Mutton Pulav

I have nothing to say about this dish except that it was very very delicious. Everyone in the family loved it. Do give it a try and it will become one of your favorite dishes.

Ingredients 

Mutton – ¾ kg

Basmati Rice – 2 cups – soaked for 30 mins

Oil - 4 tbsp

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Whole Garam masala (Cloves – 4, Cinnamon – 2 inch, Bay leaf – 2, Green cardamom – 4, Star anise – 1, Mace – 1 blade)

Green chilies – 2 – slit

Onion – 2 – sliced

Tomato – 2 – chopped

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Mint leaves – handful – chopped

Coriander leaves – handful – chopped

Lemon juice – 1 tbsp

Water as needed

For Masala Paste

Black peppercorns – 10

Dry red chilies – 10

Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp

Coriander seeds – 1 tbsp

Fennel seeds – 1 tbsp

Poppy seeds – 1 tbsp

Coconut – grated – ½ cup

Ginger – 1 inch

Garlic cloves – 15

Yogurt – ½ cup

Method

Dry roast peppercorns, dry red chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds and poppy seeds. Once you start getting the aroma of the spices add grated coconut and saute for half a min. Grind this mixture along with ginger, garlic and yogurt into a fine paste. Add very little water if needed. Keep the masala paste aside.

Now take a pressure pan and heat ghee and oil. Add whole garam masala and let them crackle. Add green chillies and onion and saute till onion turns pink.  Add mutton pieces and saute till water from mutton reduces. Add tomatoes and turmeric powder and saute till oil separates. Add the masala paste and saute till the raw smell goes and oil separates. Now add some salt and 2 cups of water and pressure cook till the mutton is done.

Once the pressure has cooled down, open the lid and cook the mutton gravy on high flame so that all the extra water gets evaporated and only the thick gravy plus oil remains in the pan. Add soaked rice and water (little less than 3 cups). Check for seasoning. Add coriander leaves, mint leaves and lemon juice. Cover the pan and cook up to 3 whistles for rice to be done. Serve hot with raitha.

My Notes

ü  Adjust the amount of oil and spices according to your taste.

ü  Do not roast the coconut for a long time or it might change the taste of the dish.

ü  The mutton that I used was not very tender and hence it took around 20 whistles for mutton to cook completely. It is always better to cook mutton completely before cooking again with rice.

ü  Unlike chicken, mutton will not get over cooked when it is cooked again with rice. 2-3 whistles extra will not make any difference to the meat.

ü  I always add water and rice in the ratio of 1:1.5 respectively when I use basmati rice. But since there was lot of gravy which also formed a base to cook rice I reduced around 3 tbsp of water from 3 full cups.