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Hyderabadi Mutton Handi Biryani

Sunita Nayr
Hyderabadi Mutton Biryani is a classic dish prepared with layered rice and marinated mutton pieces. It is slow-cooked to perfection in a handi or biryani pot.
Biryani comes from the Persian word Birian, which means "fried rice before cooking" and Birinj is the Persian word for rice. Once this exotic dish arrived in India from the Middle East, Indians assimilated it into their culture and gave it several creative forms and names.
Persian Biryani is primarily rice, meat, a few spices, and saffron. It is known to be quite subtle in taste. The Indian Biriyani has vegetables, meat, aromatic spices, herbs, and saffron.
There are several varieties of Biryani from almost every region in India like the Mughlai, Hyderabadi, Andhra, Calcutta Biryani, Dindigul, Lucknowi, Arcot, Memoni, Thalasseri, Kampuri, Tahari, Beary, Sindhi, Bhatkali, and Bombay Biryani to name some.
Like most Indians, I am a die-hard biryani lover and have relished some of the regional variants of this classic dish. Two decades ago, I used to live in Bengaluru with my family. I had a chance to savour some homemade biryani, when one of my neighbors sent us some for Eid. It was Hyderabadi-style and was very delicious. Ever since that day, I used to eagerly look forward to Eid, when their homemade biryani would arrive!
Many years have passed since I moved to Mumbai. I have travelled across India and had the opportunity to gorge on Andhra, Lucknowi, Mughlai, Thalasseri, and Bombay Biryani. My love for Biryani made me very enthusiastic to learn and experiment with many variations of this dish in my kitchen. I have experimented and prepared it several times. After consistent trials and errors, I can claim that I can create this mouth-watering dish pretty well. So here's my version of the Hyderabadi Mutton Handi Biryani!
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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Servings 6 people

Equipment

  • 1 Pressure Cooker
  • 1 Handi (deep pan) or biryani pot
  • 2 Ladles
  • 1 Mixer-grinder

Ingredients
  

For Marination

  • 1 kg Mutton
  • 3/4 tsp Turmeric powder
  • 2 tsps Chilli powder
  • 2 tsps Meat/mutton masala
  • 1 cup Curd
  • 1 tsp Salt or as per taste

Masala Paste

  • 6 nos. Garlic cloves
  • 2 inches Ginger root
  • 6-8 nos. Shallots
  • 2 cups Mint leaves (pudina)
  • 2 cups Coriander leaves
  • 4 nos. Green chillies
  • 2 tbsps Grated coconut
  • 4-6 nos. Dry red chillies
  • 1 tsp Coriander powder
  • 1-2 tbsps Water for grinding the masalas

Other ingredients

  • 4 cups Basmati rice (soaked for 30 minutes)
  • 1 tbsp Sunflower oil
  • 2 tbsps Clarified butter (ghee)
  • 2 nos. Cinnamon sticks
  • 5 nos. Cloves
  • 4 nos. Cardamom pods
  • 2 nos. Bay leaves
  • 3 nos. Onions (Big) thinly sliced
  • 3 nos. Tomatoes (chopped)
  • 3 cups Coconut milk (thin/diluted)
  • 1 cup Mint/pudina leaves (chopped)
  • 1 cup Coriander leaves (chopped)
  • 1 pinch Saffron (diluted/soaked in warm milk)
  • 2 tbsps Lemon juice

Instructions
 

  • Wash and clean mutton. Cut into medium-sized pieces. I have used tender mutton with bones. Marinate thoroughly with turmeric, chilli powder, curd, and salt for 1 hour.
     
  • In a mixer-grinder, make masala paste of shallots, garlic, ginger, mint, coriander leaves, green chillies, grated coconut, dry red chillies, and coriander powder. Add little water and grind to paste. Keep aside.
  • To cook basmati rice, I used the open vessel method. In a vessel, add soaked basmati rice and 4 cups of water. Add 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of oil while cooking. This way the rice will be evenly salted and the oil will prevent the rice from sticking together. Boil the rice till it is 90 percent cooked.
    Strain the water out of the rice and spread it evenly, using a ladle. Keep the vessel open.
  • To cook the mutton, heat 1 tbsp oil and 2 tbsps of ghee in a pressure cooker. To it, add cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, cloves, and bay leaves and stir.
    Add in the thinly sliced onions and cook till translucent. Now, add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add the ground masala paste.
    Next, add the marinated mutton pieces and mix well with the ground paste. Pour in the diluted coconut milk. Add the chopped mint and coriander leaves and mix thoroughly. Check if the salt is sufficient. Add salt as per your requirements.
     
  • Close the lid and pressure cook the mutton for 10 minutes (6 to 7 whistles). The cooking time depends on the tenderness of the mutton. Once cooked, switch off the gas flame and wait for the pressure cooker steam to be fully released.
  • Meanwhile, in a big handi or biryani pot, layer the mutton and rice on top of each other, one after the other.
    First, two ladles full of mutton curry and then the rice. Repeat. On top of the rice, again, layer the rest of the mutton curry.
    Spread evenly with a ladle. Add the saffron milk and close the biryani pot.
  • Cover the pot with the lid first. Then seal the lid on the sides or edges with aluminium foil or flour paste so that the steam doesn’t escape.
    Heat a Tava or flat pan. Keep the handi/pot over it and cook on low flame for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
    A little water can be poured over the closed lid to prevent the biryani from getting burnt at the bottom. After 45 minutes of slow cooking, switch off the gas flame.
  • Open the lid after 15 minutes and mix the rice and mutton well. The rice would have cooked well in the mutton gravy.
    Sprinkle some lemon juice and serve hot with cucumber and onion raita.
     

Notes

The mutton pieces should be cut into medium-sized pieces so that they blend well with the rice.
Thick-bottomed handis or pots should be used so that the biryani rice doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the vessel.
Keyword authentic, dum biryani, richly flavoured, slow cooked, spicy, tasty, yummy