Shahi Moti Biriyani / Pilaf of Pearls – Awadh Special
- 17
- April
- 2010
Pearl Biriyani:(Chicken Kofta Biriyani)
Kofta Biriyani. Awadh Pearl Biriyani. Shahi Biriyani Badshahi. Shahi Kebab Biriyani.
Needless to say that Mughalai Cuisine revolutionsed Indian cooking culture and eating habits. This speciality ‘Moti Biriyani’ is a little remembrance from the past…During Mughal rule, royal cooks kept experimenting a lot in the kitchen, many native recipes were improved to meet the standards of royal diners. Usually enriched with heavy cream, dry fruits, nuts and ghee. Sometimes foodie kings imposed orders to make their every day meal extraordianry, quite memorable. So when Awadh ruler expected special pamper…cooks came up with this idea.
Wajid Ali Shah was fifth King of Oudh (from 13 Februry 1847 to 7 February 1856)encouraged his creative cooks. One of the lovely attempt is this ‘Shahi Moti Biryani’, the preparation of edible pearls. They created these pearls by first beating some exact quantities of gold and silver foils with egg yolks. Which created small silver and gold colored pearls, that was later stuffed into the cavity of a chicken. This chicken was either cooked directly (grilled or immersed into the pilaf). When the chicken was done, it was cut open and the edible shiny gold and silver beads came out of the chicken, just like luminescent pearls. These little pearls were added to the biryani or pilav just before it was served.
Although the original 18th century recipe is long lost…now it is suitably adapted over the years in many different forms, commoners adopted kofta biryani and vegetarians carefully replaced meat with kabuli chana. I have been wanting to make this since very long, here is my version…hope you all will like this humble Moti Biriyani from my kitchen.:)
Ingredients:
For Kofta:
Chicken breast 1-2 (boneless, skinless & cubed)
Green chili 3
Ginger 1″ grated
Garlic 2 cloves minced
Onion chopped
Cilantro chopped
Salt
Egg whites
All purpose flour
Oil for frying.
For Biriyani:
Cloves 3
Cinnamon 2
Cardamon pods 3
Bay leaves 2
Maratti mokku 2
Star anise 1
Short grained rice 2 cups(seeraga samba)
Green chilies 6 slitted
Onion 1 made into puree
Tomato 1 small
Garlic 6 cloves made into paste
Ginger 2″ size peeled and made into paste
Mint leaves 1 fistfull
Coriander leaves alone few
Lemon juice from 1 fruit
Curd 1 cup
Salt
Chili powder
Ghee 1/4 cup.
Method:
For Kofta:
Cook chicken breast till tender and shred them. Retain the broth.
Now combine all the ingredients(except oil) with shredded meat.
Mix them well. Divide them into equal parts and shape them into desired way.
Heat oil in a pan, shallow fry them till golden brown. Set aside.
For Biriyani:
In a crock pot, heat ghee. Add cloves, cinnamon, crushed cardamon pods, maratti mokku, bay leaves, star anise and green chilies. Fry them till chilies crack and try to turn opaque.
Now add onion puree to this and fry them really well, until its pungent smell is gone. Then add tomatoes, mint and coriander leaves. Fry them till the leaves wilt.
Add salt and chili powders. Followed by fried koftas. Add rice and saved chicken broth to this. Cover and cook till tender and nice.
Feast like a King:)
Nice story on perarl koftas…
Looks yummy!
Very tempting briyani, thanks for sharing..
Nice post Malar! Biriyani looks so tasty..Very interesting to read about its origin..
Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww the biryani is very inviting.Its new to me i can taste the biryani by ur pics dear.Thanks for sharing the reciepe dear.I think u had a great time.
Such aroyal name for a royal mouth watering dish.
wow..such wonderful n v inviting ..biryani…mouthwatering..lov ur version..frst time here ..u have wonderful collection..will keep visiting!
Never heard of this name… looks spicy and yummy.
Malar,
Biryani and kofta currry looks awesome. I will the vegetarian version of it.
Oh my !!… Big fan of Awadh cooking but never tried making at home.This biriyani is surely tempting me…it looks so yumm!!
Looks so yummy and Malar one question, where do u get seeraga samba rice. In Indian stores ? Actually I was getting in LA after coming MN could not find. I love biriyani, tomato rice using this , so really missing it.
