KACHCHI BIRYANI BY WITH A SPIN
Prep Time: 1 hr
Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
Servings: 6
INGREDIENTS
- 2 lb mutton
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste
- 2 teaspoon garlic paste
- 3-4 dry red chili
- 2-3 inches stick of cinnamon half each
- 4-5 green cardamom
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon mace
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 6-8 allspice optional
- ½ teaspoon caraway seed optional
- 3 tablespoon yogurt
- ¾ cup ghee or butter
- 5 medium potato
- pinch of orange food color optional
- ½ cup onion thinly sliced
- 4 cups basmati or kalijeera rice
- 6 cups water
- ½ cup condensed milk
- 2 tablespoon milk
- pinch of saffron
- 10-12 alubokhara pitted prunes
- 4 eggs hard boiled
- Salt according to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Sprinkle some salt on the meat and let stand for 15-20 minutes. Wash the meat and drain all water.
- Take all the spice from red chili to caraway seed, grind.
- Take the pot where biryani will be cooked. Add the meat and yogurt, ground spice mix and salt. Marinate for anywhere between 30 minutes to overnight(see notes).
- Add about 3 tablespoon of butter/ghee on a frying pan on medium heat.
- Add very thinly sliced onion and sautee until fragrant and golden brown.
- Wash, peel and cut the potato in big chinks. Usually into 3 pieces for a medium Idaho potato.
- If using, rub some orange food color to the potato.
- Sprinkle some salt.
- Fry the potatoes until slightly golden on the same pan used for the onion.
- Wash rice and drain all water.
- Boil 6 cups of water. Add salt.
- Add the rice.
- Turn off the stove at the first sight of water boiling again (bubble forming on the water) after adding the rice. Rice will be uncooked at this point.
- Drain the rice completely saving the drained hot water in another clean pot.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add the saffron to the milk.
- Add butter/ghee to 1 cup of hot water that was set aside in the rice preparing step.
- Add the prepared potatoes on top of the marinated meat.
- Sprinkle some fried onion.
- Add the alubokhara (prunes), if using.
- Add half the water-butter mixture.
- Layer in the prepared rice.
- Sprinkle the saffron milk.
- Make 4-5 indentations from the rice layer through the potato till the meat.
- Add the condensed milk through the indentations.
- Sprinkle the remaining water-butter mixture.
- Sprinkle the remaining fried onion.
- Add the remaining hot water in a way that water doesn’t go above the rice layer. You may not need to use all of the hot water.
- Cook in the oven for 1.5 hours.
- Add the hard boiled eggs.
- Serve with salad, kabab and chutney.