Dindukkal Mutton Biryani - Weekend Feast

Dindukkal Mutton Biryani - Weekend Feast

I started doing this biryani almost 10 years back. This is our favourite version of biryani. If you can perfectly reproduce this recipe, then, I can assure that you will not go to any restaurant which say they serve authentic "Dindukkal Biryani", because this recipe gives such an typical Dindukkal briyni. Try once to believe it.

We use jeeraga samba rice for this biryani instead of basmathi rice. Jeeraga samba rice is the tiny grain variety of rice. It has to be handled like regular raw rice. But since it is biryani, we do not add double the water as rice.

We do not add tomato in this biryani like other biryani. For sourness we use curd.

The highlight of this mutton briyni is that we use ghee in the recipe which we generally don't use in our  other regular biryanis. Ghee compliments so much for this biryani. Without adding ghee, you can never get the perfect taste which this biryani is supposed to give.

In this recipe, we grind the masala, so no worries of picking out the the so-called miscellaneous ingredients while eating. Kids love eating this biryani as they need not pick put the spices while eating.

In this recipe, meat cooks in the masala paste so the meat also has nice flavour of the garam masala.
Get the nice and fresh bunch of mint leaves to freshen up the biryani.

This recipe does not have tomatoes, so the colour of the biryani is very light. But since we grind the masala, the flavour is intense.

Serving this biryani with onion raitha is good enough. If you can serve it with the brinjal masala side dish, then it is a perk.

I would recommend you not to make too many non-veg items on the same day as you will not be able to enjoy the biryani and its subtle flavour to the fullest. I never club this biryani with other non-veg items, as our taste buds would go crazy with different flavours. The day when I make Dindukkal biryani, I keep it simple with just simple onion raitha and boiled egg.

Let me not waste any more time and quickly get to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Mutton - 500 grams
• Jeeraga samba rice - 2 and 1/2 cups
• Curd - 1/2 cup
• Mint - 1 cup (pressed)
• Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup pressed
• Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Bay leaves - 4 medium size leaves
• Ghee - 2 teaspoons + 1 tablespoon
• Oil - 3 + 3 tablespoons
• Salt

For the Masala Paste:

• Small onions - 20 
• Big onion - 1 medium
• Green chilli - 8
• Cinnamon - 4 (1 inch) pieces
• Cloves - 7 
• Cardamom - 4 pods
• Ginger - 1 tablespoon (chopped)
• Garlic - 1 tablespoon (chopped)

For Onion Raitha:

• Onion - 1 large
• Curd - 1 cup
• Salt

Procedure:

Rice prep:

• Wash the rice few times and soak it for at least 30 minutes.

Masala Paste: 

• Heat some oil in a pan and saute the ingredients in the following order: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, green chillies, ginger, garlic, small and big onion. 
• Add little salt to quicken the sauteing.
• After sauteing, remove them from heat and cool them. 
• Transfer it to a mixer jar and grind it to paste. 
• Diviide this into 2 portions and keep aside.

Getting ready with mutton:

• Wash the mutton several times.
• During the last wash, take the mutton pieces out of the water and transfer to a small pressure cooker. (NEVER drain the water from the mutton in the vessel in which it was washed. Always take the mutton pieces out from the water. This way the tiny bone pieces in mutton, stays in water itself.)
• To this mutton pieces in the pressure cooker add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt (for mutton alone), half of the masala paste, curd,  and 2 teaspoons of ghee.
• Mix well.
• Keep this on stove and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. 
• Mutton is ready.

Bringing together Biryani:

• Take a bigger pressure cooker. 
• Add some oil and 1 tablespoon ghee and heat.
• Add the bay leaves.
• Add the masala paste and saute.
• When the masala turns light brown, add the chopped mint and coriander leaves.
• Saute till the above herbs wilt and oil separates. 
• Now drain the rice from the water and add to the sauteing masala paste. Stir for a couple of minutes.
• Now, open the small cooker in which mutton was cooked. Drain out the mutton pieces alone from the soup and transfer it to the rice in the big cooker.
• Mix well.
• The ratio of rice is to water is 1:1 and 3/4. Since we are using 2 and 1/2 cups rice, we should add 4 and 1/4 cups of water.
• Now measure the soup. How much ever the quantity soup is, make it up to 4 and 1/4 cups with water and add to the rice. (example, if you have 1 and 1/2 cups of soup, then add 2 and 3/4 cups of water to make it total of 4 and 1/4 cups)
• Mix well. Add more salt. Check for salt.
• Close the cooker. Keep on high. 
• Once the pressure releases, put the pressure weight on the cooker, reduce the stove to low and let it cook for exactly 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes, remove from heat and keep aside for 15 minutes. 
• Let the pressure come down.
• Open then cooker and give a gentle stir taking care not to mash up the rice and mutton pieces.
• If required trasnfer the rice to a bigger container.
• The aromatic Dindukkal mutton biryani is ready to be feasted upon. Couple it with onion raitha and boiled egg.

Tips:

1. Take care NOT to add lots of ghee as biryani will become too heavy and you cant eat as mush as you generally do.
2. DO NOT stir the biryani with rice too much as it will break the rice.
3. I DO NOT use lemon for sourness. I think its all good as it is.
4. I NEVER add coriander leaves for garnish in the end as it will over power the biryani flavour.
5. Use fresh oil for sauteing (do not use oil which was previously used for some frying)
6. DEFINATELY use some small onions for masala.
7. If you can reduce 1/4 cup of water from the total amount of water, is okay as you will get more non-sticky rice.

Friends, believe me if I say that here is the best and delicious biryani you have ever made.
Enjoy this Dindukkal Mutton Biryani with boiled egg and onion raith on a nice Sunday or on some family get together to make it more memorable.

Happy cooking !!