A spicy red hot flavorful Chicken Biryani made with red chili paste , shallots and flavorful jeera rice is a speciality chicken biryani from Ambur region Tamil Nadu.
If you are one among Biryani lovers and love to explore South Indian style regional biryani ,then you must try Donne Biryani recipe from Karnataka.
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About this recipe
Ambur Star Chicken Biryani is a South Indian style Dum Biryani which is famous in Ambur, Tamil Nadu.
Most important key in this Biryani is, Jeera Rice / Seeragam rice which is used to get authentic flavorful Biryani. Jeera rice is a short grain rice which smells aromatic and get blend with the flavors very well.
Cooking short grain rice to perfection is very important because short grain rice have tendency to break easily. Because of its starch content hence if overcooked it may become mushy and sticky.
Hot and spicy biryani gets its authentic flavors from Jeera rice, shallots and red chilli paste.
Serve Ambur Star Chicken Biryani with Onion Tomato raita.
Ingredients
Check this image for ingredients used to make ambur star biryani recipe
Chicken / Mutton - You can either use Chicken or Mutton to make this biryani . Meat with bone is recommended to make Ambur star Biryani .
Rice - short grain rice known as Seeraga Samba is used to make this recipe. Seeraga Samba is also known as Zeera rice . It's aromatic and adds lot of flavor. Incase if it's not available , you can use basmati rice but for sure you'll be compromising on flavor.
Whole Spices - Bay leaves , Cinnamon stick , Cloves , Mace, Fennel seeds, Peppercorns, Green Cardamom , Black Cardamom , Star Anise are used. To make Biryani , always use premium quality spices .
Produce - You need fresh Coriander leaves , Mint leaves , Shallots ( pearl onion) , Tomatoes , Garlic , Ginger and green chilies to make this recipe.
Red Chilies : I have used combination of spice variant guntur and byadgi ( for color) red chilies. You can use any variant but be sure to adjust the spice level as per your taste.
Other ingredients - Oil , Clarified butter , lime juice and salt.
Tips and Variations
You can always make Ambur star biryani with either Chicken or Mutton.
Main flavor to this biryani comes from red chilli paste and tomatoes . Try to use all the mentioned spices from the ingredient list to get a authentic taste.
Cooking rice in right way is very important , so be careful while cooking jeera rice as it breaks easily and turns mushy .
In fact , Ambur star mutton biryani will me more flavorsome in comparison with Chicken Biryani.
FAQ's
How to make Ambur Mutton Biryani ?
Make sure you pressure cook mutton for 1-2 whistles and follow the same recipe.
Can I use long grain Basmathi Rice ?
Yeah , you can definitely use and Biryani will taste good too. But you may loose out those flavors from Seeraga samba rice.
Can I make in Instant Pot ?
Yes, you can make this recipe in the instant pot. Follow the same recipe instruction and press the “rice” button and cook.
What is the liquid to rice ratio to cook Seerega Samba Rice?
Its 1.5 liquid for every 1 cup of Seeraga Samba rice. So be careful while adding water.
Can I cook everything together as a pulao instead of separately cooking rice.
If you need that typical biryani look and feel then I recommend to cook rice separately. But , anyways you can cook everything together. But be careful while adding water .
What preparations , I can do before hand to speed up the process?
You can prepare red chili a day before and use it in the recipe the following day .
How to store left overs?
Left over ambur biryani tastes great the following day . Stays good for a day in refrigerator. Store in air tight container , reheat and serve.
Serving Suggestions
Ambur Biryani pairs well with simple cucumber raita . Always serve ambur star biryani with boiled eggs, raita , lemon wedges and onion slices.
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How to make Ambur Star Biryani
Take some lukewarm water in a bowl and add red chilies and set aside for 30 minutes. Then discard water and grind to a fine paste.
Rinse rice couple of times and soak it for 15 minutes . Drain water and set aside. Whilst in a large pot/ vessel , boil 10-12 cups of water.
Add rice , salt , few drops of oil , 2-3 green cardamoms and 2-3 sprigs of mint leaves torn .
Cook rice until it's 90 % cooked.
Drain the water completely. Spread rice on a wide plate and set aside.
Take a thick bottom pot / vessel . Heat 2 tablespoon Ghee and ½ cup oil, add all the whole masala, fry well until whole spices turns aromatic.
