Mutton Biriyani - The way I prepare it

This is going to be a long list of ingredients and a huge recipe. So, let me get to the recipe quickly, without much ado.

Ingredients for biriyani masala :

- Black Pepper (1 tbsp)
- Cumin (2 tbsp)
- Cinnamon (4 long sticks)
- Cardamom (3-4)
- Cloves (7-8)
- White Pepper (1 tbsp)
- Fennel seeds (1 tbsp)
- Star Anise (2-3)
- Black cumin ( 1 tbsp)
- Nutmeg (grated 1 tsp)

Preparing the Biriyani masala:

Dry roast all the spices and cool it. When it is at room temperature grind it to powder. Dry roasting the spices gives it a good flavour and increases  its shelf life. You can store it for about a month or two.
U can also use store bought biriyani masala as well but it is not as good as the fresh home made masala.

Ingredients for the Biriyani :

- Basmati Rice ( 1.5 cups)
- Curd ( 1 cup)
- Rose water (1/2 cup)
- Milk (1/2 cup)
- Mutton ( 4-5 large pieces or biriyani pieces)
- Ginger paste (2 tbsp)
- Garlic Paste (2 tbsp)
- White pepper powder (2 tbsp)
- Onion paste (2 tbsp)
- Ghee (4 tbsp)
- Sunflower oil (2 tbsp)
- Turmeric powder (1/2 tsp)
- Salt (4 tbsp)
- Sugar (2 tbsp)
- Coriander powder (2 tbsp)
- Cumin Powder (2 tbsp)
- Curd (1/2 cup)
- Potato (2. Each cut into 4 pieces)

Method for cooking the biriyani:

- Wash the potatoes, and fry in hot oil till they turn brown.Keep aside.
- Soak the rice in water for 30 mins.
- Marinate the mutton with salt, sugar, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garlic paste, ginger paste, onion paste and curd for 3-4 hours.
- Cook rice on medium flame for 5-7 mins. The rice should not be overcooked. Infact a little undercooked is fine.
- For the mutton, heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok and add 1 tbsp ghee to it.
- When it is hot add the mutton and 2 tbsp biriyani masala and cook it fully. You can also pressure cook the mutton if u feel so. But make sure there is no water left in the gravy when the mutton is ready. When fully cooked add half the rose water and 1 tsp biriyani masala before turning off the flame.
- Now take a flat bottomed pan and rub ghee on its suface.
- Add a layer of rice and then a layer of mutton along with the fried potato.
- After you add the layer of mutton, add some rose water and milk over it. Also add 2 tbsp biriyani masala and 1 tsp salt.
- Continue doing this layering till your rice and chicken are over.
- On the top of this layering you can add fried julienned onions (fry them till brown). This is called adding the " Birista ".
No its not over yet. Now the actual cooking starts. :)
You have to seal the cover of this pan with some dough so that the heat within it cannot escape. Now you have to put it on "Dum". How to do that??
There are two ways to do that:
- You have to take an even larger flat bottomed pan and put some water in it. Put the water to boil and when it boils place the biriyani pan over it. Place it on low flame over the stove.
                                                              OR
- Take a tawa (disk shaped griddle) and place it on medium flame and place the biriyani pan over it.
According to my experience the first method is better.
Remember the more time you keep ur biriyani on dum the tastier it is.. :)
Serve it hot with Raita or Salan :)

Veg Biriyani in Minutes

This is a dish that I prepare pretty often for lunch. I generally take this to office on weekdays. It is very easy to prepare and the best part is it takes pretty less time. So let me not waste too much time and directly come to the recipe. You can add as many vegetables as you want and need not stick to the veggies mentioned here.

Ingredients:
- Rice (1 cup preferably Basmati)
- Potato (1 diced into cubes)
- Beet (1 diced into cubes)
- Carrot (1 diced into cubes)
- Onion (1 diced into cubes)
- Capsicum(1 diced into cubes)
- Cauliflower(1 diced into cubes)
- Cinnamon (2 sticks)
- Cloves (3-4)
- Cardamom (2-3)
- Cashews (5-6)
- Oil (5 tsp)
- Coriander ( a small bunch finely chopped)
- Turmeric powder (1/2 tsp)
- Coriander powder (1/2 tsp)
- Cumin powder (1/2 tsp)
- Biriyani Masala (1and 1/2 tsp)
- Salt (acc to taste)
- Green chillies (2 slit)

Preparation:
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker.
- Fry the cashews till golden brown and keep aside.
- Add the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom to the same oil. When they start to splutter add the green chilli.
- Add all other veggies and fry for 2-3 mins.
- Add the coriander and fry for 2 more mins.
- Add 2 cups of water and the rice.
- Add all the masala, salt and mix well.
- Close the lid of the pressure cooker and let it cook for 1 whistle.
- After a whistle remove it from the stove.
- Open the lid and add the cashews.

