Hyderabadi Biryani (Ma's recipe)

This is my mother's recipe for kacchi biryani from Hyderabad - where the marinated meat and rice are cooked together on a slow flame, also known as "dum" biryani. This requires prep time of a couple of hours - the meat needs to be marinated. The cooking time is also long, between 50 mins to an hour and a half.



INGREDIENTS:

• Mutton - 1kg, cut into pieces with the bone (the butcher will cut 'biryani' size pieces for you)
• Basmati or any other long grained rice - 1kg (can reduce this to 3 cups if you prefer a higher proportion of mutton to rice)
• Garlic ginger paste - 2 or 3 tbsp
• Coriander Seeds (dhania) - 2 tbsp powdered
• Green Chillies - 3 or 4
• Saffron - few strands soaked in 3 tbsp of milk
• Chilli powder - 2tsp
• Lemon Juice - 2tbsp
• Onions - 2 (sliced)
• Curds - 400 ml
• Clarified Butter (ghee) - 1cup

Powder these spices

• Cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick
• Cloves - 3-4
• Cumin (jeera) - 1tsp
• Cardamom - 2-3
• Nutmeg powder - 1/2 tsp

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Fry the sliced onions until just translucent
• Marinate the mutton in paste of garlic ginger, dhania (powdered), sliced green chillies, chilli powder, lemon juice, fried onions and 400 ml curd for 2 hours
• Soak the strands of kesar in 3tbsp of milk
• Soak the basmati rice in water rice for 15 mins
• Heat 1cup ghee in pan. Add marinated pieces and cook on high heat for 7-8 minutes.
• Add powder of 1" cinnamon, 3-4 cloves, 1 tsp jeera, 2-3 elaichi
• Lower flame and cook on low heat until cooked.
• At the same time, boil water in a dekchi. Add 1/2"cinnamon, 2 cardamom, 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder and salt to taste.
• Add soaked rice to boiling water and boil until nearly cooked. Drain out excess water, remove spices
• In heavy pan, lay half of the rice. Then the meat. Mix remaining rice with the kesar and milk and lay on top of the meat.
• Cover the dekchi with a lid and seal the pressure in with a cloth or kneaded atta. Keep on a heated thava for 30-40 mins until done

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Another great Hyderabadi biryani recipe can be found here. Salan recipe included, and some great dessets - Double ka Meetha and Khubani ka Meetha.