Thalassery Mutton Dum Biryani!

Hello, my lovelies!!!! I am baaaaaack!!!! Ok, I do need to apologize for the extremely long hiatus...and no, I am not going to make any excuses, I was just plain lazy! I know that's not a reason, but hey, what's important is that I'm back....and that too with a brand new recipe, guaranteed to tickle your taste buds!

So, tell me..how's everyone been? Here in sunny Dubai, everyone's gearing up for Ramadan...so for all my Muslim friends, Ramadan Kareem in advance! In order to bring in the holy month, I thought I should post something that you can look forward to during Eid....and what better way than some good old fashioned biryani!

There are so many different variants to the biryani, and in fact, I had posted a recipe for my chicken biryani which you can find right Here. But for now, I thought I'd experiment with my favorite meat, mutton, or goat's meet, and this dish is one of the most popular type of biryanis in Kerala. Simple, wholesome, flavorful...and we're only getting started! Let's find out how to make this, shall we....

INGREDIENTS

• Mutton- washed and cleaned thoroughly, 1 kilo. When washing mutton, use a mixture of salt, lemon juice and turmeric powder to get rid of the smell and give it an overall shine.

For Marination

• Turmeric powder- 1/2 teaspoon
• Red chilly powder- 3 tablespoons (depending on the spice requirement, this should give you a medium spicy flavor)
• Coriander powder- 4 tablespoons 
• Ginger- finely minced- 1/2 inch stick
• Garlic- 10 cloves, finely mashed
• Black pepper powder- 1 teaspoon
• Yogurt- 1/2 cup
• Lime juice- 1 lime
• Salt to taste

For the masala

• 3 medium sized onions- finely sliced
• Ginger- 1/2 inch piece
• Garlic- 4 cloves finely sliced
• Tomatoes- 2 medium sized, chopped into cubes
• Garam masala powder- 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste
• Boiling water- 1/4 cup

For the rice

• 3 cups basmati rice (I used Kohinoor, it has always given me very good results)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Cinnamon stick- 1 broken into half
• 3 cloves
• 2 cardamom seeds

For the garnish

• Cashews- a handful
• Onions- 2 finely sliced and fried

METHOD

• Marinate the mutton with ingredients under "For Marination" section and set aside for a minimum of 2 hours. You can do this over night but I do not find much difference.
• In a saucepan, heat a mixture of oil and ghee (I use 2 tablespoons of each, adds more flavor and does not make you feel very heavy). In this, fry the onions until they turn translucent (semi transparent), and they change color. Note that they do not have to be brown. Add salt at this stage to cook the onions faster.
• Add the tomatoes and fry till they get mashed. At this stage, you can add the water but this is optional. 
• Finally add the mutton and stir it thoroughly before closing it tightly and cooking for a minium of 35-40 minutes, or until it becomes tender. Once the mutton is cooked, there will be some gravy, so open the vessel and cook for another 10 minutes until the gravy turns thick. Do not evaporate completely since this forms the masala.
• While the mutton is cooking, start preparing the rice. Wash the rice thoroughly 3 times and soak it for about 15 minutes in 4 cups of water.
• Drain this water and add this to the pan in which the rice is being cooked. To this, add 4 cups of boiling water, butter, lime juice and the spices.
• Basmati rice takes a total of 12-15 minutes (max) to cook. Ensure that you always have an eye on the rice so that it does not over cook and get mushy.
• When the rice is half cooked (check by pressing one rice grain between your fingers. It gets half mashed and half solid), drain the water from the rice and remove the spices.
• Put one more tablespoon of butter to separate the rice grains and give more flavor.
• Now, for the dum part. Normally, in order to create the dum, flour mixed with water is used to create a paste and seal the sides of the pan in which the biryani is cooked. Here, I did something different.
• In a baking dish, spread butter evenly (1-2 tablespoons). Start off by layering a spoon of rice, followed by 2 spoons of mutton masala, and repeat the process till you have rice as the top most layer.
• Seal this completely with foil paper and set this in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Alternatively you could cook this on the burner at a very low flame for 30 minutes. The rice gets cooked through at this stage and merges with the masala. 
• Time for the garnish, Fry some nuts and onions in 2 tablespoons of ghee until crispy and serve.

Tada, we have some scrumptios "Neetu's style Dum biryani" available!!

Do try it out and let me know your feedback! Till next time, take care and God bless!