DOs and DON'Ts while making biryani (2024)

I tried to copy a lot of biryani recipes that are on the internet and in that process I wasted a lot of meat andrice.

It’s all about the proportions ultimately so don’t take thatcasually.

It took a lot of perseverance in getting the recipe just right. So here are some DOs and DON’Ts for making mutton dum biryani (_same applies for chicken biryani_). These points are an extension of the Hyderabadi style biryani which is cooked in layers of meat andrice.

DOs

1. Make sure you use a thick base vessel for cooking, so that the heat gets evenlydistributed.
2. Best practice is to marinate the meat for 2-3 hours so that all the juices get inside themeat.
3. Use lots of fried onions in themarinade.
4. Add good amount of salt. Generally the salt concentration reduces after you add the meat so make sure you have incorporated that in yourcalculation.
5. Add good amount of spices, it is possible that the marinade seems spicy at first but trust me on this, after you add the meat the spiciness will decreaseconsiderably.
6. Cook the meat at the lowest flame that is possible in your kitchen. Low heat helps in uniformcooking.
7. Add good amounts of GHEE (_clarified butter_) in themarinade.
8. The rice used should be of high qualitybasmati.
9. Seal the vessel so that the heat doesn’tescape.
10. Add good amounts of friedonions.

DON’Ts

1. Don’t use too much of curd, it makes the meat bland and tasteless. Curd only helps in cooking, it does’t add any taste to thebiryani.
2. Don’t give direct heat to the meat, put the vessel over a pan or some other metal layer. It takes time to cook, mutton might take up to 1:45 hrs to cook and chicken can take up to 1:15 hrs. So havepatience.
3. Don’t add raw onions in the marinade, it will not tastegood.

Update: Checkout my blog post on the finalrecipe.