Sunday, February 14, 2010

TamilNadu style Mutton Biryani

Happy Valentine's Day !

Hope you all had a hearty Valentine's day. Before that I should accept, I didn't cook anything for Valentine's day. Instead hubby took me out and gave me rest for the whole weekend. Felt great to roam around, sit idle and shop like a freak:).

This mutton biryani post is inspired by one of my reader who asked me to give the correct but easy procedure to make a mutton biryani at home. Click to see my youtube video on 'Tips to make tasty biriyani'.



Here is the typical procedure on TamilNadu style mutton biryani. Enjoy!



(Snap taken very long back, when I was a neanderthal. But believe me the biryani tasted great...hi..hi)

Ingredients:
Goat meat (with bones) - 1 lb
Basmati rice - 1 lb (2.5 cup)
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
lemon - 1/2
curd - 1/2 cup
Tomato - 1
onion - 1 (big)
cilantro - a handful
mint leaf - a handful
cinnamon - 2 inch
ghee - 4 tbsp
bay leaf - 2
nutmeg - a pinch
star aniseed - 1
cashew - 10
raisin - 10
almond - 10
green chilly (slit) - 5
salt - approximately 1.5 tsp

To grind:
Green chillies - 8
ginger - 2 inch
garlic - 6 pearls
cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
cardamom - 4
cloves - 5
black pepper - 1 tsp
fennel - 1 tsp

Method:
Wash and clean the meat. Chop it into big chunks.
Cook the meat in pressure cooker along with the ground masala , turmeric powder, cinnamon (2 inch) and water enough to cover the meat.

(As we get the whistle reduce the flame and switch off after 15 minutes to get the meat cooked completely. Otherwise we can cook in open flame too. But it will take a lot of time. To reduce the cooking time add green papaya paste or meat tenderizer powder (1 tbsp for 1 kg meat) and marinate the meat for 2 hours before cooking.)

In the mean time wash and soak the rice for 1/2 an hour.

Chop the onion in lengthwise. Slice the tomato finely.

Heat the ghee in a wok and slide in the bay leaf, nutmeg, star aniseed , cashews, raisins, almond and immediately add the onion . After the onion turns red add the chopped tomato and saute till the oil separates.

Put the chopped cilantro, mint and let them wilt.

Now add the cooked meat along with the soup , salt, slit green chillies , curd and let it come to a boil. Taste and add some more salt if required.

Then add the soaked rice leaving behind the soaked water. Let rice absorb all the water.

Add some water (if required) and the water should completely cover the rice and should stand a thin layer (1 cm) above the rice.

Squeeze the lemon and cover with a tight lid. Switch off the flame.

Heat a thick dosa tawa until it becomes very hot and reduce the flame. Place the semi cooked biryani over the tawa and cook for 1 hour.

(*If you want to do the dhum process then cover the vessel with a tight flat lid. Bring 2 liters of water to boil, cover by a lid and place it over the biryani vessel. Heat the tawa in minimum heat for 1 hours. This is the dhum process.

*If you want to do the dhum process in oven , then preheat the oven to 400 deg F and place the biryani vessel alone and reduce the heat to 200. After 1 hour the biryani will be cooked perfectly

* If you want to cook it in pressure cooker, then take a 10 or 12 liter pressure cooker. Pour 2 cups of water to it. Place the biryani vessel inside the cooker and cook with weight. After the whistle comes, reduce flame and switch off after 3 minutes. This is the procedure to make mutton biryani in pressure cooker

*OK! How do they do mutton biryani for weddings or large scale parties? They marinate the mutton with green papaya paste / meat tenderizer and cook the gravy in a very large vessel for long hours. Then add rice, do the dhum using hot charcoal over the biryani vessel and get the rich biryani done. They do it overnight or for very long hours).

Mutton biryani is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with raitha, boiled egg and a spicy gravy.

Note:

*After soaking the rice , we can drain the water completely and roast the rice in ghee (1 tbsp for 1 cup of rice) mildly.Then follow the above procedure to get the rice look separate.

* Don't cook the mutton with salt or tomato. Otherwise the meat won't get cooked properly.

*I have heard, the chefs won't add red chilly powder or coriander powder for mutton biryani. If desired we can add some pepper powder along with green chillies.

*If you see the rice not cooked properly, then sprinkle 1 cup cow's milk or water and close the lid. cook again for 1/2 an hour in very low heat and steam. (I follow this method to cook it uniformly).

*Rice calculation:
Generally they calculate the rice for an adult as 3/4 cup while making biryani.
The quantity of rice should be equal to that of meat.

Try this and tell me how this came out!

26 comments:

Gita Jaishankar said...

Happy Valentines Day dear! So having a great timea ;) Even we too went for the whole day just like you guys. I love our style briyani...simple yet the taste is really great right...love your photo too da...yummy briyani :)

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

love the biryani... I have to try it one day. My fav non-veg dish...

Sushma Mallya said...

biryani looks delicious,nice recipe..

Unknown said...

Happy Valentines Day
wow.. very nice biryani..

Aparna said...

I need some mutton biri. long time i didnt hve mutton..Happy valentines day dear

Ash said...

Looks totally delicious..... Very tempting.... Biriyanis are forever....

Hope u had an awesome yesterday!!!!

Ash....
(http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

Ganga Sreekanth said...

happy valentine's day dear......
yummy biriyani......

Priya Suresh said...

Slurppp!!makes me hungry...feel like grabbing that while bowl..

gtyuk said...

Hope you had a nice day Vicky!!!

Briyani looks just perfect, it will always be my favourite rice dish!!!

have a nice day!!!

Aruna Devi said...

I like our style briyani (TN )...nice pic..

malarvizhi said...

my all time fav dish.but i use coconut milk for biryani.if you can try my style.its really good and very tasty.nice post.

Cicily Antony said...

yummy...u triggered a craving...i want it now...

Cool Lassi(e) said...

Yummy Biryani.

FH said...

Glad you enjoyed V day, we went out too, had some Chocolate and Champagne, got some Roses! :)

Mutton Biryani looks delicious.

Siddhi Shirsat said...

happy belatd vday viki...this biryani loooks very very tempting...nice recipe...yummm

Malar Gandhi said...

Biryani luks yummm, cna I get some take out?

Devasena Hariharan said...

This is really a super receipe. You are not adding chilly powder. detailed explanation of dum process...

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Wow, Mutton biriyani looks sicfully delicious and yummy!!!

http://memoryarchieved.blogspot.com

Suparna said...

hi viki,
Glad u enjoyed ur V day! we too had a great time outing :)
the biryani looks superb and well prepared :)
TC

Saraswathy Balakrishnan said...

Pls pass me the plate..i'm very hungry..looks so delicious..forget abt dieting now:)

Lebouffe said...

This does make my mouth water! Got some awards for you at http://le-bouffe.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-awards.html

Rina said...

Biryani..any type..any time...yummy yummy..

Sashi said...

I make biriyani often at home .. I do make somehow similar to this ..useful tips Viki ..

Vikis Kitchen said...

Thanks Seeker. I am happy that it came out very well for you.

Anonymous said...

Dont we need cardamom and cloves for tempering?

Vikis Kitchen said...

Anonymous: Yes we can add them for tempering. But I have added them while grinding. Sorry for such a delayed response (due to personal duties).

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