‘Kozhikode’ or Calicut (the anglicized name) is a coastal city in the state of Kerala in India also known as the ‘land of spices’. A visit to Calicut is not complete without enjoying the very famous Kozhikodan chicken biryani! There are a couple of popular restaurants like Paragon, Saagar,  Bombay hotel, etc which serve this extremely delicious meal, and sometimes the wait times at peak hours can be really long. It is however totally worth the wait!

What type of rice can be used for making  Kozhikodan Chicken Biryani?

I learned to make a version of this dish at home with inputs from friends and the internet and it tastes almost like it! The main star ingredient of this dish is the rice used which is a special ‘Jeerakasala’ or ‘Kaima’ rice and this is a tiny variety of rice that enhances the taste of this dish. However, I use the regular Basmati rice which is easily available in the stores here in the US which also tastes good and comes close in taste!

This biryani does not use red chilly powder and all the spice is from the green chilies and other dry spices. The traditional recipe has an off white color due to very little turmeric used. I did use turmeric in my preparation so you can see it has a yellow tinge. In my preparation, I also cook the chicken and rice separately and then layer them together. The traditional recipe calls for cooking the rice and chicken in the ‘dum'(steaming over coal).

The final outcome of my dish is very close to the original and usually loved by everyone who has had it. Hope you enjoyed reading about this special and popular dish and will try it sometime. Please read on for the ingredients and the detailed cooking procedure 🙂 Happy cooking!

chicken biryani served!

Marinated Chicken

Onions being fried

Fried garnishes

Frying the rice

Chicken cooking!

Kozhikodan chicken biryani with Basmati Rice

Kozhikodan chicken biryani with Basmati Rice, served with Raita

5 from 6 votes

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Kozhikodan Chicken Biryani

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

 

Kozhikodan Chicken Biryani is a very popular and delicious biryani (rice and chicken dish ) from Kozhikode, the Malabar region of Kerala , cooked with aromatic spices separately and then assembled by layering rice , chicken gravy, along with fried onions and nuts.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian, kerala, malabar

Keyword: calicut biriyani, kozhi biryani, kozhikodan chicken biryani, malabar chicken biryani

Ingredients

For Biryani Rice

• 4  cups Basmati Rice
• 4 tsp Ghee or Clarified Butter
• 4 tsp Oil
• 5-6 Cloves
• 3-4 Cinnamon (small pieces)
• 2 Bay leaves
• 5-6 Cardamoms
• 1/2 Onion diced
• 2 tsp Salt or to taste
• 5 cups Water

For Chicken Marination

• 1 1/2 pounds Chicken
• 3 cups Yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups Coriander leaves finely chopped
• 1 cup Mint leaves finely chopped
• 3 medium Tomatoes chopped
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Biryani Masala (optional)
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 medium Lemon juice
• 2 tsp Poppy seeds paste
• 1 tsp salt or to taste

To powder for marinade

• 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (perinjeerakam)

To grind for marinade

• 1 inch ginger
• 10-12 cloves garlic
• 10-15 green chillies

For Chicken Preparation

• 4 tbsp ghee or oil
• 3-4 cinnamon pieces
• 5-6 cloves
• 4-5 cardamom
• 1 nutmeg
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tomato diced
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste

For Garnish

• 1 onion cut into long thin stripes
• 10 cashews
• 10 raisins
• 4 tbsp ghee
• 1 sprig mint leaves chopped
• 1 cup coriander leaves chopped
• 4 boiled eggs optional

Instructions

Chicken Marination

1. Wash the meat thoroughly with salt and lemon and drain water completely.

2. Powder the ingredients in the "to powder for marinade" section .

3. Grind the ingredients in the "to grind for marinade" section with minimum water .

4. Add the powdered spices, ground paste and all contents  in the "for chicken  marination" section to the chicken.

5. Mix well and marinate for about 2 to 3 hours in a referigrator

Rice Preparation and garnishes

1. Wash the rice, drain and keep aside

2. Heat a thick bottomed pan , add the ghee and oil

3. Add the thin sliced onions and fry until crisp golden brown

4. Drain and keep aside.

5. Add the cashews and raisins ,brown it as well

6. Drain and keep aside.

7. The thin fried onions, cashews and raisins will be used for garnishing.

8. In the remaining ghee and oil, add the spices under the "For Biryani rice" section

9. Next add the diced onions and sautée

10. After 2 mins add the washed rice

11. Fry for about 5 to 7 mins until the rice turns opaque

12. Add the salt and water and cook until done in a rice cooker

13. Wait for the steam to be released and rice to be cooled.

Chicken Preparation

1. Next for the preparation of the Chicken , pour ghee and oil in a large deep bottomed pan

2. Add onions and sautée it for 10 mins

3. Add tomatoes and ginger garlic paste ,sautée for another 5 mins

4. Next add the marinated chicken and fry it for a while

5. Cook until the chicken is well done.

6. Add some chopped coriander leaves and squeeze a little lemon.

Layering biryani and garnishing

1. For layering , transfer the cooked rice into a serving bowl and garnish with fried onions, cashews ,raisins, chopped mint and coriander leaves

2. Then add a layer of the chicken gravy and repeat layering with rice, chicken and again layer with garnish onions , nuts ,raisins, mint and coriander leaves.

3. Gently mix so the gravy is evenly mixed into the rice.

4. Squeeze half a lemon if you like (optional).

5. Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves, boiled egg,  and the remaining garnishes.

6. Kozhikodan Chicken Biryani is ready to be served.

7. Accompaniments that are usually served with this dish  are fritters (pappad), yogurt salad, coconut chutney and pickle . Enjoy 🙂

Kozhikodan Chicken biryani with Jeeraka shala rice

Updated Sep 24, 2020: I was able to find ‘Jeerakashala’ rice in the Indian grocery store here. It closely resembles the ‘Kaima’ rice that is used in this recipe back home. I used the exact same recipe as above and made this dish. Here is an updated picture of the biryani made with the ‘Jeerakashala rice’ below.

As you can see, from the picture, the rice is a very different type of tiny variety. The ratio of rice and water for this recipe, when cooking in an instant pot is 6:10 or 3:5. The fragrance of the ‘Jeerakashala’ rice along with the spices, really stands out and is awesome. If you get a chance to find this type of rice, I would highly recommend you try this recipe using that for exact taste.