Making MALABAR DUM BIRYANI in Kozhikode - How to Make Malabar Chicken Biryani | Kerala, India

So hot. As you can see, the smoke's just rising. The walls are black. They're doing more over here. Some more biryani. Got three pots on fire. Three smaller biryani over here to the left. In the back, they're finishing these three biryani. I'm like starving. I can't wait to eat this. Good morning everyone. I hope you're all doing well. This is David Hoffman from David's Bin here in beautiful Calicut, the food capital of Kerala. Today, I'm so excited because I'm going to go see how they make Malabar biryani. If you guys didn't know, the northern part of Kerala is famous for biryani, and I'm going to this place right here, Kuchidai Biryani Center. We're going to see the whole process from start to finish. Then we're going to explore the area. We're going to see the mosque nearby. We're going to see the beach, probably try some snacks, and then come back and then try the biryani. I'm so excited. Are you guys pumped? Let's go and see how they make Malabar biryani. Shabil. Hi. Morning. Let's go inside. All right. I actually haven't seen them make biryani, the entire process, before ever. I've seen it a few times in Delhi, also in Hyderabad, but never like this. Morning. How are you guys doing? Wow. Morning. Good morning. David, pleasure. Nice to meet you. This is my first time experiencing this. This is like a spectacle, guys. This is really, really amazing. So what's happening here is they're doing a lot of different things, right? They're cutting lots of vegetables. So one guy's cutting tomatoes like nonstop, just chopping the tomatoes up. Another guy is cutting onions, just never-ending onions. I mean, you know, so many onions. It's really, really incredible. Over here, this guy is blending chilies, just blending the hell out of like a thousand chilies. Next to it, you have garlic and also ginger. There's coriander over here. There's a guy over here frying the fish and also the chicken. So they have multiple different biryanis here. They have chicken biryani. They have fish biryani. And they have beef biryani. There's only three? Okay. Okay, so there's this, that is a biryani and then it's khali ka biryani, okay? So khali ka biryani, what's happening here is that they're adding all these onions, like a mountain of onions, right? And they're going to add all that mountain of tomatoes, the garlic, the ginger and the chilies right here. And there's going to be one layer, right? So it's one layer. Over here, we have crispy onions with coriander and cashew nuts. That's another layer. Then we're going to have the rice layer. And obviously in there comes like the chicken, the beef, the fish. Really incredible. This is huge. Look at these massive pots everywhere. So each one is a different biryani right there, right? Yeah. And then here's the rice. And the rice, by the way, is different from the Hyderabad rice. That's long grain rice. This is short grain rice. Very very different. I am so excited to try these biryanis. This is going to be an epic experience. As you see over here, the guy is frying the chicken. And the difference between Teleseri biryani and Kalika biryani is that the chicken is fried in Teleseri biryani and in the Kalika biryani, it's actually baked. And another huge thing here, huge difference between this biryani and every other biryani on earth is the fire is actually covenant shells. So it's not wood, it's covenant shells that are getting lit. Really incredible. Look at that. Thousands of covenant shells underneath every single one of these and it's going to be a beautiful creation. Onions. Onion. Tomato. Then garlic. Ginger. Then coriander leaves. Curry leaves. Okay. For biryani masala. Then salt. Put head. And then herbs. That's all you did. Okay. So. You saw, you know. Yeah, yeah. I mean a huge mountain of onions, tomatoes, coriander, garlic, curry leaves, ginger. My god. The chilies. I mean it really is a phenomenal masala. I would eat this like with nothing else. No rice, nothing. Just like this. Yeah, pretty hot. Pretty hot. It's like a Kerala biryani. Yeah. That's how it has to be. If it's not spicy in Kerala, it's not Kerala. So I have the opportunity to try the biryani masala now. Okay. Mmm. Wow. So much flavor. Mmm. Chilies. Spices. It's going to be hot. It's going to be a spicy. Spicy. Super spicy. Mmm. Give me some more. That was so good. Mmm. That was an extremely spicy masala. You have so many flavors in there. You have the chilies, then you have the curry leaves, the coriander, you could feed it there too. Onions. The first tomato. I mean there's so much flavor in it. I cannot wait to mix that with rice and the crispy onions and then probably some chicken. Wow. Now they've finished making the masala. Next step in the process is they get chicken, put it into one of these huge pots. They get beef as well, put it into another pot and then they're going to add the masala. Once they add the masala, they start mixing it really well. This gentleman comes, just puts his hand in there and just starts mixing it, blending it extremely well. Next step in the process, they're going to boil rice. After the rice is boiled, they're going to put the rice in here. They're going to add the crispy