My Mutton Biryani recipe will give you fantastic results every single time. It needs a little time and effort but you'll be rewarded with juicy, flavourful, tender pieces of meat and really fragrant rice.
Wash and clean the mutton and then pat dry with paper towels. Combine the curd, turmeric, salt and mutton. Mix well. Cover and allow to marinate for at least 20 minutes to 2 hours.
Mutton Masala
Add ghee and oil to a large pressure cooker and allow it to heat up on a medium flame. Add cumin seeds, cloves, bay leaf, cardamom and cinnamon. Fry for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Add sliced onions and fry for 2 minutes or until the onions are slightly browning. Add ginger garlic paste and fry till fragrant.
Add tomatoes and cook until they become a little softer, about 2 minutes. Add the marinated mutton and cook on high for 4-5 minutes till the mutton starts browning. Add chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala. Fry and stir to combine.
Add the milk and water, stir and ensure that they are well mixed. Tightly seal the lid and pressure cook on medium for 25-30 minutes. The mutton, once cooked, must be fork tender, but should not fall apart.
Basmati Rice
Wash the basmati rice at least three times to get rid of all the extra starch. Soak the rice for 30 minutes to an hour before cooking.
Add water, spices, salt and ghee to a very large heavy bottomed pot on high heat. Ensure the pot is large enough or the rice will stick to the bottom and burn.
Bring the water to a roaring boil. Once the water starts boiling, add the rice and cook the rice on high heat for 7 minutes. Ensure the rice is only par boiled to 70% doneness, as it will continue to cook more along with the mutton. Drain and use for layering.
Saffron Milk
Crush saffron and place in a small bowl. To this, add hot milk and set aside to infuse.
Biryani Layering
Add mutton masala to a heavy bottomed pot on low heat. Sprinkle the fried onions over it. Then sprinkle and spread out the mint and coriander leaves.
Now add the steaming hot basmati rice and spread it out using the back of a big spoon. Ensure it is evenly spread out.
Using a spoon, drizzle the saffron milk mixture on the rice. Next, drizzle some ghee. Cover the lid and let this cook on low heat for 20 minutes. Turn off the flame and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Uncover the lid and serve while hot. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Ensure each serving gets a good portion of every layer. Serve hot along with some raita and mirchi ka salan!
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Notes
The best cut of meat to use in this recipe is shoulder. You can use either goat or lamb.
Brown Onions can be slightly time consuming and tricky to make, and you can substitute them here with store bought fried onions. Just make sure that the onions are not batter fried. If you are in India, you can buy them online here, and if you live outside India, you can buy them here. They are also available at leading supermarkets, Asian and Indian stores.
While buying basmati rice, make sure you buy rice that’s labelled basmati and not just long grain rice. Basmati Rice is fragrant and has slightly thinner grains than long grain rice. Real basmati rice is what gives biryani its distinct flavor and taste.
In the last step of layering and cooking the biryani, all the ingredients are par cooked. Cooking the biryani on a low flame for 20 minutes, steams and cooks everything to doneness. If you don’t have a heavy bottomed pot, and are using a regular pot, you can place it on a tava (or flat griddle) and then place it on the stove on a medium flame to avoid burning the chicken. The tava or griddle creates a degree of separation between the flame and the pot and provides the perfect heat source.