Today, one of NYC’s best Indian chefs, Chintan Kiran Pandya, demonstrates how he cooks the perfect Biryani. Pandya owns Dhamaka, one of New York’s most popular Indian restaurants, but even top chefs still love the classic dishes you can make at home.
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00:00Hey guys, this is Chintan Kiran Pandya, the chef owner at Dhamaka of Unapologetic Foods
00:12in New York City.
00:14And today we are at Dhamaka Kitchen trying to make the perfect version of biryani that
00:19we believe it is.
00:22And based out of New York City, we have a bunch of Indian restaurants.
00:26Every restaurant focuses on different part of India.
00:29We are making a biryani today and one of the cooking process in finalizing the biryani
00:33is called the dham cooking.
00:34This means the cooking on its own steam.
00:37Biryani is basically a dish where you have a protein, chicken, goat, lamb, you can have
00:41beef and then you have rice.
00:44So it's a layer of these things mixed together and you have it.
00:47My mouth is watering right now actually.
00:52So I think the first and foremost process that we want to start with is frying the onions.
00:57This is the fried onion which goes more like a layer thing, it's a garnish kind of a thing.
01:01In a subcontinent cooking, it's always red onions.
01:04And it's got a very stronger smell, it's got a very stronger taste than a white onion.
01:08It needs to be around this thin.
01:10When I fry it, it fries at 325, it will fry evenly on.
01:14If it's thicker, it will get a golden brown color on the outside but the inside would
01:18still be a little raw.
01:20Together even frying, we need to cut it thin.
01:22You have to stand there and see how it fries and once it's golden brown, you take it out.
01:26This is chef Vijay, he works with us.
01:28His passion in life is to cook the best possible biryani in this world.
01:31And does he do it?
01:33Not better than me.
01:34We are looking for this crispiness, little golden brown color.
01:39Not too dark, not too light but if you see this one, it's totally done.
01:45So we are just going to chop up a little of these tomatoes, this is for the curry that
01:48we are cooking.
01:49So this is the base of the chicken biryani.
01:51To get a little bit of sourness and also for the liquid, we need some diced onions.
01:55I prefer my biryani to be a little bit spicy so I add a little bit more slivers of green
01:59chillies into it.
02:01So I'm slicing it longer like this because with this, somebody who doesn't want it can
02:05just take it off the thing and I think this imparts a better flavor in the biryani than
02:09the round ones.
02:11So we have everything prepped over here nearly for our biryani.
02:14We need to do a very important step now which is wash our rice and soak it and by that time
02:19we start doing other things over here.
02:24So what Vijay is doing here chef, what Vijay is doing over here is he has taken up the
02:27rice, we are going to wash the rice and then soak the rice before we cook it for the biryani.
02:33We are using a basmati rice today and it's like an old basmati rice, it's 10 to 12 years
02:38old.
02:39The older it is, the more expensive it is and the better flavor and texture it will
02:43have.
02:44The basmati rice is a longer grain rice and it's not very starchy.
02:49This is the starch which is coming out which we want to take it off.
02:53From the farm the rice comes, it's got a lot of husk and everything into it, there
02:56might be some impurities.
02:57So you wash it up and soak it.
02:59What also happens with the soaking is it also helps with the cooking.
03:02I think basmati rice has a beautiful flavor, it absorbs a lot of flavor from any of the
03:09accompaniment you'll have with it.
03:11So this is going to sit for 30 minutes, we'll put the water for boiling on the side.
03:15By that time we'll start cooking our chicken.
03:18We actually don't have the word curry in our cuisine actually.
03:22It's a base of the biryani, something which has got a little liquid to it.
03:25So we are going to make our chicken, which is basically the base of it, it's a chicken
03:29curry.
03:30What we are doing is adding some ghee into it.
03:32Ghee is the clarified butter and it is an integral part of this recipe actually.
03:36110% it tastes far more better than butter any day.
03:40We're going to add some spices over here, so this is a bay leaf, black cardamom, that's
03:46a green cardamom and then we have the mace.
03:49This is a nutmeg and mace is something that covers the nutmeg.
03:53And then we have some cloves over here, we have our diced onions over here, I'm going
03:57to add it inside it.
03:59The onions are cut very finely and we want to cook it as long as possible, if you don't
04:03keep on stirring it, it will stick to the bottom and it will burn it.
04:06You see how the color is changing?
04:08That's a ginger garlic paste, so it's 50% ginger, 50% garlic.
04:12So as soon as I add the ginger garlic paste into it, that's when you'll start getting
04:16the aromas off.
