Ingredients

For marinade:

2 lbs lamb, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 cup yogurt

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

2 tsp chili powder

14 small serrano peppers, halved lengthwise

1 cup chopped mint

1 cup chopped cilantro

salt to taste

garam masala powder (as below)

10 black peppercorns

10 cloves

½ tsp cardamom seeds

½ tsp black cumin seeds

1" cinnamon stick

1 large yellow onion sliced

1 lime

1 cup clarified butter

½ tsp of saffron strands

½ cup milk

4 cups basmati rice soaked for 30 minutes

spices for boiling rice:

6 whole cardamoms

3 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 bay flower or biryani flower

1 tsp black cumin

1/4 tsp ginger paste

1/4 tsp garlic paste

1 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp salt

Preparation

  1. Grind all the ingredients listed under garam masala to a fine powder.
  2. Mix all the ingredients of the marinade and marinate for at least 2 hour, preferably overnight in the fridge.
  3. Cook lamb on the stove top until tender.
  4. Squeeze the lime juice on the meat and mix well.
  5. In a nonstick pan, heat oil and fry the onions until light golden brown.
  6. Soak saffron in hot milk.
  7. In a rice cooker, add rice, water and all the spices required for boiling rice and cook.
  8. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  9. Grease a large baking tray with oil, layer half the rice at the bottom. Sprinkle some oil, fried onions and ½ the saffron milk. Layer the rice with meat followed by a layer of remaining rice. We should have 2 layers of rice and one layer of meat. Top it off the remaining oil, fried onions and saffron milk. Cover the tray with aluminum foil.
  10. Bake the biryani for 10 minutes on 400 degrees F and then for 20 minutes on 350 degrees F. The total bake time is 30 minutes, 10 minutes on 400F and 20 minutes on 350 F.
  11. Mix the rice and serve it hot