Add sliced shallots, ginger paste , garlic paste , green chilies and fry until onions turns golden brown.
For this add red chili paste cook for 5 minutes .
Now add in chicken , salt and saute until chicken changes it's color.
Then chopped tomatoes , mint and coriander leaves , fry well.
Add curds and mix well.
Cover a lid and cook chicken until done. If there is more water content , slow cook until water content reduces and get a thick gravy.
Now add 90% cooked rice to the chicken.
Mix well everything , sprinkle some salt , chopped greens, 1 tablespoon of ghee and lime juice
Seal the cook pot with atta dough or aluminium foil. Place hot water pot above the lid and cook on dum for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, open seal. Mix well everything from bottom and serve hot
Serve Ambur Star Chicken Biryani with Onion Tomato Raita.
This recipe post is updated from the archives and was first published in March 2016
Recipe
Ambur Star Chicken Biryani
Ingredients
For Cooking Rice
- 500 grams Jeera Rice / Seeragam Rice
- 12 cups Water
- ¼ cup Mint leaves
- 2 Green Cardamom
- 1 teaspoon Salt
For Biryani
- 500 grams Chicken with bones
- 12-14 Dry Red chilli -guntur / or any spicy red chillies
- 5 Dry Red Chilli - Byadgi /only for colour, no spice
- 200 grams Shallots /Sambar Onions chopped
- 2 tablespoon Fresh garlic paste or 20 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 tablespoon Fresh ginger paste or 2 inch ginger crushed
- 2 no's Tomatoes, medium to large size , finely chopped
- 2 no's Green chillies slit
- 5 tablespoon Curds
- 3 tablespoon Ghee /Clarified Butter
- ½ Cup Oil
- ¼ Cup Mint leaves chopped
- ¼ Cup Coriander leaves chopped
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
Whole Spices
- 2 Bay leaves
- 5-6 no's Blackpepper corns
- 2 Star Anise
- ½ teaspoon Fennel Seeds / Saunf
- 4 Green Cardamom
- 2 Black Cardamom
- 8 Cloves
- 2 inch Cinnamon Sticks
- 2 Mace Strands
Instructions
Making red chili paste
- Take 1 cup lukewarm water in a bowl and add red chillies and set aside for 30 minutes
- Discard water and grind to a fine paste.
Cooking rice to 90%
- Rinse rice couple of times and soak it for 15 minutes . Drain water and set aside.
- Whilst in a large pot/ vessel , boil 10-12 cups of water.
- Into the boiling water , add rice , salt , few drops of oil , 2-3 green cardamoms and 2-3 sprigs of mint leaves torn .
- Cook rice until it's 90 % cooked.
- Drain the water completely. Spread rice on a wide plate and set aside.
- Add 1 tablespoon of ghee to rice, mix well and spread rice on a wider plate.
To make Biryani
- Take a thick bottom pot / vessel . Heat 2 tablespoon Ghee and ½ cup oil.
- Add all the whole masala, fry well until whole spices turns aromatic.
- Add sliced shallots,ginger garlic paste and fry well till raw smell goes off.
- Then add green chillies, chopped tomatoes and fry well until tomatoes turns mushy.
- Add red chilli paste cook for 5 minutes , Add curds and mix well. Now add in chicken , salt and saute until chicken changes it's color.
- Cover a lid and cook chicken until done. If there is more water content , slow cook until water content reduces and gets a thick gravy.
- Open the lid and cook chicken till you get thick gravy.
- Now add 90% cooked rice to the chicken. Top with, chopped greens, 1 tablespoon of ghee, lime juice and sprinkle some salt.
- Seal the cook pot with atta dough or aluminium foil. Place hot water pot above the lid and cook on dum for 30 minutes.
- Once done, mix well and serve with Onion Tomato Raita.
Video
Notes
- You should use only jeera rice for this kind of biryani to get the authentic taste.
- It's a spicy biryani,I have used less red chillies,you can add another 5-8 red chillies to get that heat.
Nishara says
Yummy biryani. will try the recipe this weekend. 🙂
catchy court says
i Love chicken substitute, it is healthy as well as tasty that give us taste like chicken.
Anonymous says
Delicious
Dimpi says
Desperate to try out this one...thank you for recipe Muktha.
Muktha says
You are welcome Dimpi , let me know how it turned for you ! Thank you
Miserveg says
I love veg meat.