Of Promises and Commitments to Taste and Tradition-The Baked Nawabi Mutton Biryani with Gravy

Promises-Shromises... Almost two months coming -this biryani is. Long Stories and Long Recipes deserve a special place. A special place in our memories.Its these special stories and special foods that are associated with these special memories,that bring a smile to our faces when we are feeling low... Low Carb and Low Protein? Whatever!  That is probably the only low most of us understand.Most of us Meat loving people understand.Its difficult for the vegetarians to comprehend-how you can go a few days without eating meat.
In my house,sweet child takes after me.His blood starts craving something not vegetarian in a few days-at times he's willing to eat food only if you throw in an egg or two... Else,all you hear are whines and cribs and a scantily eaten meal.An excuse for a mid night snack,it is. No matter how much time this meal -The Baked Nawabi Mutton Biryani and gravy takes to prepare-its totally worth it-tradition safely ensconced in taste.
The parents are not wont to try any cooking outdoors -living in a concrete jungle as most of the world does,certainly not wont to allow me to use charcoal barbeque's in  their apartment balcony-no that is a liberty I can take only at home-seeing that I have a huge back yard and a barbecue stand at my disposal-I needed  to reconstruct an olden tradition of cooking in a pit covered in sand and charcoal-so what better than a modern day OVEN! Then there is always this confusion between lamb and mutton-well Delhi boasts of the finest goat meat that the desert state of Rajasthan produces.Lean,mean,red meat-literally. Just in case you are wondering why the biryani has short grain rice instead of the mile long grain-I used Organic-Organic rice that is shorter in length,but better in taste. YAY! OK the process to make the biryani may seem a bit tedious,looking at the number of pics I put up and the long list of ingredients-totally not complicated and total returns on taste. To get started,all you need to do is shop for the mutton and raid your cupboards for the rest of the stuff... Lets get started with
Of Promises and Commitments to Taste and Tradition-The Baked Nawabi Mutton Biryani...
you need
750 gms mutton-assorted cuts 2 cups rice-basmati or biryani or any rice in your cupboards 5 medium onions sliced-divide into two parts Oil to deep fry/shallow fry the onions 5 tbsp clarified butter/desi ghee 3 tbsp butter 3-4 green chillies 4 tomatoes finely chopped 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste 2 cups yogurt 1/2 cup milk 1 tsp turmeric powder 1 large pinch saffron 2 tsp each coriander powder,cumin powder,garam masala,red chilli powder Almost 2 tbsp salt-used in different stages of prep in the biryani
for the rice- tie in a small piece of muslin  5-6 cloves 1-2 inch piece cinnamon 4-5 green cardamom 4-5 black cardamom 10  black pepper 
Start the prep for this dish the night before-or at least 4 hours in advance-a biryani meal cannot be sudden-it has to be planned...so plan for a minimum of 3-4 hours advance. All the yogurt ,2 tsp of the ginger garlic paste ,1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder to be mixed with the mutton and set aside. Remember ,if these are hot days of summer in your life-the mutton needs to rest in the fridge. These are the sliced onions-not too finely sliced,these have to be fried to a crisp.
Wash and soak the rice in water for at least an hour. Instead of using long grain biryani rice,I used Organic rice-which are short grain and chewier. The beauty of the biryani is that the length of the rice did not matter,short or long the rice was great.
Shallow fried or deep fried in oil-I used mustard oil...When I make the biryani at home ,I deep fry the onions.No constant monitoring needed with copious amounts of oil...hehehe...Half the onions here...
The small bowl has the whole spices for the rice and the other has the ginger garlic paste.
Place a large pan of water to boil the rice.
Add in the whole spices and I tsp salt and a few mint leaves.I had only enough mint for the layering of the biryani,so for boiling the rice I used powdered mint leaves. And yes,I did not use the muslin,so would advise you to use that.Learn from my mistake.
Ideally ,you should tie these up in a bouquet garnis-Ideally!
The onions fried to a crisp and sitting in a strainer,draining in the cooker in which the mutton is to be cooked.Smart!Mum's idea!Once done spread them out on a kitchen towel to dry and crisp up further. I used this oil and a tsp of the clarified butter/ghee to make the biryani,you can use much more.
Once the water comes to a boil,add the soaked rice and boil till the rice is almost al dente.Almost.
Mutton after being marinated overnight.
Drain the rice and spread the rice in a large dish .This cools and prevents overcooking of the rice and you are able to take out whatever whole spices you did not use a bouquet garnis for.
Use a pressure cooker if you have one.If not,make sure the pan is heavy bottomed.
Heat the oil,add more if you need to and Fry the remaining half onions in the mustard oil till they are golden brown.
Add in the remaining ginger garlic paste and 1/2 tsp salt. Add the 2 tsp coriander powder and cook some more.
Now add the chopped tomatoes and the slit green chillies and stir till the tomatoes are cooked.
Time for some exotic touches and the real Nawabi flavours ...Add the saffron to the warm milk and set aside.A generous pinch.
Time to add the marinated mutton to the cooking tomatoes and cook.I tried stirring ,but dumped it all into a large Kadai-WOK as the stirring was difficult in the cooker.
Added the chilli powder,the cumin powder and checked for the salt.Now would be a good time to add the garam masala and ensure the mutton dries out.Keep tasting for salt.Remember the salt should be understated-each element of the dish has salt,so be very,very careful.
Transfer into the wok...
Once the masala is done-the fat leaves sides and the mutton smells heavenly transfer back Into the cooker...one pressure needed with 2 cups of water.
If you do not have a pressure cooker,just add 2 1/2 cups of water to the mutton and let the mutton simmer covered till it is almost done.Covered ,you may need to simmer  upto 15 minutes.
Once done, lets start with the actual fun bit.
The dish in which you want to make the biryani...
I used my mums Corning ware Casserole...the largest in her cupboard .Liberally greasing the base and sides with desi ghee/clarified butter.I then removed the almost cooked mutton from the cooker and layered the dish covering the bottom.
Topped with 1/3 of the fried onions and chopped coriander and chopped mint.
Half the rice and then topped with the remaining pieces of mutton,1/3 fried onion and some chopped green coriander and mint.
Then the remaining rice,the onions and the chopped mint and coriander.Pour over the milk and saffron mix gently.
Dot with the butter.Under mum's watchful eye,I used only half the required butter...
This is the gravy that was left behind after I used the pieces of mutton for the biryani, slightly reduced. This will be an accompaniment to the biryani....
Preheat oven to 180C/350F and cover the biryani with the lid.
Dish in-wait on...
(since I cooked it in the oven,I did not use atta dough,the lid was heavy enough)
for 25 minutes.
Is it done yet?
When can we eat?
It smells done ...take it out...Nani????
Finally,sweet child was made to lay the table and wait...
25 minutes, the aromas were wafting around in the entire apartment...sublte and inviting.
Felt like a Nawabi Dawaat on the dining table.
We waited only to bring the dish to the table and begun ladling out the perfect Biryani.
The rice was perfect- the mutton falling off the bone-slow cooked and succulent.
The caramelised onions ,bitter sweet and soft...
And the gravy,just awesome.
Not too spicy,not too mild.Just a perfect foil for the rice.
My mom has made this twice since we left, and she swears on the taste. After eating this ,she says any other biryani is dry and unpalatable.
This baked biryani is just VA-VA Voom!
It took me three days to just get this blog post up...Thanks to the rains that pour in a deluge and take away the electricity...
Coming up..some tails with the rain and the story of whole meal buttered toast on a rainy day.
So what are you baking today???