Karachi style deighi biryani is spicy, tangy and made without tomatoes and onions. This is a super easy and straightforward recipe and doesn’t take too long to cook. You may use any brand sindhi and bombay biryani spice blend. I use Shan spice blend. A few tips and tricks will help you get perfectly cooked rice.
Add all the ingredients in the pot and marinate the chicken. 
Avoid cooking on high flame, otherwise the yogurt will curdle. 
Do not cook the potatoes longer then 5 minutes. 
Once you drain the potatoes, cook the potatoes with the chicken masala. 
Closely watch the rice while its cooking and do not cook it longer then 5 minutes. 
The inside of the rice kernel should be raw, like you can see in this image. 
This is how the layering should look like before adding the rice. 
Do not pack the rice tightly when you layer , spread it around loosely. 
When you cook the biryani on high after the layering, once you start seeing the steam around the edges, turn down the flame, cover the pot and finish steam cooking the biryani.
A few things to remember when making this biryani:
- Do not soak the rice for longer then 5 minutes. When you wash the rice, do it gently to avoid bruising the rice so they don’t break while cooking.
- While cooking the rice, avoid stirring the rice.
- Only par cook the potatoes for 3 to 5 minutes. After straining them cook for an additional 5 minutes with the chicken masala.
- Later when the potatoes steam cook with the rice, they will be cooked thru and soft but won’t break easily when you scoop the biryani.
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Karachi Style Deighi Biryani
6
servings35
minutes35
minutesNo tomato, no onion Karachi style Deighi Biryani with potatoes.
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (16 pcs)
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
3 tbsp Bombay Biryani Masala
3 tbsp Sindhi Biryani Masala
3-4 Fresh Green chili
2 tsp roasted cumin coriander powder
1.5 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup ghee
4 tbsp oil
4 potatoes
1/4 tsp yellow food color
1/4 tsp salt
Water as needed
- For the layering
4 tbsp yogurt
2 tsp yellow food color
Handful of cilantro
Handful of mint leaves
2 green chilies
3 tbsp chaat masala
- For the Rice
3.5 cup Basmati Rice
2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2inch cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
2 fresh green chilies
1 black cardamom pods
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp vinegar
Water for boiling
Directions
- In a pot add oil and ghee, then add the chicken and marinate it with ginger garlic paste, Sindhi Biryani Masala, Bombay Biryani Masala, garam Masala, green chili, roasted cumin and coriander powder, chili flakes, turmeric, tomato paste, yogurt and salt.
- Turn on the heat and fry the marinated chicken on low heat for 3-5 minutes.
- Once the masala starts changing color and thickens, add 1/4 cup water.
- Put the lid on and continue cooking on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, peel and quarter potatoes and boil them for 3-5 minutes with 1/4 tsp food color.
- Drain the potatoes and add them to the same pot as the chicken and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat after 5 minutes.
- For the Rice
- In a large pot boil around 4-5 cups of water. To this add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, cardamom pod, green chili, bay leaf, salt and vinegar.
- Rinse and soak the rice until the water runs clear, 5 minutes prior to boiling.
- Add the rice to boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. The rice should still be uncooked from the center when you break the kernel to check.
- Drain the rice and set aside.
- For the Layering
- Mix the yogurt with food color.
- Layer the chicken and potatoes in the pot with cilantro leaves, mint leaves and green chili.
- Sprinkle the chaat masala and spoon the yogurt mixed with food color over the chicken masala.
- And finally layer with the rice. Spread the rice around loosely to cover the masala.
- Turn the flame on high and cook for around 3-5 minutes until it starts to steam around the perimeter.
- Turn down the flame on medium low, cover the pot and steam cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the rice is completely cooked thru.
- While serving the biryani, make sure to move some of the white rice to the side before mixing everything.
- Enjoy hot with some raita and salad!
Recipe Video
Notes
- It’s important to make sure not to soak basmati rice for longer then 5 minutes because the longer the rice stays soaked, the softer it will get and the end result will be mushy.
Tried this recipe for a family get together turned out amazing.You would never need to try any other recipe or eat biryani from any restaurant or thelas.This recipe is the best for sure.
Hi do you use actual measuring cups to measure rice or
Yes I do
Looks yummy I’ll definitely try it
Looking forward to trying this recipe And getting amazing results!!
Always looks delicious on your feed😃
This is by far the best and easiest biryani recipe on the internet right now!!! I’ve made this several times for my family and for gatherings as well, and gotten so many compliments. And It’s so quick to prepare! If I’m making with chicken, it’s literally done in under an hour! Thank you Fatima for coming up with such great recipes!
Thank you so much for such kind words. I really appreciate it!
Whats the weight of the chicken? Also tomato paste- the concentrated one or crushed canned tomatoes would do?
Tomato paste is the concentrated paste not the crushed tomatoes. I am sorry, usually I ask the butcher to cut the whole chicken in 18 pcs and that’s it, I order in bulk so never really check the weight of each individual whole chicken but I like a smaller chicken so the weight should be around 2 and a 1/4 lbs approximately, hope that helps.
It was a HIT!
I never made Biryani my entire life and tried this one for the first time, everyone loved it. Even they demand to make more often. Easy and fast, like I was even amazed I made it. I’m old enough to know cooking but damn! Never tried this simple recipe ever before.
This is now my go to recipe.
Thank you for your feedback!