Mutton Biriyani

I am a great fan of Mrs.Lilly Babu Jose & her recipes. All her recipes are unique.This biriyani is from her cookery show & was on my must try list for a very long time. It tastes different from other Mutton biriyanis I have tried before. Here’s the recipe with a few modifications.

Ingredients:-

For the mutton masala:-

Mutton -500 grams, cut into bite size pieces & washed with salt & vinegar

Ghee – 5 tbsp

Canola oil- 2 tbsp

Onion – 3 medium, thinly sliced

Ginger garlic paste – 3/4 heaping tbsp

Thick curd – 1/4 cup

Dry red chilly – 3 numbers

Salt – 1 tsp to start with

Greenchilly – 3 numbers, crushed

Garlic -5 big cloves, crushed

Ginger -1″ piece, crushed

Coriander powder – 1 heaping tsp

Tomato – 1 medium, chopped

Mint leaves – a small handful, crushed

Garam masala powder – 3/4 tsp

Cilantro-4 tbsp, chopped

For the rice:-

Basmathi Rice – 2 cups

Cinnamon – 2 1″ piece

Cloves – 4 numbers

Cardamom-4 numbers

Salt -2 tsp

Boiling water – 3.5 cup

For layering:-

Warm milk – 1/4 cup

Almond paste – 1/4 cup

Rose essence -1/2 tsp

Yellow food color – a pinch

Very ripe pineapple – 1/4 cup, chopped

Cashews – 25 grams

Raisins- 1 tbsp

Method:-

Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes & drain thoroughly.

Heat 2 tbsps of ghee & toast the cashews & raisins. Keep aside.

Add 3 tbsps of ghee to the same pan & fry the thinly sliced onions till they turn golden brown in color. Drain the fried onion on paper towels. Toast the dry red chillies in the same ghee & keep aside. Grind together half of the fried onions with the toasted chillies to a smooth paste. Reserve any left over ghee to prepare the rice. Whisk the curd adding 1 tsp of salt, add the onion-chilly paste & ginger garlic paste to the curd. Marinate the mutton pieces with this mixture for 1 hour in your refrigerator. Heat oil & saute all the crushed ingredients for 5 minutes. Add coriander powder & stir in the chopped tomato &  the crushed mint leaves when the raw smell disappears. Fry till tomato turns mushy. Add garam masala powder & switch off heat. Add the marinated mutton pieces & mix well. Wash the container in which you had marinated the meat with 1/2 cup of water & add this to the mutton masala. Transfer to a pressure cooker & cook till meat is tender & the gravy is very thick. I allowed it to cook on medium low heat for 20 minutes after the first whistle. Open the cooker when the pressure completely subsides & add the chopped cilantro. Keep this mutton masala aside.

Heat the ghee left after frying the onions & add the whole spices. Fry the rice for 2 minutes on medium high heat & add 3.5 cups of boiling water & 2 tsp of salt. Cover cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Keep it undisturbed for another 10 minutes.

Mix the almond paste, food colour & rose essence with the warm milk.

For layering grease a biriyani pot with ghee & spread half of the cooked rice in it. Pour half of the rose flavoured milk over it & spread meat along with its gravy over the rice followed by the remaining rice, rose flavoured milk, cashews, raisins, fried onions & pineapple.

Cover the pot with a tight lid & cook on very low heat for 10 minutes.

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