This mutton dum biryani is flavoured with whole spices, dried rose petals and saffron, which makes the biryani fragrant and delicious. In every house, the making style and spices used are different. Biryani can be made with prawns, chicken, mutton, vegetables and even fish. I learnt to make biryani from my mom, which I am sharing with you. My mom makes it a little less spicy, but I make it more spicy. I have made a lot of varieties in biryani and now I will like to share this one with you.
This time I have made mutton biryani with different spices and slightly changed the method also. The change is that I have made the rice fragrant with dried rose petals, which is used in sweets. I made a potli (bag) with muslin cloth in which I placed all the spices, tied tightly and used while cooking the rice. The idea is to make the rice water fragrant and no spices should come in your mouth. If you do not have any cloth, then just put the spices in water, boil it, strain the water and then cook the rice. The outcome result was too good - fragrant and tasty. There are 2 types of biryani - one is Kacchi Biryani (Dum Biryani) and other is Pakki Biryani.
Kacchi Biryani is prepared with raw meat, meat is marinated and cooked on a slow flame with rice on top. In Pakki Biryani, meat is pre-cooked first, then rice is layered on top and cooked.
You can use any meat or seafood or vegetables for biryani. In Hyderabad, vegetable version is called Tahiri Biryani.
I feel Dum Biryani is easy but have to be very careful during Dum. We can have Dum Biryani with chicken 65 as a side dish, raitha, brinjal curry or any chicken curry.
Ingredients
- Mutton (with bones) – 700 gms
First marinade
- Black cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Cloves - 6
- Cinnamon stick (1 inch size) - 2
- Bay leaves - 2
- Star anise - 2
- Black cardamom - 1
- Green cardamom – 5
- Dagad phool (black stone flower) – 1 tbsp
- Kebab chini (cassia buds) - 7
- Ginger and garlic paste – 3 tbsp
- Chilli powder – 2 tbsp
- Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
- Lemon juice – 5 tbsp
- Mace and nutmeg powder – 1/2 tsp
- Garam masala – 2 tsp
- Green chillies (crushed) – 6
- Salt - as per taste
Second marinade
- Curd (thick) – 1 cup
- Mint – 1 cup or handful
- Coriander leaves – 1 cup or handful
- Fried onions (big) – 4
For frying onions
- Oil or ghee - 1/2 cup
- Ghee – 3 tbsp
For cooking rice
- Rice - 500 gms or 3 cups
- Oil – 1 tbsp
- Salt - as required
- Black cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Dagad phool (black stone flower) – 1 tbsp
- Star anise – 2
- Black cardamom – 1
- Coriander seeds – 1 tbsp
- Cloves – 4
- Green cardamom – 4
- Mace and nutmeg powder – 1/4 tsp
- Cinnamon stick (2inch, each piece) – 2
- Dried Rose petals – 2 tbsp
- Water - as required
- Muslin cloth
- Salt - as required
For garnishing
- Saffron – a big pinch
- Mint (roughly chopped) – 1 cup
- Coriander leaves (chopped) – 1/2 cup
- Ghee – 3 tbsp
Method
- Take 4 big onions, slice them and fry in oil until it is golden brown and keep it ready.
- Crush the green chillies in a pestle and mortar or in a mixer to a coarse paste.
- Roughly chop mint and coriander leaves and keep it aside.
- Take a bowl, add saffron and 30 to 45 ml of lukewarm water and keep it aside.
First marination
- First put all the first marinade ingredients in a big vessel or bowl and mix well.
- Add the mutton pieces and mix well. Marinate for about 2 hours.
Second marination
- Add the second marinade ingredients and mix well. Close the lid or cover with cling film and refrigerate for 4 hours to overnight.
Cooking the rice
- Soak the rice in water for 20 to 30 mins.
- Place all the spices including dried rose petals in the muslin cloth and tie it tightly (into a potli or bag) so that the spices do not come out.
- Boil the water, place the bag of spices in the water and let it boil for 10 to 12 mins until the water colour changes. You can close the lid and cook.
- Remove the bag, add the soaked rice and oil in the boiling water. Cook for 7 to 10 mins. The rice should be cooked only 50%.
- Strain the water and keep the rice ready for dum (simmering).
Cooking the meat and rice (dum)
- Take a big utensil in which onions were fried, use the same oil or ghee and when it gets hot, add all the meat with marinade and spread it evenly.
- Add the 50% cooked rice and spread evenly on the marinated meat.
- Sprinkle saffron water, ghee, mint and coriander leaves over the rice. Close the lid tightly and cook for 45 mins to 1 hour on simmer or until the mutton is cooked. Switch off and let it rest for 10 mins.
- If you want, you can keep a tava or flat pan under the vessel so that the biryani is not burnt.
- Serve it with raitha or brinjal chutney or any curry.
Notes
- You can reduce the chillies if you do not eat spicy food or if your chillies are very hot.
- You can reduce the whole spices also as I always make biryani according to my taste - spicy and masala type.
- Rice should only be 50% cooked. The grain might have become longer than its usual size, but when pressed you should feel that it is not cooked fully. While cooking the rice you can add a few drops of oil. While draining the rice, wash it under cold water to keep the rice grains separate. Rice has to be cooked in advance and kept aside.
- Instead of garam masala, you can put biryani masala or just powder, star anise, green cardamom, cloves and dagad phool. View my biryani masala recipe if you want to prepare fresh biryani masala.
- If you want to reduce the oil, then reduce it. Its your wish, but the onion has to be roasted in oil or ghee well.
- Carefully add salt for the marinate and rice also. divide the salt quantity and put,it will be easy for you.
- Whenever I grind 300gms ginger and 300gm garlic paste, I have grounded with whole spice. view my ginger and garlic paste recipe.
- Mix saffron in luke warm water 30ml or with milk also and put on rice. Can use colour or can just like that sprinkle on biryani.
- While giving dum keep the flat tava beneath the vessel or if the utensil bottom is thick, then can keep it for simmer directly, sometimes the rice gets stick but not very much, end result will be good.
- Always whenever biryani is cooked equal amount of mutton/lamb and rice is taken,or 1kg mutton/lamb for 500gm rice.
