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Mutton Biryani

The Best Mutton Biryani Recipe ever! This is an authentic Bombay Mutton Biryani recipe where juicy succulent mutton pieces are cooked beautifully in spices and fragrant layers of biryani rice, this combination is to die for.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

Masala paste to grind:

  • 1/4 cup Coriander Leaves
  • 4 Green Chilies
  • 3 Cardamom
  • 3 Cloves

To marinate the mutton:

  • 1/2 cup Thick curd
  • 1/4 cup Fried Onions
  • 2 tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste
  • 1 tsp Garam Masala
  • Salt To Taste
  • 1/2 kg Goat Meat on bone Cut in medium sized pieces

For roasting potato:

  • 2 tbsp Oil
  • 2 medium-sized Potatoes cut in large cubes
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

For biryani gravy:

  • 2 tbsp Oil
  • 1 inch Cinnamon Stick
  • 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
  • 1 Onions thinly sliced
  • 1 Tomato sliced
  • 4-5 Green Chilies slit or sliced
  • 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
  • 3-4 tsp Kashmiri Red Chili Powder
  • 1 tsp Coriander Powder
  • Water as needed

To cook the rice:

  • 2 cups Long Grain Basmati Rice
  • Water as needed
  • 2 Bay Leaves
  • 1 inch Cinnamon Sticks
  • 2 Cloves
  • 2 Green Cardamom
  • 1 Star Anise
  • 1 tbsp Ghee

For layering the biryani:

  • 2 tbsp Mint leaves chopped
  • 2 tbsp Cilnatro chopped
  • 3 tbsp Ghee
  • A generous pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp of milk
  • 1/4 cup fried onions

Instructions
 

Marination:

  • Blend the ingredients under "masalas to grind to paste" to a fine paste.
  • In a large bowl, add ground masala paste, fried onions, whisked curd, ginger-garlic paste and garam masala along with salt.
  • Add clean and washed mutton and mix well. Allow the mutton to marinate for at least 2 hours under refrigeration.

Cook the biryani rice:

  • Clean and wash biryani rice and soak it for 45 minutes, strain the rice and set it aside.
  • In a large pot, add enough water, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds, cloves, cardamom, star anise, ghee and salt. Bring it to a boil.
  • Once the water starts boiling, strain the soaked rice and add into boiling water.
  • Cook the rice until 80 percent done. Immediately strain the water and set the rice aside.

Making the biryani gravy:

  • Heat oil in a pan, add potato cubes. Fry the potatoes with salt and red chilli powder until golden, take them out and set it aside.
  • Heat remaining oil in a heavy bottom pan, add whole spices, sliced onions, salt and fry until pink and soft.
  • Add tomato with spice powder and cook until oil separates.
  • Add marinated mutton and saute on high 5-6 minutes until raw small goes off.
  • Add 2 cups of water, cover and cook the mutton until tender( it took approx. 30-40 minutes). Keep stirring at regular intervals, if water dries up, you may add more.
  • Add roasted potatoes and chilies and cook for another 6-8 minutes.

Assemble the biryani:

  • In a large pot in which you want to dum (slow cook) the biryani, add half the cooked rice as a bottom layer.
  • Add cooked mutton masala and spread evenly.
  • Sprinkle mint leaves, cilantro , 1 tablespoon ghee, 1/2 of the soaked saffron and fried onions on the mutton. Add the remaining rice over the mutton layer evenly.
  • Add remaining ghee, saffron milk and reserved oil that we scooped out from the mutton masala.
  • Cover it with the lid putting heavy weight on the top of the lid.
  • Dum the mutton biryani for 20 minutes, first on high flames for 5 minutes and then simmer for 15 minutes. Let it to rest for 15 minutes.
  • Serve hot biryani with raita of your choice.

Notes

  1. Always use top-quality long grain basmati rice for making any biryani, this makes fluffy and fragrant Biryani.
  2. Always rinse the rice and soak for 30 minutes before cooking which helps in softening the rice.
  3. Over cooking or under cooking of rice will spoil the biryani. Fluffiness of rice is very important for any biryani recipe, each and every grain should be separate and perfectly cooked. So make sure to cook the rice for 80% only.
  4. Do not stir the rice too much while boil as it may break the rice grains, hence, the result will not be as we want it to be.
  5. Adjust the spiciness of the biryani as per your preference.
  6. Always marinate the meat in masala for at least 2 hours, I prefer the marination overnight.
  7. If you do not have the fried onions, then finely slice 2 large onions and fry it in oil until golden.
  8. Do not use thin bottom pan, always use heavy bottom pan or handi or dutch oven to make the dish. For the final dum, always, cook the biryani on high for 5 minutes and them simmer to dum for 15 minutes. This helps in generating steam well cooking the rice perfectly each time.
  9. Use Mutton pieces with bones for this biryani
  10. You can choose to skip potatoes if you do not like or prefer it.
  11. I have made biryani masala gravy in a pot, but you can make it in pressure cooker as well. Pressure cooking will save the time.
Keyword Biryani Recipes, Mutton Biryani