History

No dish records Dubai's demographics more precisely than biryani. Malabar cooks from Kerala brought thalassery biryani with its short grain kaima rice and fried onion crown; Hyderabadi cooks brought the raw marinade dum method sealed under dough; Karachi kitchens brought the sour, potato heavy Sindhi style with plum and yoghurt. All three are cooked within a few streets of each other in Al Karama and Meena Bazaar, and each community keeps its own version rather than blending them. The city's restaurants serve it by the kilo for family orders.

Book a food experience

Tours, tastings and classes that match this page, bookable on GetYourGuide.

Browse every bookable food experience

Common allergens: Milk, Nuts

Make it at home

Yield Serves 6Hands-on 50 minTotal 2 hrDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • 1kg bone in chicken, jointed
  • 500g basmati rice, soaked 30 minutes
  • 250g plain yoghurt
  • 4 onions, finely sliced and fried to deep brown (birista)
  • 2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste
  • 2 teaspoons red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon turmeric, 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • A large handful each of chopped coriander and mint
  • 4 green chillies, slit
  • A large pinch of saffron steeped in 60ml warm milk
  • 60g ghee
  • Whole spices: 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cardamom, 4 cloves, 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon caraway

Method

  1. Marinate the chicken with the yoghurt, ginger garlic paste, chilli, turmeric, garam masala, lime juice, half the fried onions, half the herbs, the green chillies and 2 teaspoons salt. Leave 1 hour.
  2. Boil a large pot of heavily salted water with the whole spices. Add the drained rice and cook 5 minutes only, until the grains are soft at the ends and hard in the middle. Drain.
  3. Spread the marinated chicken in a heavy based pot in an even layer. Pour over half the ghee.
  4. Layer the part cooked rice on top. Scatter the rest of the fried onions and herbs, spoon over the saffron milk and the remaining ghee.
  5. Cover with a tight lid, or seal the rim with a rope of dough. Cook on the lowest heat for 35 minutes, using a heat diffuser if you have one.
  6. Rest 15 minutes off the heat before opening. Serve by digging down through all the layers rather than stirring.

Tip from the editors. The rice must come out of the water while it still snaps in the middle. Fully cooked rice turns to paste during the 35 minute dum.

Where to eat dubai biryani

Dubai biryani in Dubai

Hyderabadi Biryani House ★ 4.0

$ HyderabadiAl Karama

Hyderabadi Biryani House layers dum biryani near Karama Park, a small Karama Shopping Complex counter known across Al Karama, Dubai for its dum pot.

TryChicken dum biryani

TipThe chicken dum biryani is the order; it is in Block L of the Karama Shopping Complex near Karama Park.

Directions

Calicut Paragon ★ 4.0

$ KeralaAl Karama

Calicut Paragon, a Kozhikode name dating to 1939, cooks Malabar biryani, fish moilee and beef fry in a plain Al Karama dining room in Dubai.

OrderChicken biryani with a side of fried Kerala prawns and a bowl of chicken curry.

TipMost dishes come in full and half portions, priced to match, so a table can try more of the Malabar menu.

Directions

Ravi Restaurant ★ 4.0

$ PakistaniAl SatwaUntil 02:00

Ravi Restaurant on Al Diyafah Street in Al Satwa, Dubai, has served affordable Pakistani karahi and curries into the small hours since 1978.

TryPeshawari mutton karahi and chicken curry

TipGo for the chicken karahi and dal fry; the dining room is basic and the kitchen runs until 02:00.

Directions

All Dubai signature dishes →

More cities are in research. Want dubai biryani covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

Browse all dishes →