Lamb Biryani

Cooking shows inevitably whet your appetite. When you watch them around the midnight hour, those hunger pangs are quite unappeasable. So I do the next best thing. Plan for the next day. A show about Hyderabadi cuisine sharpens my taste buds. The segment on biryani has me running to the freezer to defrost some lamb. 

India has a vast range of biryanis, from the Lucknowi, Bengali, Keralan, Sindhi, Bombay  just to name a few. Regional styles vary in prep, using mutton, chicken and in some areas vegetables and pulses.

The Hyderabadi version comes together with marinated meat, which is layered with par-boiled spiced rice. Saffron, fried onions, mint and cilantro blanket the rice. The lid is sealed with a whole wheat flour dough. The vessel is placed on a tava, a cast iron griddle and slow cooked. Unsealed, the aroma of fried onions and spiced meat is one I love. This biryani is made with what I have on hand. No mutton, no saffron, no flour dough, and yet it works. This is my love song to biryani, a song I sing often, as I can eat biryani anytime, anywhere.

LAMB BIRYANI

Serves 4

1 pound bone-in or boneless Lamb chunks, with fat removed

2 large Onions

1/2 cup Mint leaves plus more to garnish

1/2 cup Cilantro leaves plus more to garnish

2 teaspoons Garam Masala

1/2 teaspoon Turmeric

1 teaspoon Chile Powder

1 teaspoon Ginger Powder

2 teaspoons Garlic Paste

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/2 cup Yogurt

3-4 tablespoons Ghee

2-3 tablespoons Canola Oil

2 large Yukon Gold Potatoes

2 cups Basmati Rice

2 Cinnamon Sticks

10 Peppercorns

3 Bay Leaves

5 Cloves

Trim all fat off the lamb. Cut into 1" pieces. Wash lamb well, pat dry and place in a bowl. I used boneless lamb.

Cut onions in half and slice thinly.

Heat canola oil in a saucepan and fry onions till golden brown and crisp.

Add half the onions to lamb. Save the rest  to garnish the biryani.

Peel potatoes. Cut into 1" chunks. 

Fry potatoes till golden brown on all sides. They do not have to cook all the way.

Roughly chop mint and cilantro and add it to the lamb.

Add turmeric, garam masala, chile powder, salt and yogurt to the lamb as well. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6-8 hours, overnight for best results.

When you are ready to cook the lamb, heat a little oil in a pressure cooker. 

Add lamb and potatoes to oil, saute for 2 minutes.. Addenough water to cover the meat. 

Cook till meat is done. Mine took 1 whistle and 16 minutes on low flame.

You could use an InstantPot or cook the lamb stove top. Stovetop will take about 1 1/2 hours. Check water level frequently.

Rinse rice well and soak in water for 1/2 hour.

Tie the whole spices in cheesecloth to make a bundle or potli. 

Pour 6-8 cups of water in a large saucepan. 

Add rice, spice bundle, 1 teaspoon Kosher salt and 2 teaspoons of ghee to the water.

Bring water to a rolling boil  and cook rice for 9-10 minutes till almost done. Drain rice and keep aside. Discard the spices.

Ladle cooked lamb and potatoes into a glass dish. Use a slotted spoon to take them out of the gravy. 

If you have a lot of gravy, boil it down till you have 1 cup of thick gravy. Add 3/4 cup gravy to the lamb.

Cover the lamb with rice.

Drizzle remaining gravy over rice. 

Scatter mint leaves, cilantro and fried onions over rice.

Dot rice with remaining ghee.

Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil. 

Place a cast iron griddle or tava over a medium flame.

Place the covered biryani on the griddle. Cook for 1/2 hour.

Uncover biryani just before serving. 

It is traditionally served with a onion, cucumber and tomato raita. Yogurt is mandatory.

Enjoy 

Biryani warms my soul. I eat it reverently with my fingers, each morsel fulfilling a corner of my heart...and stomach as well. 

 

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