Dindigul Thalapakatti Mutton Biryani | Mutton Biryani Recipe

Dindigul is a city in South India which is noted for its biryani. The key ingredients to this are seeraga samba rice and the paste we prepare. It does not have any tomatoes whereas the tangy taste comes from the curd and the lemon. This biryani will not make you wait because of its nice aroma. It tastes great for the second time too, I love them after reheating it. It has moderate spiciness, so kids will enjoy this. Since it is an easiest recipe, you can make this for your guest. Everyone will want to know the recipe after you serve them. I hope you enjoy this yummy biryani.

Dindigul Thalapakatti Biryani

Recipe Cuisine: South Indian / Tamil Nadu | Recipe Category: Main Course
Prep Time: 20 mins | Cooking Time: 50 mins approx | Serves: 3

Ingredients:

Seeraga samba rice - 2 cups

Mutton - 1/2 kg

Ginger - 1 long piece(50gm)
Garlic - 1/4 cup (from 2 1/2)

Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Homemade Biryani masala - 2 tsp (Recipe Here)

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Coriander leaves - a fistful

Mint leaves - 2 tblspn

Curd - 1 cup
Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1/4 cup

Ghee - 2 tblspn

To grind:

Onion - 2

Green chilli - 5

Spices:

Cloves - 3

Black stone flower - 4

Star anise - 1/4

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece

Bay leaf - 1, small

Cardamom - 2

Method:

Clean the mutton pieces with water and marinate it with turmeric and salt. Pressure cook the mutton adding enough water till it becomes tender. Keep the mutton stock.

Grind ginger, garlic, onion and green chilli into a smooth paste.

Heat a pressure cooker, add oil and ghee. Add in whole spices.

When a nice aroma comes out, add in the ground paste, chilli powder, biryani masala, salt, coriander leaves and mint leaves.

Cook for 5 mins. Add the curd and cook for 10 mins.

When the oil oozes out, add the seeraga samba rice and mix everything properly. Add 4 cups of water. If you have mutton stock, you can add it in place of water.

Place the vessel over a griddle. Cover and put weight on the top of the vessel. Add little extra water. Let it cook for 30 mins on low flame. (If cooking in pressure cook, cook for 2 whistles under medium flame.)

Serve with raita and brinjal dalcha.

Note:

• Since mutton take some time to cook, I pre cooked it.
• Do not reduce the amount of ginger garlic paste. 

Pictorial:

Ingredients needed to make biryani

Soak rice for 30 mins, wash the mutton and keep it ready

In a pressure cooker, take the mutton pieces, add in turmeric, salt

and 2 cups of water. Pressure cook the mutton on a medium flame for 8 whistles or till it becomes soft

Pressure cook the mutton till tender

Meanwhile, prepare the paste for the biryani. First grind the ginger and garlic. I took 1 long ginger and 2 1/2 whole garlic(1/4 cup). Try to add more gg paste because it is one of the main ingredient for making biryani

To this, add the onion and 5 green chillies. Do not reduce the green chillies. I added 5 chilli and biryani was not very spicy.

Grind it to a smooth paste

Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a wide vessel

Add 2 tblspn of ghee

Add the whole spices mentioned above

Once a nice aroma comes out, add the ground onion chilli paste. Cook for 2 mins

Add biryani masala powder. I used homemade (Click Here for recipe)

Add in chilli powder, turmeric powder and enough salt to taste

Now, add the curd

Add in fistful of chopped coriander and 2 tblspn of mint leaves.

Cover it with a lid and cook for 10 mins

Now, the mutton is cooked till soft. Extract the mutton stock. We extract it just to measure the amount of stock we have. So that it will easy to calculate how much water is needed

Its been 10 minutes and now the oil oozes out

Add the cooked mutton and mix it well

I have 2 cups of stock, now we can add it

And 2 to 2.25 cups of water. (The ratio between rice and water is 1:2)

Squeeze juice from half lemon

When the water starts to boil, drain water from the soaked rice and add to it.

Place the vessel over a griddle. Cover and put weight on the top of the vessel. Otherwise, you can cover the top with an aluminum foil and make sure air will not enter inside. Let it cook for 30 mins on low flame.

After 30 to 35 mins, it will be cooked

Fluff the rice carefully

Its ready! Serve with your raita, brinjal dalcha or any non veg gravy.