How to Cook Basmathi rice for making perfect Dum Biryani..
Many of us like Dum Biryani a lot and am no exception for it.I like it very much even though I cannot bear the spiciness in it.But the success of making a perfect dum biryani depends on how well we cook the basmathi rice.It should be of correct texture else you will end up with a flop biryani :)After trying for so many times I can say that I have excelled in it 😛 Ok now let us see the recipe for cooking basmati rice which helps you to make a perfect dum biryani..You could use this for both veg and non-veg rice dishes…
You can check out my biryani recipes here:
Egg Biryani
Hyderabadi Dum Biryani
Tomato Corinader RiceWhat You Need:
- Basmathi rice – 2 cups
- Water – 6 cups
- Whole spices like
- Cloves – 5
- Cinnamon – 1 inch piece
- Green cardamom -2
- Black Cardamom – 1
- Bay Leaf – 1
- Javitri /mace – 1 tbsp
- Black cumin/Shajeera – 1tbsp
- And any other whole spices 🙂
- Ghee – 2 tbsp
- Salt to taste
METHOD TO COOK BASMATHI RICE FOR BIRYANI
- Soak the basmathi rice with more water for minimum 30 min.
- Take water in a heavy bottomed pan and bring it to boil on high flame.
- Add in a 2 tbsp of either ghee or oil.Add the whole spices mentioned above.Add salt accordingly.
- Now add the soaked rice and stir well.Keep the flame on high only.
- The ghee in the water makes the rice to be grainy.It won’t allow the grains to stick together and this is what we need for biryani.
- Allow the rice to cook on high flame till 60%.That means if you hold a grain,it should be hard enough and also it should be mashed when you press. Remember its going to get cooked again!
- Now switch off the flame and drain the water immediately.else the rice becomes fully cooked and when you make layers for biryani it gets over cooked.
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| Your spices |
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| Boil water and ghee |
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| Add your spices to the water |
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| Sry..cudnt capture the previous step..The rice is half boiled now |
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| Drain it… |
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| Can you see the beautiful grains?? |
The essential elements of a perfect dum biryani
This post is reallyyyyy very usefull sply for dum biryani
you said cook on high flame until it is 60% done, do you knw approx how much time that takes? like 5- 8 min?
Hi,it would take really less than or equal to 10 minutes for me.But it also depends on the amount of time you soak the rice before you prepare for cooking.the more time you soak the less time is required to boil.
Thank you Sireesha. I followed your method and the biryani is really good.
Thank you Sireesha. I followed your method and biryani came really well.
Thanks vimal glad it turned out well for you
this is perfect…i always had problem making the perfect rice for dum biriyani…but this procedure is superb and very helpful.Thanks Sireesha.
Am glad as it is of some help to you!
Keep coming here !
Hi Sireesha, thanks for the clear instructions. I have a question for you. What would you do if you had to cook a biryani for about 80 people but you have to prepare everything in advance and travel (close by) with the stuff in a car?
Do you think it’s possible to precook the rice using your method, and precook all the massalas, transport everything in big separate pots and then, just before serving time, I combine the rice (in layers) with the biryani mix, cook for while and then serve?
Or do you think it would be better to prepare pots of finished biryani and transport these to the venue? But how would I heat maybe 25 kilos of cold biryani without making porridge?
I’d love some advice from you!!! THANKS!!
Hi Steve,
Thanks for visiting sirisfood. Am afraid I may not do justice answering your question, am a home cook and I prepare meals for my family alone and some times guests..I pe-cook basmathi rice in a electrical cooker(twice)and in big foil bowls arrange dum and put in conventional oven.This I have done for max 15 persons. This way ensures that I don’t burn the biryani when cooked for more people(usually the more quantity the more chance to failures for me)
Am not sure on how to prepare for 80 people and I suggest you to contact any catering person.
Nice Presentation.
Hello mam.found the trick very nice. I have never cooked rice.this is my first time. I am going to prepwre biriyani for 10people can you say me the approx time taken for soaking and boiling to be precise. And one more doubt i have is chicken we are marinating and putting it directly with half cooked rice and then cooking for few time.will the chicken be cooked?
Sory for the late response but it might help someone else looking for the same advice, I prefer to soak my rice as long as possible you can try soaking for min of 1 hour.
To answer your sec qs, yes chicken gets cooked it that way too but i would prefer to cook separatelt first to ensure by efforts are not wasted finally.
Thanks for the clear cut instructions. The normal time taken for basmati Rice is shown on Websites like Tilda.
According to the Vahchef some Cooks place a large pan with water on the fire and then place the vessel with the biryani into this water pan and continues the cooking. This way the biryani cooks without burning and sticking to the bottom of the vessel. I found this to be a great tip and will try it soon.
hiii Shireesha……
thnx a lot for this helpful advice…tomorrow i m gng to make DUM BIRYANI for 15 people……i hope this site will help me….for Best Dum Biryani……i’ll use your way of cooking Basmati…… 🙂
thnx a lot
Glad it helped you.Please share the feedback after you try the biryani