Hyderabadi Mutton Biryani

"Biryani", a word is enough to make you hungry and crave for it the next moment. What comes to your mind when you hear or say the word biryani? Don't you think of the flavorful aroma, the super fluffy long-grain rice, the masala rice covered in a lot of flavorful spices, and the most important, the extra juicy, spicy, and super tender mutton pieces all wrapped up in the rich coat of Indian spices. Even writing this description is making me hungry for a biryani. 

          Photo credit: Indian Desi Kitchen

Biryani could be the most pleasing among non-veg lovers. For a best and tendered meat biryani, you need to look for certain things like you need to select the proper meat (with proper I mean you should select the tender meat from a young goat/lamb and preferably some pieces with bones because the bones juices have the most flavor). Once the selections is done, it also depends on the proper marination and right cooking technique.

Do you know these facts about a biryani?

1. Every state, culture or region have their own style of cooking biryani and every style is a unique one in themselves.
2. The word "biryani" comes from the Persian word "birian" which means "fried before cooking".
3. Many historians believe that biryani originated from Persia and was brought to India by the Mughals.

Alright, enough of talking, let's dive into the recipe!

          Photo credit: Indian Desi Kitchen

Ingredients checklist: 

1. Mutton (1/2 kg)
2. Basmati rice preferred (you may use the regular rice too)
3. Curd
4. Ginger-garlic paste
5. Green chilies
6. Mint leaves
7. Fresh coriander leaves
8. Birista (fried onions)
9. Red chili powder
10. Turmeric powder (Haldi)
11. Biryani masala
12. Garam masala
13. Cardamom (Elaichi)
14. Cinnamon (Daalchini)
15. Cloves (Loung)
16. Black pepper (Kali Mirch)
17. Shah Jeera
18. A biryani pot (Handi)

Procedure:

1. Buy tender mutton and preferably some pieces with the hard bones. We select the bones because they infuse the most flavorful juices while cooking the meat and adds the delicious meaty flavor to the biryani.
2. Clean the mutton pieces properly with clean water at least twice and transfer them into a big bowl.
3. Now, comes the marination part. Add 2 teaspoons of turmeric powder (Haldi), 4-5 teaspoons of red chili powder, 2-3 teaspoons of biryani masala, 2 teaspoons of garam masala, 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste, 2-3 green chilies, some birista (fried onions),  cooking oil (0.5 -  0.75 cup), salt to taste, and 2 cups of curd (250ml). Mix all the spices well together in a bowl and keep it aside. Keep the meat under marination for at least an hour.
4. Soak the basmati rice for 30 - 45 minutes before cooking it. Before it, a very important question that may strike your mind is, what must be the amount of rice for a biryani? Ideally, the amount of rice by weight should be equal to the meat by weight. So, we use half kg basmati rice today with the half kg mutton.
5. Now, we have well-marinated meat and soaked rice, let's proceed to make a biryani now.
6. Transfer the marinated meat into the biryani pot or handi and start cooking the mutton on a low flame. Make sure you cook it on a low flame and not the high flame, else it won't cook tenderly as we expect it to be.
7. Cook the meat until it's 85-90% cooked, the rest will be cooked under steam later.
8. In the meantime till the meat cooks, let's blanch the rice. Take a big pot and add enough water to it for blanching rice. Add 1-2 green chilies, 7-8 black pepper seeds, small cinnamon (dal chini) stick, 2-3 cardamom (Elaichi), few cloves (Loung), shah jeera, a good amount of salt, and a little cooking oil to the water and bring it to boil.
9. Once the water is boiled, remove all the spices from the water and add the soaked rice to the water and let it cook till it's 80% done. 
10. Blanch the rice out of the hot water and place the cooked rice aside.
11. Now we are ready with 80% cooked rice and 85-90% cooked meat in the marination. Its time to cook the biryani under the steam.
12. Grab the same pot you cooked meat in and let the cooked meat rest at the bottom of the pan. Add some Birista (fried onions), fresh mint leaves, coriander leaves over the meat. Now, start covering the meat with the fluffy cooked rice over it. Transfer all the cooked rice to the meat pot.
13. Now, add the remaining birista over the top of rice, fresh mint leaves, few coriander leaves, saffron milk all over, a little amount of water we cooked rice in, and a spoonful of desi ghee or oil.
14. Cover the biryani pot with a lid and seal it with dough.
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16. Cook the biryani on high flame for a minute and then let it cook on the low flame for 10-12 minutes.
17. Now, the biryani is ready but not ready to open yet, stop the flame and let the biryani stay there for another 10 minutes.
18. After 10 minutes, open the lid slowly and be careful of the hot steam inside.
19. grab a flat spatula and open a corner in the pan. Toss the fluffy rice into the place and then go for the deeper contents in the pot from the same corner. With biryani, be careful, you don't mix the biryani all together in the pot, you get it layer by layer. I must say, you need a lot of patience for biryani but at last it is all worth waiting for.
20. Serve the biryani hot with a raita or mint chutney or biryani gravy (shorba).

          Photo credit: Indian Desi Kitchen

          Photo credit: Indian Desi Kitchen

Try this amazing dish in your kitchen and let me know how it turned out for you.

Thank you for stopping by. I will be posting many more recipes, So Stay Tuned and Stay Healthy!

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