mutton biryani recipe

mutton biryani recipe

                 A biryani recipe again! Oh no! But what is so bad about biryani? I love any kind of biryani. This is a 16^th biryani recipe and a 27^th rice recipe in my space in just 8 months. Crazy me! I have still many more biryani recipes to post. Today’s mutton biryani recipe (andhra style) is a simple and quick one suitable for bachelors, new cooks and busy folks. Basically the masala that is used for this recipe is different from the one that goes towards chicken biryani. This is the basic thumb rule my mom and a Muslim friend of mine always say. This is only our opinion and might vary in others view. This is an exact replica of what we get in most south Indian good restaurants.

       

The key to any good mbiryani is tender meat and pressure cooking it. Most folks fail to prepare a good mutton recipe, firstly due to the wrong choice of the meat. Using one that is not tender. Secondly overcooking or cooking on high flame too can make it hard. However all these depend on the kind of feed lamb or goat has been on. If you are using meat that is not tender or if you are unsure about how tender it is, use meat tenderizer, which is available in most stores. Alternately you can use grated raw papaya during marination, like my mom does. She could not give me the exact proportion of how much to use, so I am left with no correct info. Just 2 tbsps for half a kg is her approximation. I have personally never used it as I get good tender meat in Singapore. Now on to the recipe. use all the ingredients in correct proportions, to get a good biryani

Note: The garam masala powder used here consists of only 6 ingredients (coriander + cardamom +cumin + cloves +cinnamon +pepper). if interested can check out my homemade garam masala powder
Alternately there is another method in which the masala is different.i have mentioned at the end of the post. i presume that to be a muslim style as i got that from a muslim friend.That tastes totally different from the first  one and color of the biryani too is different.

Ingredients

Cooking time 1 hr including preparation

Serves 2 to 3

1 cup of aged basmathi rice (soaked for 10 mins)

1 ½ cups hot water

3/4  cup fresh yogurt (do not use a sour one, can make your rice very sour as we are using tomatoes too)

½ cup of onions sliced thinly

2 to 4 green chilies

¼ to 1/3 cup of tomatoes (adjust as per your desire)

1 tsps. garam masala powder

¼ cup of mint leaves / pudina (tightly packed)

¼ cup of coriander leaves (tightly packed)

4 tbsps oil (do not reduce)

dry spices (for seasoning) (*updated)

1 big or 2 small bay leaves

1 whole small nutmeg

1 strand of mace

½ tsp shahi jeera / black cumin

4 green cardamoms

1 black cardamom

1 star anise

few pepper corn

3 inch cinnamon stick

6 cloves

Marination

350 gms of tender lamb mutton (cut to a size of your choice)

½ tsp red chili powder (I used byadgi chili powder) (*updated)

1 ½ tsps. garam masala powder

1 ½ tbsp. ginger garlic paste

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt to taste (just add enough for the meat, extra salt will be added while cooking rice, accordingly adjust)

Method

1.   wash mutton and drain water thoroughly and marinate with marination ingredients and set aside for at least an hour

2.   heat a wide pressure pan or nonstick a with oil, add the dry spices, sauté till they begin to sizzle

3.   Add onions, green chilies and fry till they turn brown almost about to caramelize. This is crucial to get a good aroma and taste. There must be enough oil to for the onions to fry. If needed add some more oil.

4.   add tomatoes, sprinkle salt just enough for the tomatoes to cook easily. cook till the tomatoes turn fully mushy 

5.   add half of the coriander and mint leaves, sauté for a min

6.   add the marinated mutton pieces, pour the yogurt, mix well and cook on a low flame for 3 whistles. when the pressure goes off, remove the lid. You will be left with a thick gravy. How thick depends on your mutton. if you are left with lot of watery gravy, then evaporate it by cooking for some time

 7.   Add hot water and other half of mint and coriander leaves, bring to a boil. Add rice, 1 to 1 ½ tsps. garam masala powder. adjust salt and cook on a medium flame till almost all the water is evaporated. refer the pic.

8.   cover and cook till the rice is fully done. if the rice is undercooked and there is not enough moisture, you can sprinkle some water. Alternately you can close the lid of the pressure pan / cooker and cook on a very low flame for 7 mins. The flame must barely touch the surface of the pan.  Do not let the cooker whistle. Alternately you can move the pan on to a old hot tawa. set the flame to medium and let it cook that way for 12 mins. This way the biryani is not burnt at the bottom.

Ø  some of you might be interested to know what kind of a pan I use for this biryani, I use a heavy bottom pressure pan .

Ø  you can peek at my utensil, it hasn’t burnt the biryani either. these measurements work fine for me always.

Alternate method
Dry spices (for seasoning is same as above)

Spices (roast lightly & powder)

1 black cardamom

5 green cardamom

3 inch cinnamon stick

6 cloves

½ tsp cumin or shahi jeera

Few pepper corn

To Grind (green masala)

1 cup packed coriander leaves

½  cup packed mint leaves

1/3 cup of chopped onions

3 green chilies

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

All Instructions are same, add the green masala at step 5.

Will post the pics shortly.