Yummy…..i use to make biriyani the same with paneer kofta.
Never heard of this name… looks spicy and yummy.thanks for sharing the recipe dear.
Wow looks very very yummy. This is entirely a biriyani to me.Love the step by step procedure too.
amazing recipe malar. Loved the recipe of making chicken koftas. yummy!!
luks yummy n awesome…n ur dahi vada too mouth watering..
Hi
This is a completely new kind of preparation. Love to know that I can enjoy the biriyani without having to bother about separating bones while eating. Very nice and colourful pics.
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
tempting biriyani….tempting picture
wow Malar…this is such an interesting post….i never knew about this dish….Mughalai n’ Shahi are my favourite cuisines…your story of how this dish came about is so interesting….really a lovely blog…:)
Ennanga Malar ,,ipdi design design na padam pudichu kaalaila naakla echil oora vidrengalae,,,, athuvum vithyasamana paer vechurukeengalae,,,nalla seithurukkeenga Malar,,biryani apram intha chicken ithellam vittu piriya mudiyathu ennala,,
Wow….biryani looks fabulous. Bookmarked it, would try it for sure…Thanks for the recipe malar.
Looks rich and delicious malar…def a treat for everyone..
i read about this process of creating gold and silver pearls but dint know about the histroy of Moti Biriyani. we bengalis are very fond of Mughlai cuisine and one can find them in every nooks in Kolkata. last year I prepared this for Hubby on our anniversary but your recipe looks better. will try this. bookmarked.
love your write ups Malar, you have a nice way of weaving recipes with history. thanks for sharing.
OMG ..I can never imagin such a rich royal dish. Good that you tried to create a similar one. So the secret lies in the broth also..right! Thanks for such a wonderful royal recipe. Just wanna try it to get that princess feeling:)
Very Very yummy biryani…looks absolutly scrumptous…Please adopt me…I will have a new kind of biryani evryday
Mouthwatering recipe, looks great and yummy.
Nice story Malar
This looks so royal…
Wow Malar such a rich and super delicious briyani…looks awesome
You always have a story for your preps which is really brilliant because it makes us the prep more interesting & familiar….. AND not to say u are an expert…or the right word should be DIVA….. I really look up to your preps & posts… I like the standard it portrays…. And that is what I like & love….. Like a Signature!!!!!
Ash…
(http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)
Nice recipe Malar,i will try to make it with vegetables, thanks for sharing
This is a great one dish meal! Very festive too!
I like this name “Pearl” for Biryani. How appropriate.
mouth watering…u made me hungry
want that plater..bookmarked this!!! interesting story behind the yummy biryani…thanx for sharing …2 thumbs up !!!
Hi Malar,
Was browsing for chicken biryani recipes and found this one.
The biryani looks inviting and iam giving it a shot this sunday.
I have few questions though…
1) Is it ok to substitute biryani rice to seeraga samba.
2)Can you plz rate the spice level of this recipe.Ofcrse,I want it to be really hot !
If it turns good,this will be on my baby’s frst birthday party menu.
Thanks in advance,
Rohini
hi,
Ur biryani is really tempting. Would like to gve it a shot.
But ,I have a few questions..
1) can we use basmati rice instead of seeraga samba.
2)how heat is the dish as per the spices you have mentioned.
This will be my baby’s b’thday party menu if it turns good.
Thanks in advance.
Dear Rohini,
My hearty wishes to your kid. And thanks for picking this recipe for your menu:)
Yup, you can pretty much alter the seeraga samba rice into basmati. Well, mine was spicy…in a nice way. Bunch of my enjoyed it:) So, hope the same at your end as well.
Happy cooking:)
Hello Malar,
Wow !! your biryani recipe turned out amazing
The taste was awesome. And ,Iam planning to make the same coming sunday for my baby’s b’day party 
Since i will be cooking for around 10 adults can you plz advise me on how many cups of basmati rice can be used approximately. And also will the same procedure (grinding the onions)wrk ??
Iam really sorry if it sounds kind of offensiveto to question your recipe.
Thanks in advance,
rohini
Dear Rohini,
Am glad that it turned out great:) Congrats.
If you are cooking 1 cup – approximately 150 ml cup for one adult, multiply by 10 for 10 adults. For everything this will be the thumb rule…including onions, spices etc.
Hope everything turns out wonderful for you…all the best, happy cooking:)