Mutton Briyani for Beginners

Briyani is one of my all time favorites :) in fact my Amma has a tradition of making briyani for breakfast for my birthday ..every birthday :P i know i know it s bit too  much but ahhhh who cares - besides its good to have a heavy breakfast :D and am babbling on and on again :D so coming back to briyani.  I  know it sounds like a complicated dish to prepare especially for a beginner but believe me its a cake walk and the simpler your recipe the better it will taste so I m going to pen down a very basic version ideally suited for newbies, you can master this recipe in no time and when you have done that please feel free to experiment with your recipes, So get ready get set Go!!!

Simple ingredients

Things you will need

Grind the following into a paste:

• 10-15 shallots (small onions) peeled washed
• 1 big bulb of garlic peeled and
• 3 inch piece of ginger

Mutton pressure cooked with chilli powder , salt and tomatoes

Keep the following ready:

• 2 ripe tomatoes cut into quarters
• 1 bunch of mint leaves- washed
• 3-4 green chillies sliced
• 2 cups of Basmathi rice, washed, soaked for 30 minutes and drained
• ½ Kilo Mutton - Pressure cook  with 2cups water and salt, 1 tomato and 3 spoons of Chilli powder for 15 minutes

Briyani in progress

How to make Mutton Briyani

·          Heat a thick kadai and add 4-5 spoons of vegetable oil

·          Add the following spices- 1 stick of cinnamon, few cloves, 2 star anise and sauté

·          Add the shallot- ginger-garlic paste and fry till the oil separates

·          Add the Pudina leaves, green Chillies and tomatoes and fry

·          Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil

·          Add the mutton with the 2 cups stock

·          Add the Basmathi rice and cover with a heavy lid

Add the rice to the broth & bring to a boil

Your easy to make Mutton Briyani will be ready in less than 20 minutes

Garnish options:  You can use chopped coriander, deep fried onions or fried dry fruits to decorate your briyani :) 

Raita: Take a cup of  thick curd, add few pinches of salt, 1 green chilli and 1 onion chopped finely, 1 cucumber & 1 tomato deseeded and chopped , 1 grated carrot , mix all the ingredients in a bowl,  and refrigerate for 10 minutes before serving with briyani :) 

Prepare a simple raita out of curd, cucumbers, carrots,  tomatoes and onions

Serve hot with raita and  home style chiken curry.

See I told you its a simple recipe, now serve your briyani with raita and gravy and ensoii :) do temme how you liked it!

Once you master this easy recipe you can try complicating thing a bit: ;)

• After soaking and draining the basmathi rice, you can heat a kadai add 1 spoon of butter and fry the rice in it for 2 minutes before adding to the briyani, 
• You can also substitute the water you add in the briyani with coconut milk or broth entirely. 
• If you feel the briyani is too spicy add a few spoons of ghee before you serve. If you feel the rice will get over cooked add 1/2 lemon's juice to the briyani mixture and it cook.