04:18So I've added some turmeric powder, I'm adding some chili powder into it.
04:22So now I added in the tomatoes inside it, so we are now going to cook it.
04:26The unique property of the chili powder is that this one is very, I would say, neutrally
04:31sliced but gives a very good deep red color to the dish.
04:34So now you see the tomato is getting cooked, it's getting a little mashy.
04:38This is what we are looking for.
04:40This is a whole chicken, but you can use chicken whole legs cut on the bone with that.
04:45A lot of flavor in a meat is inside the bone.
04:49We traditionally cook everything on the bone because I think it imparts a better flavor
04:53to it, stronger taste to it actually.
04:57So that's why I prefer doing everything on the bone.
05:00So that's some whisked yogurt.
05:02So what yogurt will do is, it will add the body to this dish and get everything together.
05:07So all your spices, onion, tomatoes, powdered things, everything together.
05:12What we prefer is a Greek yogurt, full-fat Greek yogurt, salt, the most important ingredient.
05:19So the chicken is out of our way, it's going to get cooked over here, I have it on the
05:22slow fire.
05:23We'll keep an eye on it, so it's okay.
05:25What we have over here is we are boiling the water and it's just a regular New York tap
05:29water, there's no type of water.
05:31So, you know guys, because this video is about how you can do it at home, I would say that
05:39you have to multi-skill yourself, you cannot do one, one step at a time.
05:42So what you do is you start off with this, you can just leave it on its own, it's getting
05:45cooked over there on a slow heat, let it cook, you don't have to disturb it or anything.
05:49I have the water over here, I'm just going to add some salt to it.
05:55And then we add some ghee, I'm adding some cumin, the maize, what we saw before, we have
06:01some cinnamon sticks, dried bay leaf, some cloves, some green cardamom, and we'll just
06:08boil it.
06:09So this becomes like a flavorful stock and that's where we'll boil our rice in now.
06:14Obviously, so we have the soaked rice, I've drained the water out, just going to add the
06:18rice inside this water now.
06:21So it's infused with a lot of flavors, so when you boil the rice inside it, obviously
06:25water is going to expand the grain and also the flavor goes inside the rice.
06:29If you ask me how much time it takes to cook, it's not like flipping a burger where it will
06:33be two minutes, flip the burger and it's cooked, no.
06:36Every rice is different, every batch of rice will come out different, so I always say there's
06:40no specific time, you need to know, we'll show you what it's done and not done.
06:44So I'm trying to put the grain over here and then you just do it this, you see there's
06:48a little bite left to it, this is what we are looking for.
06:52We need it 70-75, between 70-80% cooked and rest 20% will be cooking inside that pot when
07:01we put it inside the oven.
07:06So we have our rice ready over here, the chicken ready, but yes, one still component
07:10is still left, which is the jhol.
07:14So we call it a jhol, basically means a liquid, so it's equal amount of butter and cream,
07:19some saffron inside it.
07:21This is to layer up the biryani and it will give the different color to the rice and also
07:25a lot of flavor to the rice.
07:26As I said, it's a very celebratory dish and one of the key component of this dish is saffron
07:32and you'll see how the rice will be a little golden when it's cooked with the saffron inside
07:37it, so that's the reason for it.
07:40Just for the perspective of people who don't know, saffron is more expensive than gold
07:44and so you use it in a very limited quantity.
07:48I have seen a lot of people, they just throw saffron on a dish, it doesn't do anything
07:51to that dish.
07:52You need to know how to integrate the saffron within your dish.
07:55So if you see basically jhol was only cream and butter, but now when you see when you
08:00added the saffron, it's got that color, which is the saffron color.
08:03The saffron on its own will never have a flavor, but you have to use a medium of fat or dairy
08:10or water to get that flavor inside it.
08:12So guys, all the components of this dish are ready, so we have our rice ready over here,
08:17we have the chicken curry ready over here, we have the jhol ready over here, so now the
08:21final and the finale of it is we are going to build up the biryani.
08:24The magic starts.
08:27So guys, now the final part of building up the dish, we have this beautiful clay pot,
08:33which we are going to build up the entire dish with the layers in there, goes on top
08:36of it, we'll seal it up with a door and cook it inside the oven.
08:40The good biryani will always be cooked in a clay pot and then you can just scrape it
08:45around and you'll see how it comes out, it doesn't stick to it.
08:47If you don't have a clay pot, something that you can find in the market very easily is
08:52a dutch oven.
