A truly delicious Biriyani will draw you in with its aroma and engulf your taste buds with sheer nirvana.

Lamb Dum Biriyani – Oven cooked

Recipe by Shoba ThyaralaCourse: MainCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Medium – Hard

Servings

6-8

servings

Total time

hours

A truly delicious, flavorsome, delectable Biriyani will draw you in with its aroma and engulf your taste buds with sheer nirvana. If you like traditional Indian rice preparations and particularly biriyani dishes, then you are going to love the Dum Biriyani.
There are two traditional methods of preparing the Biriyani.
Kachchi Yakhnni biryani is prepared with raw meat, which is marinated in yogurt and then cooked along with the rice by sealing the handi (vessel) with a layer of dough and is cooked on dum – steaming over coals. This is a challenging process as it requires meticulous attention to time and temperature to avoid over- or under-cooking the meat.
In Pakki Yakhnni biryani, the meat marinating time is shorter, and the meat is cooked before being layered with the rice and cooked in a dough-sealed vessel. In Pakki Yakhnni (with cooked gravy), the ingredients are already cooked before baking.
I am presenting the Kachchi Yakhnni biriyani version which is slightly adapted to our modern environment.

Ingredients

Lamb diced – 850 gms / 2 lbs.
Basmati Rice – 750 gms / 1.7 lbs.
Fried Onions – 600 gms / 1.3 lbs.
Yoghurt plain – 1 cup
Ginger paste – 3 tbsps.
Garlic paste – 3 tbsps.
Green Papaya paste – 3 tbsps.
Lemon juice – 2 tbsps.
Ghee – 100gms / 3.5 oz.
Oil – 100gms / 3.5 oz.
Biriyani Masala – 5 tbsps.
Red Chili powder spicy – 2 ½ tbsps.
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 2 tsps.
Cumin powder – 2 tsps.
Salt – 5 + 4 tsps.
Coriander leaves – 20 gms / 0.7 oz
Mint leaves – 20 gms / 0.7 oz
Green Cardamom – 6 – 8
Bay leaves 4 – 5
Cloves – 10
Cinnamon 4-5
Black stone seaweed – 2 tsps.
Saffron – a few soaked in water
Rose water – 5 tsps.
Eggs boiled – 5

Directions

In a bowl add diced lamb and papaya paste. Mix well to marinate for at least 4-6 hours
Take a bowl, place the marinated lamb, add the biriyani masala, chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander, cumin powder, 5 teaspoons of salt, ginger garlic paste, yoghurt, coriander leaves, lemon juice and oil and half of ghee. Mix well to make sure the lamb is fully coated with the masala.
Take a pan, heat oil and fry onions until golden brown.
Transfer the mixed lamb with all spices and masala to a chafing dish (either a stainless steel or the tinfoil tray).
Add ¾ quantity of fried onions to the lamb.
In a big pot, add water 3-4 times of the quantity of the rice. To this add all the whole spices, coriander leaves, mint leaves, 4 teaspoons of salt and let it boil. When the water is boiling, add the rice.
Pre heat the oven to 450°F / 230°C.
When the rice is half cooked, use a strainer to remove the rice without the water and transfer the rice to layer on top of the mixed lamb.
Reserve ½ cup of water from the rice that was used for boiling.
Then add the soaked saffron water on top of the rice, making incisions with the help of a fork to penetrate to the bottom of the rice.
Sprinkle rose water on top of the rice, making incisions with the help of fork to penetrate to the bottom of the rice.
Add a few dollops of the remaining ghee.
Sprinkle the ½ cup of reserve water from boiled rice.
Cover the tray with a tin foil and place it in the middle rack of the oven.
Leave it for 30 minutes at 450°F / 230° C.
Then reduce the temperature 400°F / 205° C for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and carefully open the tin foil.
Use a fork rice spoon to gently move the bottom lamb to top and blend as you serve each person.
Garnish with boiled eggs, fried onions, and coriander leaves on top.
Serve the biriyani with raita and salan.