onions and then they close it for two hours. Long process. It's going to be amazing. I can smell the aroma. I mean the masala really hits you. Really spicy. I haven't eaten today so I'm feeling it a lot right now. But it's good. He's mixing right here. Lots and lots of beef. And this is buffalo, right? Buffalo? Yeah. Buffalo. Yeah. Great, man. Wow. It smells fantastic. Next up, they're boiling the rice. As you can see, they've brought the rice in, dumped it in. They're going to boil it for like 30 minutes. It's going to be like half boiled. Then they'll dump it into these containers. Then they'll seal it. Then it'll be two hours. The rice is almost done. But before he adds the rice to each container, what they're doing is they're adding sunflower oil. So they add like one thing of sunflower oil, like one big cup, right? Into each one. Then this guy comes over and mixes well and flattens it. Makes it like a nice layer. Then they're going to add the rice. After they've sealed all the pots, they put a brick on top. Then they lit the fire. They're going to let it burn for about 15 minutes. It's so hot right here. Like I'm in the fire. I'm baking. This is really awesome. He's containing the fire with some wood around it. He's moving the coconuts in. Let it keep burning. Once it's done in 15 minutes, they're going to turn off the fire. It's going to cook like a pressure cooker, right? Then it'll be like two hours. Then they'll open it and it'll be the briyani of Malabar. Color-cut briyani. Color-cut. No, no, no. No, no. A little more. Oh. So hot. As you can see, the smoke's just rising. The walls are black. They're doing more over here. Some more briyani. Got three pots on fire. Three smaller briyani over here to the left. In the back, they're finishing these three briyani. They're going to light the fire after that. They just keep adding coconuts. I think the coconuts are going to make the taste so different from wood. Coconut shells over wood. Great idea. Obviously, here in Kerala, the land of coconuts. I'm like starving. I can't wait to eat this. As you can see, the dough is starting to seal. Then it's going to start pressure cooking. That's it. Now we've got to wait two hours. Woo. It's so hot in here. All right. Let's go explore Kalikut. I need to get out of here. Oh, man. The breeze is coming in. Wow. Right outside of the briyani center, we have this wall of murals. Lots of beautiful murals. People come here, take photos. When I got here, there was a lot of people here just taking a bunch of pics. Right next to this place, we have the beach. The beach is right here, right in front of all these buses. Kalikut Beach? Yeah. What's the name of the beach? One of the best beaches in Kerala. Yeah? One of the best. And this is the entrance to the beach. So we have a little walkway, gateway entering. Whoa. Beautiful. Arabian Sea. As soon as you get off the boardwalk, you have to walk through a bunch of trash to get onto the sand. Here we go. Wow. Looks like a virgin beach. Not a soul. Really wide beach. I've actually seen a few beaches in India. This one resembles one of them that I saw in Mumbai. Few skyscrapers. Few. Kalikut is not really big on skyscrapers. I think there's like four or five here. Very nice boardwalk. People here are taking photos. Wow. Just a beautiful day. Longest beach. This is the longest beach in Kalikut? No, no, no. Kalikut longest beach. Kalikut's longest beach? Yeah. My friend here is writing my name. Actually, he's writing David's been here. And that's Kalikut Beach. Next up, we're going to the Bombay Hotel to try some snacks. I'm really hungry. I haven't had breakfast. I've really been building up my appetite for the biryani. I told him I'm way too hungry. Let's go somewhere to eat. And he said the best way to try some stuff is at the Bombay Hotel. And if you're looking to get around Kalikut, definitely do tuk-tuks. That was a tight door. This is like a more fancy tuk-tuk. And here they don't call it tuk-tuks or rickshaws. They call it autos. Yeah. Autos. I love riding these autos. They're really, really fun. It's a super experience. The only thing is, there's no seatbelt. So, hold on tight. That's it? We're here? Yeah. That was a one-minute rickshaw ride. How much? So, it's $25 for the rickshaw. So, $50. Give me $20. $20. Bombay Hotel? The Bombay Hotel dates back to 1949. And hotel actually means restaurant in Kerala. You know, most places you'll see like hotel, hotel, hotel. But that doesn't mean it's accommodations. That means it's a restaurant. Okay, guys. I'm hungry. I'm super hungry, guys. What we got here are a lot of fried things and also some pastries. We have some cakes. They have carrot cake. They have another one. It's called like mud. And they have banana fry. They have bunda, which is basically like potato. Stuffed potato ball fried. They also have over here some vada. Everything looks good. What are we trying? Banana fry? Bunda? And this? I'm trying so many different things. So, I have the carrot cake. Banana fry. Chatipatri. Bunda. Subil. And Butamala, which looks like egg, right? Okay, so I start off with the banana fry, obviously. My favorite. It's fried. So, you can see nice batter on the outside. And for me, if I were to sell this like, I don't know, in Ireland