Lamb Biryani

From the kitchen of Carly

Layered Hyderabadi-style rice and slow-cooked lamb, finished with saffron milk, fried onions, and ghee. Long ingredient list, methodical assembly, but no single step is hard. Serve straight from the pot at the table. If your kitchen is too spicy at the end, squeeze in a half lemon. It tames the heat and brightens everything.

Lamb Biryani
Prep
30 min
Cook
1 hr 30 min
Total
2 hr
Servings
4
Difficulty
hard

Ingredients

4 servings

  • 12raw cashews
  • 1.5 tbsppoppy seeds (khus khus)
  • 1.5 tbspcumin seeds
  • 3yellow onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 tspginger-garlic paste
  • 4garlic cloves, whole
  • 1 small bunchfresh mint leaves
  • 1 small bunchfresh cilantro leaves
  • 0.5 tspsaffron threads, soaked in 1/2 cup warm milk
  • 2 tbspghee or clarified butter
  • 2 cupsbasmati rice, washed
  • 1.5 cupsfull-fat plain yogurt
  • 1bay leaf
  • 1 piecesmall piece of cinnamon stick
  • 3whole cloves
  • 2green cardamom pods
  • 1 lbboneless lamb, cubed
  • 1 tspred chili powder
  • 1 tbspbiryani masala (or garam masala)
  • 0.5 cupvegetable oil, for frying onions

Instructions

  1. Grind the cashews, poppy seeds, and cumin seeds into a smooth paste using a splash of water. Set aside.

  2. Soak the rice in cool water for 20 minutes while you prep everything else.

  3. Heat vegetable oil in a small pan. Fry the sliced onions in batches until light golden brown. Drain on paper towels (they'll crisp as they cool). Save half for layering, mince the rest. Fry the cashews until golden too, set aside for garnish.

  4. In a wide pot, heat 2 tbsp of the onion-frying oil over medium. Add the minced fried onions, the cashew-poppy paste, ginger-garlic paste, and whole garlic cloves. Fry 2 minutes.

  5. Stir in the chili powder, biryani masala, half the mint, and half the cilantro. Cook 30 seconds.

  6. Pull the pot off the heat. Stir in the yogurt slowly (off-heat prevents curdling). Return to the heat.

  7. Add the lamb cubes, salt to taste, and 1/2 cup water. Stir, cover, and simmer on low for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The lamb should be fork-tender and most of the liquid absorbed.

  8. Meanwhile, bring 6 cups of water to a hard boil in a separate pot. Add the soaked rice with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp cumin seeds. Boil exactly 7 minutes, then drain. The rice should be 80 percent cooked.

  9. Now layer: smooth the lamb flat in the pot. Spread the parboiled rice on top in an even layer. Drizzle the saffron milk over, scatter the reserved fried onions, ghee, remaining mint and cilantro, and the fried cashews.

  10. Cover the pot tightly (foil first, then lid). Cook on the lowest stovetop heat for 12 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it rest, covered, for 10 minutes.

  11. Lift the lid, gently fork through the layers, and serve with raita on the side.

Substitutions
  • lamb to bone-in chicken thighs or goat. Chicken cooks much faster (30 minutes braised). Goat is more traditional in some regions and roughly the same time as lamb.
  • biryani masala to 1 tsp garam masala + 3 tsp red chili powder. Biryani masala is a specific blend; this combination approximates it.
  • ginger-garlic paste to 1 tbsp grated ginger + 4 grated garlic cloves. Same thing, just made fresh. The paste is sold pre-made at any Indian grocery.

Pairs well with: Cucumber raita and a small bowl of cool yogurt, Pickled chilies or a sharp lime achar, Mango lassi or a glass of cold lager

Adapted from TheMealDB.