Chettinad Egg Biryani

Chettinad Egg Biryani is a flavorful biryani made with exotic Chettinad spices, rice and eggs. I am sure most of us like Biryani 🙂 Our weekends are incomplete without biryani. We mostly make biryani for our Sunday lunch. There are different types of biryani and there are tons of variation depending on the region and religion. Here today I am going to share how my mom makes this flavorful Chettinad egg biryani. This is how we make in our region (Chettinad).

Making our own biryani masala is the very import step. Every time I make fresh batch of biryani masala and store the remaining in an air tight container for the using it in some other curries and gravies (believe me adding the biryani masala in any dish takes the dish to the next leve:)) the smell of freshly roasted whole spices is unexplainable 🙂

Biryani is also known as biriyani, biriani, briyani or birani. They are quite popular in Indian subcontinents. What’s makes them special is its flavors. Each and every biryani variety has some unique flavor. Here the Chettinad Egg Biryani has the freshly grounded spices flavor. The spice level is high comparing to other biryanis. So the raitha/curd is best option to relish the Chettinad Egg Biryani to balance the spiciness.

Adding the whole eggs is usual in biryanis but here in egg biryani we are smearing the eggs in hot oil with spices on a low medium flame and then we are adding it to the biryani. So there is a crispy crust formed on top of the eggs which are quite unique in texture. Eggs cooking along with the basmati rice give wonderful aroma at the end.

If you are a vegetarian then replace the eggs with paneer or vegetables. Still it will taste great and quite delicious.

You might also be interested in this “Easy Mutton/Goat Biryani” recipe here.

You must definitely try this flavorful biryani. Let’s see how to make this Chettinad Egg Biryani.

I have divided in 3 sections for easy understanding.

• Preparing for biryani masala
• Cookingeggs
• Making biryani

How to make Chettinad Biryani Masala:

Dry roasting the whole spices gives a wonderful flavor. That flavor is very important while making Biryani.

So dry roast the mentioned ingredients on “For making Chettinad Biryani Masala” section  on a medium flame without burning the spices(Refer below pic)

Once you get the nice aroma, allow it to cool and grid it to a coarse powder.

You can store the biryani masala in an air tight container and use it whenever needed.

How to cook eggs for biryani:

In a sauce pan add enough water to boil the eggs.

Once the water is hot enough add the eggs gently and cook it for 8-10 minutes.

Remove the shells of the eggs once done.

Slice the hard boiled eggs into halves.

Heat a pan and add oil

Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder and salt to the oil.

Now add the sliced eggs and cook it on both sides for 4-5 minutes.

Once done remove the cooked hard boil eggs from the pan and set aside.

How to make biryani:

Rinse 1 cup of Basmati rice.

Soak the rice for 30 minutes (don’t skip the step)

Heat a heavy bottom pan preferably.

Add the oil and ghee to it.

Add the bay leaves

Add the green chili

Add the sliced onions and cook until the onions caramelize.

Add the sliced onions and cook until the onions caramelize.

Later add the ginger garlic paste and cook until the raw flavor goes.

Add the mint and coriander leaves.

Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder, biryani masala.

Add 1/4 cup of curd and cook until the oil oozes out.

Add the soaked basmati rice and add enough water and salt to it.

Cook until the most of the water is absorbed.

Arrange the cooked eggs halves on top of the biryani and close the pan with lid.

Cook it for another 10 minutes.

Once done switch off the flame and leave it to rest for another 15 minutes.

The aromatic spicy Chettinad biryani is ready and it can be served with yogurt.

If you tried this recipe let me know how it turned. Take a picture and tag me @veg2nonveg_kitchen on Instagram with the hashtag #veg2nonvegkitchen. I would love to see your creation 🙂

Below is the printed version of the recipe!

Chettinad Egg Biryani

Chettinad Egg Biryani is a flavorful biryani made with exotic Chettinad spices, rice and eggs.

4.17 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: biryani, egg

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 2 peoples

Ingredients

For making Chettinad biryani masala:

• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 2 Green cardamom pods
• 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
• 2 Star anise
• 4 Cloves
• 1 Mace blade
• 1 Black cardamom
• 1 Stone flower dagad phool/kalpasi

For cooking eggs:

• 4 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cups of water to boil the eggs
• ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon of red chili powder
• 2 teaspoon of oil

For making biryani:

• 1 cup of basmati rice soaked in water for 30 minutes
• 1 and 3/4 cup of water
• ¼ cup of curd
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 2 tablespoons of Ghee
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Green chili
• 1 cup of thinly sliced red onions
• 1 tablespoon of ginger and garlic paste
• 2 tablespoon of chopped mint leaves
• ¼ cup of chopped coriander leaves
• ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 2 teaspoon of red chili powder
• 2 teaspoon of Chettinad biryani masala

Instructions

• Rinse and soak the basmati rice for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile make the biryani masala by dry roasting and grinding the ingredients mentioned under “For making Chettinad biryani masala” section.
• Then prepare the hard boiled eggs and cut it into halves.
• Heat a skillet and add oil, once the oil is hot add the turmeric powder, red chili powder and salt.
• Lower flame and add the egg halves and cook until the spices coated well (for 4-5 minutes)
• Once done remove the eggs and keep aside.
• For making the biryani, heat a heavy bottom pan and add oil and ghee to it.
• Then add the bay leaves and green chili.
• Add the thinly sliced onions and cook until the onions caramelize.
• Later add the freshly grounded ginger garlic paste and cook until the raw flavor goes.
• Add the chopped mint and coriander leaves.
• Then add the turmeric powder, red chili powder, biryani masala.
• Once the raw smell is gone, add 1/4 cup of curd and cook until the oil oozes out.
• Add the soaked basmati rice and add enough water and salt to cook the biryani.
• Cook until the most of the water is absorbed.
• Now arrange the cooked eggs halves on top of the biryani and close the pan with lid and cook it for another 10 minutes.
• Once done switch off the flame and let it rest for another 15 minutes.
• The aromatic spicy Chettinad biryani is ready and it can be served with yogurt/raitha.

Notes

• If you are making this egg biryani in pressure cooker then add the eggs after adding water to the rice and cook it for 2 whistles.
• If you are making this egg biryani in Instant pot then cook on “Sauté” mode till adding curd and after adding the rice change it to “Manual” mode and cook it for 4 minutes. Release the pressure after 10 minutes.
• Cooking the eggs with the spices are optional but it takes the biryani to the next level, so don’t skip this step.
• The water mentioned is accurate for perfectly cooked biryani; please don’t add more water than the mentioned measurement.

Nutrition

Serving: 0g | Carbohydrates: 0g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 0mg | Potassium: 0mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g | Vitamin A: 0IU | Vitamin C: 0mg | Calcium: 0mg | Iron: 0mg