or something, it would be like fried fish. But obviously here, it's banana fry. It's good. Really tasty. If you eat in Kerala, that's not spicy. Next up, we have delicious carrot cake. I actually love carrot cake. Just have to eat with a spoon. Get in here. Go. It's like pure carrots. I mean, obviously, there's some sugar in here. But it's different because it's more like a dense cake. It's not so, so soft. But you still have that pudding sensation. Mmm. This carrot cake is delicious. The only problem is I don't really eat sweets in the morning. But for this, I'll do it. Mmm. And this is subil, stuffed with sugar. Mmm. I actually had this before. Mmm. Super sweet. Love the inside. Look at that. For me, this is one of my favorite fried things in Kerala. Last time I ate it, I ate the whole thing. It's super fried on the outside. Grainy on the inside. Super sweet. I mean, it's delicious, but... It's really fried. Everything is fried. Next up, the bonda. Potatoes. And this is the bonda. Mashed potatoes. That is fried. It's good. A little bit of heat. Nice chili inside. Also got some... What is this? Onions. Got some sesame seeds in here. Oh, it's really mushy. Lighter batter in terms of friedness. Not so fried. It feels more like a banana fry. This one's super fried. This is chatipatri. So it's basically like a layered cake. So it's rice flour with egg. You got cashew nuts and raisins. Oh, wow. Sweet. Oh, yeah. So many layers. Just where it's just a pure cake. Nice and fluffy. Nice layers. Throughout you have a bunch of raisins. Too sweet. Lastly, we have this one. Botamala. Another sweet. And this is actually very different because it is egg yolk. Crispy egg yolk, right? No, actually, it's not crispy egg yolk. It's more like almost like pasta egg yolk, right? And then this is egg white. In the shape of a heart. So you're supposed to go inside. Yeah, it's like... Looks like almost like super thin pasta. This is gonna be very sweet. I'm just gonna have one bite. The egg white is almost like a flan. Super gelatin. Very smooth. I mean, as soon as you bite into it, it's like butter. And then this is very, very soft as well. It's very, very sweet though. The egg white is extremely sweet. Now I have a surprise for you guys. In the back, we're gonna see how they make dancing chai. Dancing chai. And here he's making the dancing chai, which is also referred to as the briyani chai. The way it works is he gets the chai, right? That's the bottom layer. So he makes the chai, puts it on the bottom. Then he puts like frothy milk in the middle. Then he puts like a foam on top. Wow, look at this. Like a meter-high chai. So you have the chai on the bottom. Then you have milk. Then you have like a frothy layer, right? Nice foam. So you go inside and you mix. Oh, wow. Look at that. Basically, it turned into like a... Almost like a cafe con leche, right? But it starts off as multiple layers. They say it's really amazing. Oh, it's hot. Oh, wow. So hot. Scorching hot. This is the best thing. I love chai. Chai, chai, chai, chai. My friend, cheers. I don't see a huge difference. The only difference is the foamy layer on top. You have that frothy feeling. And obviously, you have the milk, the chai. Pretty amazing. That's it for the Bombay Hotel. Tried so many delicious snacks. Favorite part for sure was the chai. Chai was so good. And by the way, it cost $186 total. So I think that was like $1.50 total for everything. Tried six things, right? Five, six things and two chais. We also took the rest of the food away. I'm going to give it away. I'm going to see somebody to give it to. And now we have to catch a tuk-tuk or another auto. Take the auto straight to the mosque, right? Let's go. It's currently 11.20. We have exactly 30 minutes to be back at the biryani place. For when they open the biryani. So it's going to take us like five minutes to get to the mosque. We'll be there for like 10, 15 minutes. See it from outside and then come back. I am so excited. I hear so many good things about this mosque. It's actually like a medieval mosque. Really, really old mosque. I think it's like 500, 600 years old. And here we are. Almost there. Thank you. This is so different. I've never seen a mosque like this. No minaret. No minaret, no dome. Very different. This is called the Mishkal Mosque. This is the place you have to visit when you come to Calcutta. If you're looking for historical attractions. This is a 14th century mosque. Let me read to you a little bit about what it says here on the wall. Okay, so. All the walls of the mosque, except for the ground floor, are made of wood. This mosque was designed by Tahatins, the skilled craftsmen in traditional architectural style. And Vistavoyik, like the temples and other buildings of the period. The same architects and craftsmen were behind the construction of this holy structure. This mosque was partially destroyed by the Portuguese commander, Al-Burqar, on January 3rd, 1510. During the 14th century, Calcutta possessed great wealth. And had a huge fleet of ships for its trade with India, China, Yemen, and Persia. Ship owners, known as the Mukhalas, were among the wealthiest merchants of the medieval Indian Ocean world. I thought we were going to go to the top, top, top. But unfortunately, we're