Kacchi Biryani

Kacchi Biryani: Step by Step

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1. Mix the mutton with all the marinade ingredients and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

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2. Soak the rice for 30 minutes, drain, and boil with the salt, cardamom and cinnamon for 6 minutes until 70 per cent cooked. Drain.

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3. Soak the saffron in the hot milk with the rose water.

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4. Spread the marinated mutton in a heavy pot. Cover with the rice, then the fried onions, saffron milk and ghee.

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5. Seal the pot with foil and a tight lid. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, then the lowest heat for 70 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes before opening.

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Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Choosing rice.

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Things to Watch For

1. Seal the pot well; steam must not escape.
2. Use a heavy pot or place a tawa under it.
3. Do not stir; serve from the side to the bottom.

Changing the Recipe

• If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

A Little Background

In kacchi biryani, kacchi means raw, and the raw meat goes into the pot with the rice. There is no separate curry. The mutton cooks in the steam from the rice and the juices of its own marinade, and what comes out is tender, rich and layered, and tastes like nothing else.

The marinade is the work. Mutton, yoghurt, ginger and garlic pastes, ground spices, raw papaya paste, fried onions and plenty of ghee are combined and left for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. The papaya is the tenderiser. Use meat on the bone and with some fat. Both give flavour and keep the meat from drying in the long, sealed cook.

The rice is boiled for 6 minutes, until about 70 per cent cooked, then drained. Layer the marinated meat at the bottom of a heavy pot, then the rice, then fried onions, saffron milk, rose water and ghee. Seal with a tight lid and a strip of dough or foil.

Cook on the lowest heat for 70 minutes. When opened, the steam carries a heavy scent. Dig deep so each plate has meat, rice and onions.

On the Table Alongside

Borhani (spiced yoghurt drink) · Salad · Cucumber raita · Roasted potatoes

Keeping Kacchi Biryani

Keeps in the fridge for 2 days. Reheat with a splash of water.

Quick Answers

Kacchi Biryani Nutrition Facts

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: the marinade or brine is counted in full, though some is discarded; weights that include bone are counted as if all of it were eaten, so the figures run high. How the figures are worked out.

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