Lamb Biryani
Biryani is a rich, golden, rice and mutton one-dish casserole. It’s a perfect entertaining and specialty dish with its distinctive flavor. The famous Mutton Biryani either lamb or goat is the main entree in most Indian weddings, special occasions and festivities. Biryani is often served with Hyderabadi Bagare Baingan or Hyderabadi Mirch Salan and Yogurt Raita.
Author: Birjis Adeni Rashed
Cuisine: Indian
Recipe type: Main Course
Serves: 5
Prep time:
Total time:
Ingredients
- 6 c basmati rice
- 2 lb mutton (goat or lamb)
- 1 1⁄2 c yogurt
- 3 onions
- 5 green peppers or to taste
- 1 bn cilantro or corriander leaves
- 1 bn mint leaves
- 2 ginger paste
- 2 garlic paste
- 1⁄2 c lemon juice
- 1 T garam masala (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves,caraway)
- 1 T red pepper powder or to taste
- 1⁄2 T turmeric
- 3⁄4 T coriander seeds powder
- 2 T salt (1 t for rice,1 t for mutton)
- 300 ml oil
- 2 cinnamon flat sticks
- 5 cardamom
- 5 cloves
- 3 star aniseed
Instructions
- In a large thick based pot or a cooker, warm about 300 ml of oil. While the oil is warming, take a sharp knife and cutting board and thinly slice the onions. It’s important that the onions are fine and thin because when they are tossed in the warm oil, the slices turn a pretty golden brown much quicker and crispier. Remove these fried onions from oil and set aside on a paper towel.
- In the same oil add the ginger and garlic pastes and sauté till you smell its pleasant aroma. The art is to brown it and not burn it. Now add the washed and cleaned big sized mutton pieces to the oil. It is recommended to have about three to four inch mutton pieces because at the end of the long cooking process, you don’t want to disintegrate the meat pieces. Next add the spice mix of red pepper powder, coriander powder, turmeric and salt. Sauté and cook while gently stirring, till the water of the mutton gets absorbed, making the oil float up. Now this oil needs to be scooped up and set aside to be used later in the recipe.
- In the spiced mutton mix, add yogurt, cilantro, mint leaves, slit green peppers, lime juice, garam masala, and half of the golden brown onions and sauté together till the meat is coated with all the flavors. Next cook the meat by adding 1 cup water to the pot with closed lid or pressure cook till the meat gets done and the gravy is of the right consistency.
- Alternatively in a large pot boil 15 to 20 cups water, with cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamoms, star aniseed and salt. When the water begins to boil, add the washed rice. Keep an eye regularly by gently stirring and when rice is half cooked drain the water with the help of a colander or large sieve.
- For the final process, you need a large aluminum oven baking tray. In this you first layer the rice followed by the mutton mix and topped by another layer of rice. Next sprinkle the golden fried onions on top. Also sprinkle some mint leaves and cilantro.
- For color, mix saffron or orange food color in half cup warm milk and sprinkle on top. For coloring the other layers of rice, dig some holes in the rice every few inches apart with a spatula or rear end of a spoon and drizzle in the food color. The oil earlier set aside needs to be poured in a similar pattern without disturbing the layers of the rice and meat. Lastly sprinkle lemon juice and cover the top with thick layers of tin foil, making sure the tray is well covered from all sides. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or more on 250 degrees.
- When serving the biryani, gently mix the mutton and rice together in batches and serve on a platter, garnished with fried onions and mint leaves.
Notes
Biryani recipes tend to change with the roots of origin. Hyderabad, India, for example is famous for two kinds of Biryanis, the true Hyderabadi “kache gosh ki biryani” and “pakke gosh ki biryani”. This recipe above is for the” pakke gosh ki biryani”, where the mutton and rice are cooked separately and layered and cooked together.
Serving Size
Serving size: 5
