Lal Qila Mutton Biriyani

It rained again a day before!! Isn't that a good thing? :)

 It's vacation here for a couple of weeks and we mothers were fully engaged with our kids while the UAE weather turned mild and pleasant this week. The climate was heading to summer  and the newspapers predicted much hotter summer days than usual that we were getting sort of mentally prepared for that. That's when it rained here and brought a cooler and pleasant weather for the week.  We went downstairs and for a ride to savour this rare UAE rain. I was fasting and was hard to wait till the sun sets to sip in coffee . Thank God that there were some frozen Kaayadas (unnakkaay/plaintain snack) to pair up with my mug of coffee while looking at the rainsplattered window ;)

First week of vacation is over and we have had lots of fun. The whole generation was here with me , 7 of them(3 boys and 4 girls).. We had lots of fun, playing,baking, roaming and of course, fighting. A gang of kids means a Noisy House. They play and interact, fight at times etc. when they feel bored and have nothing to do. So it's better to keep them engaged with some or the other tasks. I always ask them to help me out while cleaning or baking. They love baking goodies. They even baked some chocolate chip cookies & Cornflakes cookies all by themselves.

Now about the recipe:

It's my sister Hanan's contribution to the blog. She is very good when cooking biriyanis. This is my 9th post on Rice label. Her BBQ Chicken Biriyani is now quite famous here. There are many more biriyanis in my drafts to be posted soon. This one is also as delicious and simple to try out. 

Ingredients:

Courtesy: Shireen Anwar

For marinade:

Mutton 1/2 kg

Tenderizer 1 tsp

Ginger & garlic paste-1 tbps

Yoghurt- 1 cup (reserve 3 tbsp for dum)

Salt- 2 tsp

 Marinate together for atleast 1 hour

Other Ingredients:

Basmati rice. -1/2 kg. [ cook with 2 tsp salt]

Bay leaf -1

Cinnamon -1 inch

Pepper corns- 10

Cloves- 5

Green Cardamom -5

Black jeera -1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder- 2 tsp,

Turmeric -1/2 tsp

Cumin/Jeera - 1 tsp

Water- a little

Tomato- 3. Blended

Brown onion- 1 cup (sliced and fried)

Potato 2

Boiled egg - 3

Method:

Fry onions till brown and crisp. Crush it in grinder when cooled.

Deep fry potatoe cubes in the same oil till brown.

Heat Ghee in a deep dish and add whole garam masalas (mentioned in the list). Saute for a few seconds till its aroma comes out. Add a little hot water( a few tbsps to avoid burning) ,turmeric and red chilli to it. 

Now add mutton and fry in high flame for about 5 minutes. Cook till it is half done.

Blend tomatoes and add to it.

Now add the crushed brown onions. Mix well to coat the mutton pieces nicely. Cook till mutton is completely cooked. Sprinkle garam masala powder to it. Add the fried potato cubes to it.Now the masala is ready. No need to add herbs of any kind.

Dum Process or Layering:

For this, layer the mutton gravy/masala at the bottom, followed by rice. Take some yogurt and add turmeric or yellow color(saffron) to it and sprinkle on top of the rice layer; here and there. Cover and keep in dum for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot! Don't mix biriyanis while serving. It should be served always as you see in the picture. You can serve with boiled eggs. Here, boiled eggs are deep fried which is entirely optional. Take care while frying and avoid frying if the egg is cracked somewhere; otherwise it may explode in oil.