onion finely and cut the tomatoes in cubes
- While the rice is cooking, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet and fry the cubed potato first if you are including it, then set the fried potato aside
- Then add whole spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks, peppercorn, and bay leaf) to the pan with the oil together with sliced onion. Fry until the onions turns golden
- Add the ginger and garlic paste, tomatoes, red chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin, coriander powder and garam masala powder. Sauté on medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add yogurt, salt and chicken. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the gravy is thick and oil separates.
For Assembling:
- In a deep non-stick pan or pot, transfer half of the cooked rice, spreading it evenly.
- Ladle all the gravy evenly over rice, followed by fried potatoes, soaked plums, green chilies, chopped cilantro and mint, then sprinkle with lemon juice.
- Add the remaining half of the rice, spread it evenly, and sprinkle with saffron milk.
- Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place the lid.
- Place the pan on non-stick girdle, and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes.
- Transfer on serving plate and garnish with fried onion, and chopped mint and coriander. You can also use boiled eggs (in halves), fried raisins and nuts.
Serving suggestion:
- Yogurt and vegetable salad: Chop some red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and mint, add yoghurt. Season with salt.
- Salsa: Chop some tomatoes, red onions, jalapeño and parsley. Add lime juice and season with salt.
About the Country Chef
For Sumrina Yusuf, cooking is not as much a hobby as it is a necessary ingredient in her life: creating new recipes and experimenting with the existing ones, is something she loves doing.
Read more about IngredientMatcher’s Country Chefs in the Foodie section
Read more about national dishes and the ebook “National Dishes From Around The World”
Read more about other national dish recipes published on this blog
About how many servings is this?
The recipe amounts are for 4 servings!
I made this recipe for dinner last week and my husband is STILL talking about it! He says it is the best biryani dish I have ever made. I used a Kenyan Pilau Masala (instead of traditional garam masala but obviously you can use either). I also added toasted slivered almonds and white raisins (from Kenya). We also don’t like it extremely hot so I used only 1 green chiii (deseeded), and no potatoes or plums (I didn’t have any). The core of the recipe was very good, I just changed the garnishes and a few spices according to what was in my cabinet. Delicious and will definitely be making it again!
I am glad you like it Leyla! Interesting to know that the recipe also works well with fewer recipes as you mentioned
When do you add the cardamom, cloves and cinammon sticks?
Hello and thanks for pointing out the unclarity, I have updated the recipe now! those ingredients are actually in two different places. 1 cinnamon stick + 2 whole cloves + 2 whole cardamoms are added to the rice in the very first step of the recipe. Then there are 3 whole cloves, 3 whole cardamom and 3 cinnamon sticks that are added the the oil and the sliced onions together with the peppercorns and bay leaf.
Where have you posted the updated recipe or is it the one on this thread above? Also, how important is the saffron in milk step? I also heard of a Kirachi Biyrani that doesn’t use tomatoes..do you have that one too?
Hi Naureen, the recipe is updated directly in the post. This is the only Biryani recipe on the site at the moment.
Not sure I know what the alternative you are contemplating with the saffron?
I think i will choose this recipe for my first attempt at biryani! But first do we simmer the rice covered or uncovered?
How much salt is put in rice
The amount of salt in the rice is depending on your own taste. Try with 1/4 tsp if you are unsure.
Hi.Are you using plain yogurt
Yes, plain yogurt
Hi, I made this today and it was delicious but unfortunately my rice looked great before the last step of layering and afterwards was very mushy. Any idea on how I can avoided this. It was dry when I layered it so I’m not sure what happened?
Same thing happened to me as Sarah. Everything was great until layering it together and it came out so mushy!! Help