Mutton Biryani

Mutton biryani...hummm...what can i say about the taste, the name says it all - simply delicious, finally here i am posting the recipe for it. The method and procedure of cooking biryani might look very lengthy and complicated for you, but trust me guys biryani is very easy to cook, its just that you have to try cooking it once.

Cooking biryani took me only 45 mins but writing recipe for it took me 3 hrs...phewwww

If you are cooking mutton biryani for the first time please read the complete recipe more than once :)

Ingredients

• Mutton - 1 kg
• Basmati rice/ normal rice - 1 kg
• Ginger garlic paste - 9 tbsp
• Onions - 6 - 7 big size - sliced
• Tomatoes - 5 - 6 big size
• Green chilies slit - 4
• Mint leaves chopped - half cup
• Coriander chopped
• Whole Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves - 2 -3 each
• Bay leaf - 2
• Lemon - 2 med size
• Yogurt - half a cup
• Red chili powder - 3 tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Dhanya (coriander) powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Carrot sliced - 1 big - optional
• Peas - half a cup - optional
• Salt
• Orange / green food color solution
• Oil - one big glass full

The entire procedure of cooking biryani can be broken down in 3 parts, 

one is cooking akhni, second is cooking rice and the third most important part is mixing.

For cooking Akhni

1. Heat one big glass full of oil in a big cooker or a vessel, add whole cardamom, cinnamon, cloves 1 -2 each, one bay leaf, green chilies, onions and allow the onions to fry for 10 - 15 mins until golden brown, now add chopped mint leaves (save little for rice ) and mix well.
2. Add ginger garlic paste, chopped tomatoes, red chili pwdr, garam masala pwdr, dhanya pwdr, salt and give it a good mix, cover the vessel, lower the flame and let it cook for 10 - 15 mins.
3. Now time to add mutton and mix well and cook it on low/ medium flame for 15 mins, keep checking and stirring it or the masala will get burnt at the bottom.
4. Add yogurt, salt and juice of one lemon and mix well.
5. If you are cooking in cooker you can close the cooker and pressure cook it on medium flame for 2 - 3 whistles or until the mutton is tender OR if you are cooking in a vessel, cover it up and cook it on low/ medium flame until the mutton is tender.
6. Once this is done take out the excess oil from the akhni and keep aside as you will need it later.

For cooking rice

1. Wash and soak rice in water and keep it aside, if it is basmati-rice wash and soak it 1 or 2 hrs before cooking.
2. Heat 4 - 5 big jugs of water in a big vessel, add whole cardamom, cinnamon, cloves 1 -2 each, one bay leaf, carrot, peas, turmeric pwdr, salt, few mint leaves, little chopped coriander, juice of one lemon and bring the water to boil and then add the rice.
3. After adding rice to the boiling water, keep a constant check on rice and be alert  because you should not allow the rice to cook completely, it should be half cooked or cooked a little more than half.                                                                                                                                         

While the rice is cooking keep a sieve ready in a clean kitchen wash basin and also in a half cup of water add very little food color / colors and keep it aside.

The next steps from now are very important for the biryani, you should be alert and quick or the biryani will lose its taste, you might also need someone's help to drain the hot water from the rice.

Mixing

1. Once the rice is cooked as above, drain the water completely in a sieve.
2. Quickly take aside 3 - 4 tbsp of plain rice and add it to the food color solution and keep aside.
3. Add akhni to the rice and mix well with a long table spoon, be gentle and quick while mixing because the rice might break or become too soft.
4. After mixing the rice and akhni, pour half the akhni oil (which you kept aside) around the rice and spread the colored rice on top , do not mix the rice after adding oil and colored rice.
5. Cover it well with silver foil and keep it on low flame for dum for 15 mins, your super delicious mutton biryani is ready for your tastebuds. :) 

Important points to remember while cooking biryani:

1. Akhni is nothing but the masala that we cooked with onions, tomatoes, mutton....etc
2. The process of covering the vessel air tight and keeping it on low flame is called DUM.
3. Always use thick bottom vessel for cooking akhni and a bigger size vessel specially  for cooking rice as later you have to mix rice and akhni in the same vessel.
4. When you keep water for boil for rice the water should be way more than what you normally add to cook rice.
5. Be quick, quicker from the time you drain water till you keep it for dum.
6. While mixing akhni with rice be gentle and soft, not necessary the akhni should coat every strand of rice, if the akhni covers 3/4th of the rice also its fine, but be quick.
7. I generally mix full akhni with the rice but not necessary you should also mix the complete akhni with the rice,  if you don't want too much of masala in your biryani you can always keep it aside and mix only as much as you want. But be generous because akhni only adds taste to your biryani :)
8. While keeping it for dum, you can follow any one of the following methods (Traditional method of dum ) Wrap the lid of the vessel in a clean cotton duppata or big cloth and cover it on the vessel and keep some weight on top of it so that its completely sealed. (Modern method) Cover the vessel completely with silver foil and close it with a lid. The idea behind this is to seal the vessel completely.
9. For making your biryani colorful you can make separate solutions of each color and spread it in the last step.
10. You can also fry 2 sliced onions in oil separately until dark golden brown, take it out on a tissue paper, cool them and spread it on the rice before keeping it for dum.
11. Be careful while adding salt because you would have added in both akhni and rice. I generally add 3 tsps for akhni and 4 tsps for rice.