• 1 kg mutton or chicken
• 2 tbsp each of ginger and garlic paste
• 1 tbsp green chili paste
• a pinch of turmeric powder (haldi)
• Salt to taste
• 7 to 8 medium onions, sliced
• ½ kg yogurt
• 2 to 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 – 3 green chilies, chopped
• ½ tsp garam masala powder
• 2 tbsp jeera powder
• ½ cup coriander, chopped
• juice of one lime
• For the rice and preparation:
• 1 kg rice
• whole garam masala (cloves, whole black pepper, bay leaf, cardamom)
• chopped coriander
• 1 – 2 whole green chili
• Salt to taste
• 3 tomato cut in rings
• 6 – 7 small potatoes, chopped
• juice of half a lime.
• Oil
• 2 tbsp ghee
• A pinch of saffron soaked in a little milk

Fry the onions till golden. Remove on kitchen napkin and crush dry.

In a vessel, add the mutton, ginger, garlic, green chilli pastes along with haldi and salt and boil till the mutton is tender, and the water has dried out.

Once done, take off from flame, add the crushed fried onions (barishta) to the mutton.

Now, add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Marinate for half an hour.

Meanwhile make the rice and do the preparations as follow.


Rice
Par boil the rice with salt, garam masala and green chilies. As soon as the rice comes to a boil pour in the lime juice. Let the rice cook for some time.

The rice should be half cooked. Drain the water and let the rice cool.

Also, fry the potatoes in oil and keep aside. Use the same oil in the layering of the biryani.

Layering:
In a vessel, without keeping it on flame, add 2 tbsp oil then put a thin layer of the boiled rice.

On the rice, put the marinated mutton masala, sprinkle 2 tbsp oil, then layer the tomato rings and the fried potatoes. Add in the remaining rice.

Pour in the saffron milk and add 2 tbsp of ghee. Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. For the first 5 mins, put on high flame, and then cook on very low flame.

Best would be to keep a skillet below the vessel, so that the rice doesn’t stick to the base.

Tips to note:
The quantity of mutton and rice should be in equal proportions. If you decide to use 1/2 kg mutton, use 1/2 kg rice.

When cooking rice, soak rice for half an hour. Boil the desired amount of water in a vessel and add the rice. This way the rice grains would not overcook or be sticky.

by Pak101.com (few years ago!) / 1128 views