Everytime I make biryani I ruin it 
Before the rice would be stuck together and last night I boiled them till they were 3/4 done, drained the water thoroughly and made the layers and put it in the oven but they were still slightly kachay I took them out as they were drying
How can I get the perfect biryani?
Re: biryani experts
zim, its not very hard .. Do it the following way :
first, forget the 3/4 paka hua rice strategy , it doesnt work with learners ..
Boil rice in lots of water .. when they are close to boiling keep a close eye on them , every few seconds take a bit of rice, eat and check if they are kache .. Keep doing this until you are sure that they are no longer raw but also havent become too soft .. The key is to drain the rice as soon as you can sense that they are still hard on the outside but not kache .. the immediate next stage of rice after this point is that they soften up and get mashed up .. so you have to be so quick with it .. Drain them into a collander
Also remember that you should boil rice on high heat .. when you do rice on medium or low heat, you risk rice turning into kheer 
Now when the rice are fully drained but still hot ( takes about 3-4 minutes only ) Layer the biryani .. Put a wet but not dripping cloth on the lid of the pot and cover the pot carefully with it .. then keep it on dum , either in the oven ( for 5-8 minutes ) on lowest heat setting .. or on a tawa with lowest heat setting .
About damping the cloth.. I have kept a little towel specifically for dum. you know the hand towel or the kitchen towels that you get ? keep one aside for dum purpose only so it remains neat and hygienic always .. wet it really well .. and then squeeze every drop of water out of it .. then cover the lid .
About the dum in the oven: I have never liked dum on the Tawa .. though I have always seen mom do it on tawa but I cant get it right. so oven dum works for me . I put the oven heat on 60 Degrees and and let the rice sit in for 5-7 minutes .. then take them out and leave them on the stove without opening the lid. After 5-8 minutes I finally open the lid and mix them lightly so the biryani flavour gets distributed ..
Do this a few times and you will be successful .
Re: biryani experts
aw thanks cb for the lenghty reply 
i was literally standing next to the rice and checking every minute, i let it drain for 10 mins tho in the colander 
and then in the oven on 50 degrees for half an hour
I will try what u said next time iA
Re: biryani experts
For biryani,I cook soaked rice in boiling water with 2 tbsp vinegar+1tsp salt per cup of rice for 7 minutes and drain and layer.
For regular white rice, I do it for 8 minutes (we drain out starch of the white rice) so these timings work perfect for me
Re: biryani experts
The problem is that you were following the 3/4th cooked rice strategy. Dont follow that the next time .. and do the above steps I posted .. I am positive you will get a good Biryani In shaa Allah
Re: biryani experts
Agree wt cb said".. Plus if ur rice are kachay sometimes… U can sprinkle some milk on rice n dam again it makes ur rice lil soft
Re: biryani experts
dont worry, it took me about 4 years to get biryani consistently right. consistently being key, as in the past it would come out good one time and mushy another time; I’ve finally figured out the method that works best for me…now flavor/colorwise, I still can’t do it like my mom but oh well…baby steps 
biryani experts
^ glad I’m not the only one 
Do the Chawal then have any taste of milk?