Dishes · A classic of South Indian · Hyderabad
Hyderabadi biryani
Marinated goat or chicken layered raw under half-cooked basmati, with saffron, fried onion and mint, then sealed and cooked slowly on dum.
What makes it hyderabadi biryani
- Kacchi: raw marinated meat under part-cooked rice.
- Long-grained basmati, layered, each grain separate.
- Saffron milk, fried onions, mint and coriander between the layers.
- The pot sealed with dough and cooked on dum.
Where it comes from
Biryani came to the Deccan with Mughal and Persian court cooking, and in Hyderabad, under the Nizams, it became the city's own. Its signature is the kacchi method: the meat goes in raw, marinated in yoghurt and spice, under rice that's only partly boiled, and the two cook together in a sealed pot.
It's served with mirchi ka salan, green chillies in a peanut and sesame gravy, and a yoghurt raita — and it's the dish Hyderabadis argue about most.
How it varies
- Pakki biryani
- The meat cooked first into a curry, then layered with rice.
- Chicken dum biryani
- The everyday version, quicker to cook.
Be the first here
Start your own hyderabadi biryaniNo one here has made hyderabadi biryani yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.
