Mutton biriyani

One of my most all time favorite dish. After all who hate biriyani’s? This version of Biriyani is from one of my aunt who has been into a fabulous cooking for years; she can make a simple lemon rice taste like heaven, that’s the magic of her “kai pakkuvam”.I was initially making all kinds of Biriyani in a pressure cooker which was having its own kind of taste, but then one fine day I fortunately happened to taste the Biriyani of my aunt, which made me speechless. It was so subtle yet spicy, I really loved it and immediately grabbed the recipe from her and tried it the very next day itself. It came out awesome. For the matter of fact I did not even fry the rice in vanaspathi, like how I normally was doing all these days. Instead the rice came out so well with separate grains.

Ingredients:
Basmathi Rice-3cups
Big Onion-2Nos(sliced)
Tomatoes-2Nos(chopped)
Ginger and garlic paste-2tbsp
Green chilli-6
Pudhina-a handful(chopped)
Coriander-a handful(chopped)
Whole spices-cardamom(2),cinnamon(1),cloves(4)
Chilli powder-2tsp
Salt-as per taste
Mutton-1/2kg (chopped)
Oil-5tbsp
Ghee-1tbsp

Marination:
Wash the mutton and marinade with a juice of lime and half a teaspoon of salt for 1 hour prior for cooking. This makes the mutton very tender, juicy and tangy.

Wash and soak the basmathi rice in normal water for about 1 hour

Method:
1. In a pressure cooker, add oil and ghee together, season with the whole spiced given in the list. Immediately add the pudhina and coriander. Fry for a while then add the chopped onions along with the whole green chillies. Saute well for 10-15 minutes, or till the onions gets cooked in the oil, now add the ginger and garlic paste, fry till the raw smell disappears, finally add the chopped tomatoes, fry till it gets mushy and oil comes out. Then add the chilli powder, give I it a stir, followed by the marinated mutton along with required salt for the masala. Fry for a while in high flame to seal the flavor of the mutton, say for 10 minutes, and after that close the cooker and give 3 whistle and after 3 whistle give 5 minutes of complete simmer, which will allow the mutton to cook till soft. After 5 minutes switch off the stove and allow the pressure to settle for a while. The Gravy should be thick enough to get mixed with the rice. If its very watery cook it further for some more time.Switch off the stove and keep aside the mutton gravy

2. Now in another flat bottomed vessel, add 6 cups of water (rice, water ratio 1:2). And turn on the stove and allow it to boil. Add the soaked rice along with required amount of salt. Close the lid and cook till the rice is 3/4th done in a medium flame, and that will take approximately 10-15 minutes after adding rice. When the rice is half cooked and seen with some amount water, this is the stage to add the gravy and mix it well, till the masala gets evenly spread with the rice.

3. Now place a iron dosa tawa or a nonstick dosa tawa in the stove and heat it in high flame for a while, till the tawa gets hot. When it’s hot enough simmer the stove and place the flat bottomed vessel which has the gravy and rice mix on the tawa and put it in dum for about 15 minutes exactly.

4. After 15 minutes, switch of the stove and remove the vessel from tawa and give a standing time for about 20-30 minutes. After 30 minutes you can taste the finest Biriyani on earth. Serve with onion raitha.