Malabar Mutton Biryani
A delicious biryani made with layered fragrant rice and mutton gravy , garnished with fried onions, cashew and raisins
Servings: 15
Calories: 254kcal
Ingredients
Dry spices to Powder
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 3 tbsp coriander seeds
Grind to Paste
- 2 inch ginger
- 12 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp poppy seeds ground to paste
- 15-20 green chillies or as tolerated
For Marination
- 3 cups yogurt
- 2 cups coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1 cup mint finely chopped
- ½ cup curry leaves finely chopped
- 1 small lemon juicce
- 1 tbsp salt or to taste
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 tsp biryani masala
- 4 medium tomatoes chopped
- 2 pounds meat mutton cut into small pieces
For garnish
- 4 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 4-5 medium onions cut into thin and long strips
- 10 -12 cashews
- 10 -12 raisins
- ½ cup mint leaves finely chopped
- ½ cup coriander leaves finely chopped
For Biryani rice
- 6 cups rice Kaima or Jeeraka sala
- 10 cups water approximately
- 4 - 5 tbsp ghee clarified butter (add more for rich taste)
- 5-6 cloves
- 10-12 cardamom
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp nutmeg (jathika) powder
- 1 star anise
- 3 tsp salt or as desired
Instructions
Marinate the Mutton
- Wash and clean the meat with salt and water.
- Dry roast and powder the ingredients under "Dry spices to powder" and keep aside.
- Grind the ingredients under "Grind to paste" with very little water. Soak the poppy seeds in a little water for a few minutes, so they are ground well.
- Marinate the mutton with all the ingredients in the "For Marination" section including the above spice powders .
- Marinate for about 25-30 minutes.
Fry the Garnishes
- In an instant pot switch on the saute mode.
- Add ghee and wait till it turns hot.
- Add onions and saute , you can add the salt to speed the browning of onions.
- When brown and crisp , drain it out into a paper towel lined plate.
- Next add cashews and raisins and brown them and drain it out .
For Rice
- Wash the rice well and soak it in water for about 10 -15 minutes.
- Drain well and keep aside.
- In the same oil and ghee used to fry the garnishes, add the dry spices in the section "For biryani rice".
- Add half an onion and green chilies and sautee well.
- Add the drained rice and saute for about 10 minutes .
- Add water, salt, juice of half a lemon. and switch to Rice mode and cook till done .
- Wait for natural pressure release and switch off the instant pot.
For Mutton Gravy
- In a regular pressure cooker, heat up some oil and ghee.
- Sautee chopped onions and add marinated mutton and fry well.
- Add about quarter cup of water and cook for about 4 to 5 whistles.
- Once the steam is released add the chopped coriander and mint leaves and cook on open flame till the gravy is semi thick.
- Add some of the crispy onions that were fried earlier for the garnishes into the gravy and mix well.
Layering the biryani
- In a large casserole , layer rice .
- Add some mutton gravy .
- Add the garnishes and again layer with rice and gravy . Keep repeating.
- Finally add the garnishes along with chopped coriander and mint leaves.
- Mutton Biryani is ready to be served .
Video
Notes
- Marinate the meat and start frying the garnishes and rice in parallel so once the meat is ready to be cooked and done, the rice and garnishes are also ready to be layered.
- Cook the meat well for 4 to 5 whistles, this is normally enough for tender meat but sometimes you may need extra whistles for it to cook well.
- Add very little water while pressure cooking the meat as the marinade has enough water content and the meat also releases water while cooking. You may need to reduce it to make it a thick gravy.
- Add garnishes while layering and a pinch of garam masala to enhance the flavors.
- Using Ghee liberally will give an authentic taste but you can also use a combination of Ghee and oil.
Nutrition
Serving: 300g | Calories: 254kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 1336mg | Potassium: 519mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1268IU | Vitamin C: 336mg | Calcium: 174mg | Iron: 2mg
