Biryani Masala Recipe From Scratch for 1 kg Rice and Meat

One kilo rice, one kilo meat, and about 35 grams of spice in total. That’s the working ratio behind a family pot of Pakistani biryani, and once you know how it splits between whole spices and ground masala, this biryani masala recipe lets you stop depending on a packet.

Whole spices vs ground biryani masala

A good biryani uses spice in two jobs.

Whole spices (sabut garam masala) go into hot oil at the start with the onions, and some go into the rice water. They release flavour slowly and give that background perfume when you open the degh. They’re big enough that people pick them out on the plate.

Ground biryani masala goes into the meat masala (the “qorma” layer). It carries the colour, heat and body of the gravy that sticks to the rice.

Use only whole spices and the biryani tastes thin. Use only ground and it tastes muddy, like pulao with a salan poured on top. You want both.

Biryani masala recipe by weight (makes about 100 g)

Make this once; it’s enough for about 6 pots. It’s more floral than everyday garam masala, with more mace, cardamom and a sweet note from star anise and rose.

1. Roast sabut dhania and zeera on low heat for 2 minutes, until a shade darker. Remove.
2. Roast kali mirch, dalchini, laung, badi elaichi and badiyan for 1½ to 2 minutes. Remove.
3. Roast shahi zeera, choti elaichi, javitri and tez patta for 45 seconds only. Remove.
4. Warm the rose petals off the flame in the hot pan for 20 seconds. Only use petals sold for food; decorative petals may be sprayed.
5. Cool everything completely, about 15 minutes.
6. Grind finely in two batches, sieve, and regrind the husks.
7. Stir in mirch, haldi and a light grating of jaiphal. Store sealed, dark and dry. Best within 3 months.

Using hot local lal mirch instead of Kashmiri? Use 6 g, not 12. Our lal mirch guide explains the difference.

How to use it in a 1 kg biryani

Whole spices in the oil (about 12 g)

• 1 tsp shahi zeera or regular zeera
• 2 badi elaichi, cracked
• 6 choti elaichi, cracked
• 6 laung
• 2 dalchini sticks (5 cm)
• 10 kali mirch
• 2 tez patta
• 1 badiyan

Whole spices in the rice water (about 5 g)

For boiling 1 kg soaked rice in about 4 litres water: 2 tez patta, 4 choti elaichi, 4 laung, 1 tsp shahi zeera, plus the salt (the water should taste noticeably salty, like seawater’s gentler cousin).

1. Heat ¾ cup oil or ghee. Add the whole spices for the oil and let them sizzle for 30 seconds.
2. Add 3 thinly sliced onions (about 400 g) and fry to golden brown.
3. Add 1 kg meat and 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste. Bhuno on high for 5 minutes.
4. Add 3 chopped tomatoes, 250 g whisked dahi, salt, and 2 heaped tbsp of your biryani masala. Cook until the meat is tender and oil separates.
5. Add the aloo bukhara in the last 10 minutes of the meat cooking.
6. Layer with the par-boiled rice (70 to 80 percent cooked), then saffron or colour, fried onions, mint, and kewra at dum.

Chicken cooks faster, so reduce the masala to 1½ heaped tbsp and keep the whole spices the same.

Aloo bukhara and kewra: a quick note

Both are signature Karachi biryani notes, and both deserve their own deep dive, so here’s only what you need for this pot.

Aloo bukhara (dried sour plums) adds tart sweetness that cuts the richness. 6 to 8 per kilo is typical. Rinse them, and warn diners about the stones, which are easy to bite on; that’s a real concern with children and older people with dental work.

Kewra water (screwpine flower water) is powerful. 1 tsp sprinkled over the rice at dum is enough for 1 kg. Kewra essence (the concentrated bottle) is a different product: a few drops only. Too much makes the biryani taste like soap. Rose water can stand in, see our gulab jal post for choosing a food-grade one.

For colour, many cooks use saffron or zarda rang; our zarda rang safety guide explains how little you need and how to avoid non-permitted loose colours, and our zafran guide covers soaking saffron properly.

Scaling, swapping and storing

Cooking for a dawat with 3 kg rice? Don’t simply triple the whole spices. Whole spices get stronger in a big degh because they sit longer in more oil, so use about 2½ times the whole spices and a full 3 times the ground masala. For half a kilo, halve everything but keep at least 1 badi elaichi, since half a pod does very little.

No shahi zeera? Use ordinary zeera and add 2 extra choti elaichi. No javitri? Add a second light grating of jaiphal instead, but no more than that. No rose petals? Leave them out; a few drops of rose water at dum does a similar job.

Keep ground biryani masala in a small glass jar filled to the top, away from the stove. Grind a fresh batch when the cardamom and mace smell has faded, usually around the 3 month mark. The whole spices keep for months longer if stored separately and dry.

Common questions

More spice and pantry guides: Desi Remedies.