Lamb recipe with rice and vegetables from the Mugai royal cuisine or Biryani

The name of this ancient dish from the royal cuisine of Mugai “biryani” came from the Urdu language, and then, in turn, from the Persian “birini”, which the ancient Persians called rice. According to another version, biryani came from "biryani" (the same Urdu), which means "fry".


The exact place and time of origin of the dish has not been established. In Northern India, various variations of biryani began to be cooked almost simultaneously in the Muslim part of Delhi (Mugai cuisine), as well as in Lucknow (Avadhi cuisine) and other small principalities. In South India, where rice was more common as a staple, biryani was traditionally cooked in Telanhan (Iderabad), Tamil Nadu, Malabar (Kerala and Karnataka), that is, in all those areas where Muslim communities were represented. Andhra is perhaps the only region in southern India where this dish was quite rare.

According to the Delhi historian, Sohil Nahvi in ​​Asia began to cook meat with rice more than four thousand years ago. Later, this type of food was called “pulao”. It was Pulao that became the forerunner of Biryani. Wealthier people cooked rice with lamb, and those who were poorer used beef. However, biryani was most developed in the royal cuisine of Mugai, which for three centuries , while this dynasty ruled, created the greatest culinary creations, and now considered the best examples of Indian national cuisine.

According to the studies of the famous Indian culinary historian Pratibhi Karan, the place of creation of biryani is undoubtedly the South of India. She also believes that the prototype of this dish was the pool or pilaf, with which the Indians introduced the Arab merchants. At first, pilaf was a dish popular in the Indian medieval army - due to the simplicity of its preparation. Over time, thanks to the chefs of the Mugai royal court on one side, and the Arab merchants who often visited Malabar in southern India, two biryani were created: the Arab biryani was cooked in tandoor, and the Indian (Mugai) in narrow-necked metal pots called " deh. "

The difference between pilaf, which is cooked in Indian (along with biryani), Pakistani and Middle Eastern cuisines and traditional Mugai biryani, is small, if any.

Sohil Nahvi notes that pilaf is cooked easier than biryani, and with fewer ingredients. Usually pilaf consists of either rice and meat, or rice and vegetables. Biryani also includes significantly more gravy, it takes longer to cook, respectively, vegetables and meat are softer and more tender in it. In addition, it is believed that biryani has more varied seasonings, and they are more spicy than in pilaf. But the main difference is that biryani has two layers of rice and meat (or vegetables), while rice and meat are prepared separately. In pilaf, all the ingredients are prepared in one dish and cannot be stacked in layers.

The traditional ingredients that are included in various biryani recipes depend on the region where the dish is prepared, as well as which meat or vegetables are used (lamb or poultry). In addition to vegetables (tomatoes, onions, garlic), biryani is often added with raisins, cashews, apples and even pineapples.

The list of spices that are placed in biryani is great. We list only a few of them: saffron, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, ginger.

We want to introduce you to one of the options for biryani, which is prepared on mutton. This is an authentic recipe from the Mugai royal cuisine, which has survived to this day. Although it may scare you with the number of components used in it, however, if everything you need for this dish is at your fingertips, then it is not difficult to cook it.

Ingredients for Rice:
  • 500 grams of a mixture of long-grain unpolished and wild rice (soak for half an hour, rinse and drain)
  • Gender Anise Star
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Half a teaspoon of cardamom grains
  • A third of a tablespoon of caraway seeds
  • A third of a tablespoon of fennel
  • Half a teaspoon of allspice
  • A third of cinnamon sticks
  • 3 cloves
  • Sea salt


Ingredients for Marinade:

  • Half a teaspoon of zira (fry and grind with a pestle)
  • A third of a tablespoon of caraway seeds (fry and grind with a pestle)
  • A third of a tablespoon of coriander seeds (fry and grind with a pestle)
  • 1 tablespoon garlic squeezed
  • Half a tablespoon of grated fresh ginger
  • Freshly squeezed juice of one lemon
  • A pair of tablespoons of cilantro leaves
  • Half a teaspoon of fresh red chili peeled in a mortar
  • Sea salt


Ingredients for Lamb:

  • 2.5 kg of lamb leg (chop into small pieces)
  • 4 white onion heads (two of them cut into thin half rings, and two into large slices)
  • 2 large tomatoes (cut into slices)
  • Half green chili pepper (cut into thin rings)
  • The floor of a small bunch of mint (to disassemble on leaflets)
  • 250 ml dessert red wine
  • 40 ml of soy sauce
  • 15 ml balsamic vinegar
  • 60 ml warm milk
  • 2-3 pinches of saffron
  • Butter
  • Olive oil


Cooking :

First, pickle the meat. To do this, carefully mix all the ingredients and pickle the mutton in the resulting mixture. Let stand in a cold place for three hours.For biryani we need fried onions, the so-called "barista". 

In a saucepan, heat olive oil and fry two thinly chopped onions until their color turns brown and the onion is crispy (try to make it so that the onion does not burn).

We spread the fried onions on a paper towel. An onion cooked in this way is the barista.

Now let's cook the lamb. To do this, melt the butter in a large stewpan with a heavy bottom. Add the remaining onion and two parts of green chili pepper to it. Fry, stirring occasionally, until the onion gets a golden brown tint.

Add the pickled lamb and fry for 7-8 minutes over high heat.

Pour two glasses of water, wine, soy sauce and vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook the lamb with the lid closed until soft.

10 minutes before the meat is ready, add the tomatoes and fresh leaves of cilantro. Solim.
Now you can proceed to cooking rice.

In a small piece of gauze we wrap caraway seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, anise, fennel and tie in a bag.

In a saucepan, bring to a boil 750 ml of water, pour rice, bay leaf, salt and a bag of spices. Close the pan with a lid and cook rice until one-third of the readiness. We remove water and spices.

Before using saffron in biryani, it is necessary to prepare the so-called "saffron milk". To do this, take warm milk and put saffron in it. Cover and hold for about 20 minutes.

Now we need a large (large enough to fit the whole dish) pan with a thick and heavy bottom. On low heat we melt 40 grams of homemade butter in it. We rotate the pan so that the oil covers its entire inner surface. Turn off the fire.

Now put on the bottom of the pan a layer of finished rice, then meat, which is sprayed with saffron milk. Put pieces of fried onion on top. Repeat the whole operation again to get two identical layers. Cover the last layer of meat with rice.

Sprinkle with roughly chopped mint and cilantro leaves, as well as fried onions and thin rings of green chili pepper. Sprinkle generously with lemon juice.

We close the pan tightly with a lid (it is desirable that it be well fitted) and cook biryani for another 40 minutes on the smallest fire.

After the specified time, remove from heat and allow to rest for about 10 minutes.




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