Mutton Biriyani

Mutton biriyani

Biriyani or biryani, an all-in-one meal, is usually made on special occasions in Kerala. Feeding a large gathering is made easier with a biriyani on the menu. Chicken or mutton are the usual favourites. Here, I have done a mutton biriyani. For chicken biryani, all you do is substitute the mutton with chicken in this method.

Serves : 8 to 10 persons
Marination time : 2 hrs to about 12 hrs in the refrigerator
Cooking time and preparation time (excluding marination time): 2 hrs

The ingredients and methods to prepare or cook them are given in order of the procedure.

Ingredients and method

A.

• Mutton pieces - 1 1/2 kg (3.3 lbs)
• Yoghurt - 2 cups
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Black pepper powder- 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1 teaspoon

Step 1. Wash the mutton pieces well and drain in a colander. Mix all the items very well by hand (kneading the mutton pieces a bit) and keep in a covered steel or glass vessel. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and less than 12 hours.

B.

• Onions (sliced long) - 4 cups
• Vegetable oil for deep frying - 2 to 3 cups

Step 2. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the sliced onions in batches (on medium flame). The fried onions should only be a golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper. Reserve the oil in pan. (Fried onions can be done earlier and stored in the refrigerator too. This also keeps well for a few days in the freezer.)

C.

• Onions chopped - 2 1/2 cups
• Garlic - 50 gms
• Ginger - 50 gms
• Green chillies - 6
• Coriander or "dhania" leaves(cleaned, washed and chopped) - 1 1/2 cups

Step 3. Clean and chop all the items. Grind this with some water to get a smooth green paste.

D.

• Butter - 50gms
• Green cardamom - 6
• Cloves - 6
• Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
• Whole black pepper - 15
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp heaped
• Mint leaves - 10

Step 4. In a thick bottomed large vessel, melt the butter. Add 4 tblsp of oil (the oil used for frying onions) and add all the dry, whole spices. Let these splutter. Add the green paste and fry till it turns brown. Scrape and stir often. Use some more oil from the frying pan if the paste sticks too much to the vessel bottom. Step 5.: When the paste is brown, add all the marinated meat and yoghurt. Stir well. Cover, bring to a rolling boil and then let it simmer for 45 minutes or till the meat is tender. Adjust the salt. Add the mint leaves after cooking is done. Cover the cooking pot. (I cook this in a heavy bottomed vessel as the flavour and texture of the meat is much better than if I used a pressure cooker.)

E.

• "Basmati" rice - 1 kg (2.2 lbs)
• Bay leaves - 4
• Cloves - 2
• Caraway or "shahjeera" - 1/2 tsp
• Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
• Salt - 2 tsp
• Water - 10 to 12 cups

Step 6. In a large vessel bring the water, spices and salt to a boil. Meanwhile pick and wash the basmati rice till the water runs clear. When the spiced water has begun boiling, add the rice and cook. The rice should be only half done. (The rice should mostly be opaque white in colour.) Quickly drain the rice in a colander. Spread out the drained rice on a large platter to cool. Pick and discard the bay leaves.

F.

• Saffron strands - 1 pinch
• Boiling milk - 4 tblsp

Step 7. Place saffron strands in a cup. Add boiling milk. Keep aside.

G.

• Juice of limes - 3 tblsp
• Handful of chopped "dhania" leaves

Step 8. Now to assemble the biryani. Check rice and mutton korma for seasoning. Next, keep the rice, the fried onions, the saffron milk, the mutton korma, the lime juice and the dhania leaves in an assembly-line formation. (This makes things easy.) In a thick bottomed vessel which can hold all of these things, we shall layer the biriyani. The first layer is of some rice, and then a couple of ladlesful of mutton with its gravy. Spread them well. Sprinkle some fried onions, some drops of saffron milk, some "dhania" leaves and a few drops of lime juice. Continue layering thus, till all the rice and mutton korma are used up. Take a wooden spoon and with its long stick end only, give the layered biriyani a light stir, without breaking any rice grains. Smoothen and press down the top of the biriyani rather firmly. Sprinkle the rest of the fried onions, saffron milk, "dhania" leaves and lime juice on top in a decorative manner. Cover with a tight lid and place the vessel on very low heat to "dum" cook the biryani. If possible a weight can be placed on top of the vessel to minimize steam escape. Place the vessel on a griddle (tawa) so that the biryani gets evenly heated and does not stick to the bottom of the vessel. After about half an hour, open the vessel carefully and check to see if the rice is fully cooked. (The rice looks curled when its well done.) If there are lots of water droplets on the inner side of the lid, you can be sure that the biryani is done. Else cover up again and let it "dum" cook for 10 to 15 minutes more.

H.

• Kewra essence - 1tsp (optional)
• Rose essence - 1 tsp (optional)
• Hard boiled egg - 1 per person (optional)
• Fried cashew nuts and raisins for garnish (optional)

Step 9. If you like the extra flavours of kewra and/or rosewater, then these may be added along with rice while layering in step 8. If you prefer,add a hard- boiled egg per person only while serving. (I skip adding these essences and eggs.) Garnish with fried nuts and raisins. Step 10. Serve hot with a nice, cool tomato and onion "raita", some pickles and fried poppadums. Enjoy!

Tips

tsp is a teaspoon;  tblsp is a tablespoon

Mutton, here, is goat meat. For biriyani, I prefer using the "raan" or the hind leg portion as it is meaty enough without being too bony.

"Dum" cooking means to cover the vessel tightly and to let the ingredients cook without any loss of steam, on low heat. Many people use a ring of dough to seal the lid of the vessel while the "dum" happens. This ensures no steam escape. However, I find that a tightly fitting lid also does a good job of shutting in most of the steam.

While making a chicken biriyani, it is good to avoid the bony back portion.

In case of chicken, it needs to be cooked for about 20 to 25 minutes only in step 5.

Any left overs may be stored in the refrigerator and steamed in a colander or warmed well in the microwave.