MUTTON BRIYANI- (AMBUR STYLE)

 

This is one of my family's favorite recipes.this mutton biriyani tastes more of the Ambur style (A place called ambur in tamilnadu which is famous for their briyani).This place ambur is famous for their special briyani and people whoever travel via ambur will definitely stop there for their awesome taste.I have tried many briyani recipes and this one specially when i tried tasted more like the ambur type.Everyone at home enjoyed it thoroughly and the briyani was over within minutes.You can use chicken also in the palce of mutton but the cooking time drastically varied for chicken which i will give you in the cook's notes later.So , follow the instructions exactly to get the right consistency and taste.

  

 Here in my briyani recipe i usually grind some of the spices like cloves and cardamom ,as i dont like to bite them .so if u wish you can add the spices as whole.

 The soaked dry red chillies paste gives it the authentic flavour. .So never skip that step.

 INGREDIENTS:

• Mutton     -    1kg
• basmati rice - 4 cups
• water           - 5 cups
• onions     -     3 large
• tomatoes  -    3 large
• dry red chillis  -   6
• ginger    -     1 inch piece
• garlic    -      6 cloves
• green chillies  -   3
• coriander leaves -   1 cup (finely chopped)
• mint leaves       -     1/2 cup (finely chopped)
• lime juice         -     2 tablespoon
• curd                  -     1/2 cup
• star anise             -  1
• javithri/maze        -   1
• bay leaf                -   1
• red chilli powder  -  1 teaspoon
• turmeric powder   -   1/2 teaspoon
• ghee                     -   4 tablespoons
• oil                        -   2 tablespoons
• salt to taste

TO GRIND (1):

• Jeera     -         1 tablespoon
• bay leaf  -        1
• cinnamon  -   2 inch stick
• cloves      -    4 
• cardamom -  2.

TO GRIND (2):

     Grind together the ginger,garlic and green chillies.

TO GRIND (3):

     Soak the dry red chillies in 1/2 cup warm water for 15 mins.then squeeze the chillies and grind to a fine paste.

METHOD:

1. Wash and soak the basmati rice for 30mins
2. Meanwhile heat the oil and ghee in a pressure cooker and temper the bayleaf,star anise and the maze.Now add the powdered spices.
3. Add the onions and fry till golden.
4. now add the ginger garlic chilli paste and fry till raw smell leaves.
5. Add the washed mutton pieces and fry till it changes colour.
6. add the tomatoes and fry till it becomes mushy.
7. now add the coriander and mint leaves and saute for a minute.
8. Add the curd and again saute for a minute.
9. add the lime juice.
10. Next add the red chilli powder and turmeric powder and red chilli paste and saute for a minute.
11. Add the required salt.
12. Close the lid and put on the weight.(The onions,mutton and tomatoes will leave sufficient water.If not add half a cup of water .not more than that)
13. Let it cook for 10 to 12 whistles.The muttton should be cooked well.it depends upon the meat.For me it took 12 whistles to cook.You can check after the 8th whistle.if cooked properly then you can proceed with the next step.
14. Let the pressure reduces and then open the lid.
15. transfer the mutton pieces separately and measure the liquid left.This should be measured accordingly for cooking the rice.For example, if you are left with 2 cups of liquid  from cooking the mutton then You should only add 3 cups of water for the rice.
16. now add the soaked rice to the same pressure cooker and add the mutton pieces.Now measure the liquid and water and ass it to the pressure cooker.Check for salt and add extra if required.
17. Close and put the weight.
18. let it simmer for 20mis.
19. Open when pressure leaves and mix carefully so as not to break the rice.
20. garnish with coriander and serve with boiled eggs and ONION RAITHA.

COOK'S NOTE:

1. you can use chicken instead of mutton,but make sure to reduce the cooking time.for chicken 3 to 5 whistles will be sufficient.
2. you can also make this briyani using dum process.dumming process i have explained in my CHICKEN DUM BRIYANI.
3. You can also opt to use the spices as whole instead of  grindind.Personally i dont like the bite of cloves or cardamom,so i have ground them.
4. Never skip the dried red chilli paste.It gives the briyani its authentic taste.

    

CHICKEN DUM BRIYANI

       

Briyani is something which is loved by all.At my home, we make sure atleast we take biriyani  once in a fortnight.I have failed many a times at attempting to make briyani.None of our sundays are complete without non-veg.So this sunday my kids wanted to have chicken briyani.You need to find that perfect method and recipe that works for you.i battled to get a proper briyani countless times and this one worked well for me.You all will be familiar with the biriyani which we get in shops and their aroma is just divine.You can prepare the biriyani with the same aroma at home, which is even more healthier.My kids just love biriyani served with hard boiled eggs and onion raitha.And for making the dum briyani, you need not have all those sophisticated big barrels at home.I will give you the easiest method of keeping the dum at home.Usually dum briyani is something where the rice and gravy is prepared separately and mixed or layered and then kept over medium flame and covered with aluminium foil or dough and then burning coal is placed on top of them.This coal gives that divine smoky flavour for the dumming process.You can opt for the coal method also which i have mentioned how to do it below in the instructions.