not. We only went to the first level. We saw, you know, quickly a view. This table they have there. And then we saw the main level, which is really, really beautiful. So different from any other mosque I've ever seen. I mean, obviously, this is the first medieval mosque I've ever been to. I don't know if that many exist anymore. And this is like the only one surviving here in Kerala. All right, my friend, Briani. Yeah. We're in a super hurry. We have four minutes to get there before they open the Briani. Let's hope we make it. Thankfully, we made it here in two minutes. So we still have three minutes. All right, let's go. We made it. We're back. And that was it. They open the Briani. And you can see the aroma just hits you right when they open it. And then he starts cutting it and moving it to the other container. The other big pot. And as you can see, all the layers. So many layers. You have rice layer. Then you have crispy onions with raisins. More rice. More crispy onions. Then you get to the very bottom. And then you have the masala and the chicken. Wow, look at this. It's unreal. Unreal. You can, like, smell chilies. It's crazy. It's going to be hot. This is the first spicy Briani I've ever had. Yeah. Spicy, spicy Briani. That's my game. Right there. They separated the rice from the chicken and the masala. So you have two pots, right? As soon as the client comes in and says they want Briani, they serve them first the chicken and the masala. Then they cover it with the rice. And that is Calico Briani. Let's eat. I'm starving. I can't wait to try it. Chicken Briani for me. Ready? Ready. Let's go. Finally, I'm trying the Calico Briani. Calico. So excited. I actually got the half portions of the beef, which is buffalo, and the chicken. And here we have chutney. This is mint and coconut chutney. And here we have curd. So my friend's telling me to get a little bit of the mint and then a little bit of the curd. And then how do I do it? Just go in? First thing you do is go like that. So wash your hands before you do this. Ooh, it's super hot. Extremely hot. Grabbing enough, right? And then over here I'm going to grab some of the beef one. Ooh. So the bottom. Ooh, it's like burning. Oh, it's so hot. So mix, mix, mix, mix. Get some of the curd, right? Mix in. Get a good amount. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Oh, my God, the flavor. Ooh, so good. A little spicy. Love the aroma. I really, really am enjoying the small-grained rice compared to the long-grained rice. It's different. This is more like grains. Mmm, so good. I'm going to get some of the mint and coconut chutney. Mix it in. Spicy. But I like it. More. A lot more. Yeah, but this time I have to get more of this, like actual beef, right? I didn't get enough. It's too hot. All right. Get a little more now. Here we go. I didn't get enough of the beef or the chicken that time. Mmm. Oh, yeah. Mmm, the beef is, like, falling apart. Wow. Oh, the taste. Mmm. I'm going to call it right now. This is the best biryani I've ever had in my life. It, like, mixes throughout. Mmm, just this nice tang. Ooh, spice. Mmm. The coconut, man. Mmm. It's unbelievable. You love it, huh? Yeah, of course. That's what I'm talking about. The masala is unreal, man. The masala is, like, look at that. It's beautiful. Love it. Mmm. It actually reminds me, like, of some, like, Chinese fried rices I've had. Oh, yeah, like that. Oh, we get the chicken. Oh, it's so hot, though. Oh. So, my boy told me to grab the chicken. Mmm. Oh, wow. It's falling apart. One more time, guys. Bam. And just mix. Just mix. Oh, yeah. Just almost, like, grab this big piece of chicken. Look at that. Yeah, the rice is just melting. You know, we saw it being prepared. We're eating it now. There's no pressure bringing on it yet. Mmm. That's very affordable. You know, the halves are, like, 90 and 100. Not bad at all. I'm spending less than, like, $1.50 for both of this. This restaurant has two different levels. First level, second level. First level is no air conditioning, but they have fans, so it's not hot in here. Mmm. This is... This is my first intro to Malabar biryani, Cali Cup biryani. And I have to say, so far, this is the number one biryani I've ever had. Oh, man. Mmm. Guys, I hope you enjoyed this video. We had an amazing day today. You saw the entire process of how they make Cali Cup biryani. Wow, just an experience. Being in the kitchen, with the fire, seeing how they make the masala. Then they start mixing. They add the rice. Everything just gets put together. Then they close it. They add the heat. Coconut shells. Towards that thing. They leave it there for two hours cooking. Like a slow pressure cooker. Then they open it up. And wow. We also explored a few other things, right? So we saw the beach. We saw the Bombay Hotel. Tried a few things there. Dancing chai. Saw a mosque. Those are things you have to do when you come here. But you have to come here and eat this. This is the reason to come, right? Mmm. This is for sure the food capital of Kerala. Guys, if you love this video, just give me a thumbs up. Leave a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. I'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Kerala. Oh, dude. I'm going to eat a lot more. Mmm.