I served it with Fish Curry. It also goes very well with Raita.

Happy Eating :)

This is my entry for Cook's joy Only Vegan Event and Cook Click and Devour

Chicken Dum Biriyani - The Hyderabadi way

Whenever I have tried to prepare Biriyani it has been a disaster. Still me and my husband (being great fans of this one pot meal) dig into it with great enthusiasm. We both are tired of having Biriyani in the restaurants and Hyderabad being the city of Biriyani and Pearls (why nt diamonds? It would have been good if we got diamonds a bit cheaper) you get a plenty of restaurants serving it. So around one year back I decided to learn how to prepare it. It is my mom in law's recipe. Have I ever told you she is a great cook. I guess I have in my older posts.
So we were talking about chicken biriyani. Biriyani as you might know has many Gharanas, you have Hyderabadi biriyani, Lucknow biriyani, bombay biriyani and you have Kolkata Biriyani etc etc.. This time I have prepared hyderabdi biriyani.
Every cook who has ever tried to prepare biriyani will definitely have his or her own story. So I shall here share some of mine...

- First time when I prepared biriyani I was so worried that the rice shall be overcooked I actually undercooked it. We were having almost uncooked rice that day. :(

- The second time I prepared it when my parents and brother were here and due to my last experience i was determined the biriyani has to be perfect and I overcooked the rice and it looked more like pudding than biriyani. :( and this is not the end.. I had forgotten to add salt this time...My father was still having it saying it tasted good (parents love you no matter what you do) , it was my brother who did not eat it and said "You call this biriyani??"

Anyways lets not get into all that as it would be a very long list. Yesterday I had prepared some chicken biriyani and am sharing the recipe :)

Ingredients for biriyani masala :

- Black Pepper (1 tbsp)
- Cumin (2 tbsp)
- Cinnamon (4 long sticks)
- Cardamom (3-4)
- Cloves (7-8)
- White Pepper (1 tbsp)
- Fennel seeds (1 tbsp)
- Star Anise (2-3)
- Black cumin ( 1 tbsp)
- Nutmeg (grated 1 tsp)

Preparing the Biriyani masala: 

Dry roast all the spices and cool it. When it is at room temperature grind it to powder. Dry roasting the spices gives it a good flavour and increases  its shelf life. You can store it for about a month or two.

U can also use store bought biriyani masala as well but it is not as good as the fresh home made masala.

Ingredients for the Biriyani :

- Basmati Rice ( 1.5 cups)
- Curd ( 1 cup)
- Rose water (1/2 cup)
- Milk (1/2 cup)
- Chicken ( 4-5 large pieces or biriyani pieces)
- Ginger paste (2 tbsp)
- Garlic Paste (2 tbsp)
- White pepper powder (2 tbsp)
- Onion paste (2 tbsp)
- Ghee (4 tbsp)
- Sunflower oil (2 tbsp)
- Turmeric powder (1/2 tsp)
- Salt (4 tbsp)
- Sugar (2 tbsp)
- Coriander powder (2 tbsp)
- Cumin Powder (2 tbsp)


Method for cooking the biriyani:

- Soak the rice in water for 30 mins.

- Marinate the chicken with salt, sugar, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garlic paste, ginger paste, onion paste for 30 mins.

- Cook rice on medium flame for 5-7 mins. The rice should not be overcooked. Infact a little undercooked is fine.

- For the chicken, heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok and add 1 tbsp ghee to it.

- When it is hot add the chicken and 2 tbsp biriyani masala and cook it fully. When fully cooked add half the rose water before turning off the flame.

- Now take a flat bottomed pan and rub ghee on its suface.

- Add a layer of rice and then a layer of chicken.

- After you add the layer of chicken, add some rose water and milk over it. Also add 2 tbsp biriyani masala and 1 tsp salt.

- Continue doing this layering till your rice and chicken are over.

- On the top of this layering you can add fried julienned onions (fry them till brown). This is called adding the " Birista ".

No its not over yet. Now the actual cooking starts. :)

You have to seal the cover of this pan with some dough so that the heat within it cannot escape. Now you have to put it on "Dum". How to do that??

There are two ways to do that:
- You have to take an even larger flat bottomed pan and put some water in it. Put the water to boil and when it boils place the biriyani pan over it. Place it on low flame over the stove.

                                                              OR

- Take a tawa (disk shaped griddle) and place it on medium flame and place the biriyani pan over it.

According to my experience the first method is better.

Remember the more time you keep ur biriyani on dum the tastier it is.. :)
Serve it hot with Raita or Salan :)

This is my entry for the Cook Click and Devour and  Hot and Spicy Treats- March event at Food Corner.