08:54This one has actually given me a better result than any other pot that I have tried in the
08:58market.
09:00So let's start building it guys.
09:02So this is the jhol, as we spoke about.
09:05So you need a certain amount of moisture on the bottom because if I put the rice directly
09:08on the bottom, it's going to heat up and there are chances it might start sticking to it.
09:13So this basically is a layer of fat which heats up and it provides that moisture to
09:17the dish.
09:18Now we are going to add some rice to it.
09:22I'm going to add some golden fried onions over here now.
09:25It's not going to remain crisp by the time it gets cooked finally, but it will impart
09:29a lot of flavor.
09:30We'll eat it together and you'll understand why.
09:32So now I'm going to add some ginger juliennes over here, very finely cut fresh ginger juliennes.
09:39And now we are going to add the slit green chillies over here.
09:43I'm adding some fresh cilantro over here.
09:47Some mint.
09:50Now we are going to add the chicken.
09:55Chicken is cooked.
09:56Yes, it's fully cooked.
09:57I'm just arranging the pieces over here.
10:01So it creates a one whole layer of the chicken over here.
10:05So I'm going to add a little jhol again to it.
10:09I'm going to take some of the gravy from here and I'm going to put it over it.
10:14I'm going to add one more little layer of rice over here.
10:18Again, some fried onion.
10:24You have some ginger juliennes.
10:29Slit green chillies.
10:33Some mint over here.
10:35Some cilantro.
10:36I'm just going to add a little bit more of gravy over here.
10:42I'm just going to top it off with a little more rice on top.
10:49And that's a spoon of the jhol.
10:52A lot of the food that is cooked in our culture is meant for communal dining.
10:58So we expect this for like, if I'm hungry, I might eat it on my own, the entire thing,
11:04but ideally it's for four people.
11:06So please excuse me on my eating habits.
11:09So that's a regular dough.
11:11It could be any form of a dough.
11:12What I'm going to do is, I'm going to line it up over here.
11:16So it's a dough which is basically some flour, water, and a little oil and salt.
11:22We have this dough now evenly around it.
11:24I'm going to seal it up.
11:30So our pot is ready now.
11:31It will start throwing out steam.
11:33And the steam starts going on top with all the layers inside it, all the flavors in there,
11:37it starts going up, but it cannot escape outside, so it keeps on going inside and that
11:41keeps on revolving.
11:42And what will happen is that will actually infuse all the flavors together.
11:46This is called the dum cooking.
11:48But if I don't put the dough around it, 100% chances that the steam will start escaping.
11:52And the same dish will taste different.
11:55So we have it inside the oven, it's going to cook for 20-25 minutes.
11:58I'm very hungry right now, they haven't fed me anything while doing this.
12:02So I'm going to eat the entire biryani on my own.
12:06So it's been close to 25 minutes now, let's look at the crust.
12:10I think we are ready.
12:11The crust looks insane.
12:18It looks amazing.
12:19The rice has soaked up the jhol, the curry and everything.
12:21We're going to mix it up and it will all come together soon and within a few minutes.
12:29I actually enjoy eating most of the Indian food with my hands.
12:33That's how I've been brought up, that's culturally what we do.
12:36If you see everything has mixed together, look at the saffron, the way it's within the
12:40rice and everything.
12:41The way I love to do it is, I take a chunk of the meat out of the bone, add my meat,
12:47and then I'll take a little bit of rice with all the things inside it, onion, mint, cilantro,
12:51green chilli.
12:58The fun part is you can taste each and every ingredient on its own.
13:02But when you do this, it's pure magic, trust me.
13:05I don't think there's a way you can explain these things, how they come together, why
13:09they come together or something, it just happens.
13:15Very simple dish, just follow the rules, just do it the very simple way and it will come
13:20out phenomenal.
13:21Vijay, what do you think about the biryani, man?
13:23I think it's super good, yeah.
13:25I couldn't have done better than him, so yeah, I'm learning from him.
13:29I'm sure this year he'll get a good bonus.
13:31That's why I said eat it.
13:37Once we post this video, there'll be a lot of hate messages because every part of the
13:41country and every part of the subcontinent makes a biryani in a specific way and they're
13:47so attached to it, they're so personal about it, that they'll say this is the wrong way
13:51of making it.
13:53My mother makes it this way, my grandmother makes it this way, my this one makes it this
13:56way, and that is the right way of making it.
13:58All of us have a different version of a perfect biryani.
14:00What do you have to say to the people who are leaving hate messages in the comments?
14:04I still love them.