Mutton Dum Biryani in a pressure cooker

2014-09-22
  • Yield : 2 Kgs
  • Servings : 8
  • Prep Time : 45m
  • Cook Time : 45m
  • Ready In : 1:30 h

On Eid, the year I got married, which is some 20 years back I tasted this family recipe for the first time and completely fell in love with it. Tarique always said, he loved the way his mother use to cook her version of this Biryani and since then both of us tried replicating it without much success. We gave up trying after a year or so. Then one day, I decided to try it again, and it was close to the taste that Tarique remembered. Happy to say, after a few more tries, we perfected it. Traditionally Mutton Dum Biryani is to be cooked over slow wood fire but the vagaries of modern life do not lend itself to such indulgences. This Mutton Dum Biryani is cooked in the pressure cooker and the cooking time is just 45 min.

I hope you try this recipe, and enjoy making this Mutton Dum Biryani. Do leave a comment here if you get stuck, and I will try my best to answer you.

Mutton Biryani

Mutton Biryani: The ingredients.

Mutton Biryani Marinade

Mutton Biryani Marinade

Ingredients

  • Mutton 1.25 Kg
  • Basmati Rice 1 Kg
  • Curds 250 gms (should be sour)
  • Ginger 1.5"
  • Garlic 10-12 cloves
  • Fresh Mint 1/2 bunch
  • Coriander 1 bunch
  • Green Chilies 25-30 medium sized ones
  • Cumin 2 Tsp
  • Cardamom 5-7 pods
  • Clove 10-12 nos
  • Black Peppercorns 20-25 seeds
  • Cinnamon 1" sticks (2)
  • Shahi jeera 1Tsp
  • Mace 1 Tsp
  • Milk 100 ml mixed with water and 1/2 tsp salt at room temperature
  • Ghee 250 gms
  • Nutmeg 1/2
  • Saffron 1/4 Tsp
  • Kewra essence
  • Onions 2 small (cut in rings deep fried for garnish)
  • Salt 2 Tsp (or to taste)
  • Onions 4 large (ground to a paste)

Method

Step 1

Mix curd, onion, garlic, ginger paste, half of whole spices, salt, half of slit green chillies, 2 Tsp paste of coriander, mint and green chillies. Marinate the mutton in this mix overnight in the refrigerator.

Step 2

Remove the marinade from the fridge 4 hours before cooking so that it comes to room temperature.

Step 3

Cut one onion in rings and deep fry the onion rings in ghee- keep aside. This melted ghee would be used for cooking biryani. Keep the fried onions separately -they will be used as garnish.

Step 4

Boil 3-4 liters of water, add salt, remaining whole spices and washed rice to the water. Let it boil for a minute or so. Discard water, Keep the mixture of rice and whole spices

Step 5

In a pressure cooker put some ghee (about 2 Tbsp) and layer the mutton marinade and insert 3-4 slit green chillies. Add more ghee and layer the semi cooked rice over it and insert 3-4 fresh (slit) green chillies. Take 1/2 cup milk, add 1/2 cup water, and add salt (this mixture should be fairly salty). This water-Milk mixture should be at room temperature.After layering the rice, pour the salted milk and water mixture. Just enough – the water mixture should not come above rice level -in fact it should be 1/2 finger below rice level -part the rice with finger and if you feel the moisture, it’s enough -remember the marinade has water and rice is half-cooked. Insert 2 pieces of nutmeg in the middle, add saffron strands (soaked in 2 tsp of warm milk). Pressure cook the biryani till the cooker blows 1 whistle on high, then put the heat on simmer and keep the cooker on for 15 more minutes. Remove the cooker from gas, and let it cool.

Step 6

After the pressure drops, Open the cooker lid, add fried onions and sprinkle the Kewra essence (3 drops) -close the lid again for 5-7 min

Serving Suggestion

Serve this mouth-watering, melt in mouth biryani with Curd+mint+coriander raita (the mint and coriander paste you had made earlier can be put into curd to make thin raita) and Khatti Dal

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Recipe Comments

Comments (5)

  1. posted by samuel daniel on October 18, 2017

    The 4 step is confusing boil rice …point 4. Let us boil for a minute or so ? Or cook the rice half until you still have a bite?

      Reply
    • posted by Swati Sani on October 21, 2017

      No, just let it boil for about a minute so that the extra starch gets washed away with boiling water.

        Reply
  2. posted by Manish Mathur on January 20, 2015

    I am fond of such reciepes which are really easy to cook at a home kitchen level . I would like to request you to kindly post these reciepes on my mail as well . Thanks .

      Reply
  3. posted by Padmesh Kumar Varma on October 14, 2014

    The taste of biryani lies in its eating. So, when I will get the opportunity to eat such mouth melting biryani prepared by you then I will know the taste myself. Till then I rely on your description. I knew that you were interested in cooking but that you will grow in to a full chef is a tasty surprise. Keep it up Swati. Our best wishes to you.

      Reply
    • posted by Swati Sani on October 14, 2014

      Thank you, Phuphaji. Next time you are here, I’ll cook it for you.

        Reply

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