Eid al Adha special
Lamb chops biryani
Eid without biryani it’s like tea without sugar. The gathering of a family on the day of Eid is the most pleasant sight and feeling. And there is no food like biryani that brings a family together. Last week I was looking for ideas to prepare for Eid other than our usual Malabar Thalassery style biryani.
I had bought a few lamb chops, which gave me the idea of making a lamb chop biryani. Whilst I was developing and Filming the recipe. My parents happened to visit me and I was almost going to drop the idea. All right, then decided to complete the recipe and serve them anyways. It was a hassle because this recipe was not right before. I was worried how it would taste. But I was confident that the flavors will not betray me.
Finally, I was done with the filming and I subbed the biryani and oh boy everyone was all praises for this yummy biryani. The fried potato wedges gives it that extra yumminess to the biryani. I was so happy that it turned out just the way I wanted it, and the best part is that the recipe requires no sautéing and uses no tomatoes. You just got to marinate your lamb, chops and pressure cook them or slow cook it and add the half cooked rice and put it on dum. The fried onion also called birista is the game changer of this biryani. So if you have fried onions ready in your pantry, then this recipe is super duper easy.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
Ingredients: (Serves 3-4 people)
- I/2 kg Mutton Chops
- 6 Garlic Cloves
- 1 big piece Ginger
- 4 Green Chillies
- 2 tbsp Yogurt
- 1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp Black pepper powder
- 3/4 tsp Garam Masala powder
- 1/2 tsp Cumin powder
- Handful Birista/ Fried onion**
- Salt
- Coriander leaves, chopped finely
- Half cup water
- 2 potatoes, cut into wedges
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- Saffron soaked milk *
Rice:
- 3 cups long grain Basmati Rice
- 2 Bay leaves
- 3-4 Cardamom pods
- 2-3 Cinnamon sticks
- 3-4 Cloves
- 2 tbsp Ghee
- 2 tbsp oil
- Salt
- Water to cook rice
- Birista/ Fried Onion for garnishing
- Coriander leaves for garnishing
Instructions:
- Wash the lamb chops and set aside. Wash and soak the rice and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix the finely chopped ginger, garlic and green chilies to the yogurt and add the spices like Kashmiri chili powder, coriander powder, black pepper powder, garam masala and cumin powder. Add finely chopped coriander leaves to this and salt as required.
- Combine the marinade and massage the marinade onto the lamb chops and allow it to marinate at least for half an hour.
- You may slow cook or pressure cook, takes around seven whistles and natural release for the pressure cooker.
- While the lamb chops are cooking, fry the potato wedges in vegetable oil with salt, drain, and set aside on a kitchen towel.
- Open the pressure cooker and add lemon juice to it.
- Now, to a pot of water, add in your whole spices, ghee, oil and salt as required.
- Add in the soaked rice and cook half way through for around 7 to 8 minutes.
- Transfer the masala to a non stick pot and place the fried potato wedges.
- Using a large slotted spoon, transfer the half cooked rice over the masala and pour the saffron soaked milk over the rice.
- Finally garnish with fried onions and chopped coriander leaves and place lid.
- Allow the rice to soak up the flavors of the masala on simmer for around 20 minutes at least.
- Serve hot with raita.
*You may use turmeric water/ milk too. ( just add a pinch of turmeric powder to 1/4 cup of milk or water)
** You will require around 2 large onion for this recipe
Notes:
If you think you want your rice spicy, you may add extra green Chillies to the water you are going to boil the rice.