Ingredients:

• Chicken. -  1 kg
• Basmati Rice.       _   4 cups (750gms)
• Onions.   -      4 large
• Tomatoes. -  3 large
• Ginger.     -     2 inch piece
• Garlic.    -    5 cloves
• Green chillies. -   4
• Cardamom.   -    2
• Cloves - 4
• Javithri/maze. -  2
• Star anise. - 1
• Jeera.  -  2 teaspoons
• Bayleaf. -  2
• Turmeric powder. -  1 teaspoon
• Red chilli powder. -  2 teaspoons
• Mint leaves. -   1 cup finely chopped
• Coriander leaves. -  1 cup finely chopped
• Lemon juice.  -  2 tablespoons
• Curd.   -    4 tablespoons
• Ghee. -   4 tablespoons
• Oil. -   4 tablespoons
• salt to taste

Method:
1.Wash and soak basmati rice for half an hour.
2.grind together cardamom,cloves,jeera and 1 bayleaf to coarse powder.(if u want you can add them as whole..I don't like to get the bite of cardamom or cloves in my briyani.so I grinded them)
3.grind together ginger garlic and green chillies to a fine paste.
4.heat enough water for the rice in a vessel and let it boil.(the rice should be immersed well in the water.so add accordingly).add 1 tablespoon of ghee in the water.(this makes sure that the rice are separate when done).

5.let the rice cook half the way through.it should still have that crunch when you bite.when done drain the rice and keep aside.

6.heat the oil and 3 tablespoons of ghee in a pressure cooker.

7.temper the bayleaf, javithiri,star anise and the ground spice powders.

8.add onions and saute till golden brown.

9.Add the ginger garlic chilli paste and saute till raw smell leaves.

8.add the washed chicken pieces and saute till they turn slightly light in colour.

add the tomatoes and saute till mushy.

9.add the chilli and turmeric powders and saute for a min.

10.add the lemon juice and curd and mix well.

11..now add the mint and coriander leaves and fry for a min.

12.Add the required salt.mix well

13.Close the lid with the weight on.(need not add water as  the onions,tomatoes and chicken leaves enough water by now.if u feel there is no sufficient water ,add a little so that the water level is just covering the chicken.)

14.leave it till 3 whistles.

15.transfer the chicken gravy to another vessel.
i have made this kids friendly as it is less spicy.if you want you can add two teaspoons extra of red chilli powder.

FOR THE DUM PROCESS:

•  heat a iron tawa (like the traditional dosa tawa) over a medium flame.
• start layering the pressure cooker used for cooking chicken with chicken gravy and rice alternatively.The layers should be starting and ending with the chicken gravy.
• keep the cooker over the tawa.cover with a flat thick steel plate.
• place a vessel of boiling water on top of the lid over the pressure cooker.
• leave on the dum for 20 mins.
• open and stir the mix carefully so as not to break the rice and the chicken.
• garnish with coriander.
• serve with onion raitha and hard boiled eggs.
• you can check my recipe for onion raitha HERE

Cook's note:

1. Always make sure that the rice is only half cooked.it should have that crunch when layered.
2. for dum for process, you can alternatively add coal on top of the lid instead a vessel of boiling water.the option is yours.coal gives immense flavour for dum briyani.
3. you can always add extra colour if u want to have that red look for you briyani.i havent used any colour here .
4. you can sprinkle some red colour over the cooked rice and mix lightly to get that characteristic red rice you see here and there in the store bought briyani.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

SIMPLE DOUBLE BEAN JEERA RICE

                           .There was this vegetable vendor who comes to my street every day with really really fresh veggies.But since am at 1st floor in my apartment before i could run down after hearing his voive, he would go to the other street.MY kids they neva let me anywhere alone .So if i had to catch a street vendor i had to get them ready as well to go outside.So this day they were sleeping and by the time i heard the vegetable vendor's voice selling Double BEans.I love this healthy seed and wanted to get it right away.So i ran down and got some fresh double beans.And i did mention to the vendor to wait for few mins everyday for me to come pick up veggies from him.So i got fresh beans from which i had to peel the skin to remove the seeds from within.Already i had plans for making jeera rice for lunch and then thought why not give a try with the double bean in the jeera rice.It turned out so well that i couldnt keep the recipe within myself without sharing it.SUCH AN HEALTHY FOOD FOR THE KIDS...my kids enjoyed it. This is such an easy recipe that you can make in no time.this can be given to kids to school and i bet there wont be any leftovers in the lunch box.
So here goes the recipe..



INGREDIENTS:

• basmati/raw white rice      -              2 cups
• onions                                -              4 large
• double beans                      -              2 cups
• jeera/cumin                                -             3 teaspoons
• green chillies                     -             2 large slit
• cinnamon                           -            1 inch stick
• cardamom                         -              3
• javithri/mace                     -            2
• star anise                           -             1
• oil                                      -             4 tablespoons
• ghee                                  -             2 tablespoons
• water                                 -             3 cups for basmati/4 cups for raw rice

METHOD:

• Wash and soak the rice for 30mins.
• chop the onions lengthwise .
• slit the green chillies.
• heat oil in a pressure cooker and temper all the spices
• add the onions and fry till golden
• add the green chillies and double bean and saute for a min.
• then add the drained rice and saute for a min.
• add the required water and salt to taste.
• close lid and cook for 3 whistles on medium flame or cook for 20mins on low flame,