Lamb Pilau / Pulao, made in under an hour

Introduction

Lamb pilau, also known as lamb pulao or lamb pilaf, is a fragrant and amazingly tasty rice dish which has soft succulent pieces of lamb cooked with rice and a range of whole spices. It is a staple dish in Pakistani and Indian cuisine. It’s very much a staple in our family.

Every family celebration, whether it was Eid, a wedding, a birthday party was filled with lamb pilau. My mum seemed to be able to make this dish with her eyes closed! It wasn’t really a proper celebration unless there was lamb pilau as the centrepiece of the table! And you really can’t go wrong with this simple recipe. My kids now also love this pilau, my daughter will eat bowls and bowls of it. She knows what the good stuff is.

Yakhni Pilau

My lamb pilau is made using the traditional yakhni (broth method) ,which really required three simple steps.

1. A large pan, filled with water, whole spices and lamb is cooked for around an hour (until the lamb has softened).
2. Onions are browned, then the broth, lamb pieces and rice are added to the onion pan and cooked together.
3. The rice is cooked to about 80% done, the rest of the cooking is done via “dham”, which is a steaming process. This I like to do in the oven, but you can also do this on the hob on low heat.

Lamb normally takes around an hour to become tender when cooking on the hob. As much as I love lamb, I love shortcuts which reduce my time standing by a hob. I think most people would be with me on this point.

When I had my children and I wanted to cook, I would often wait for them to go down for their day time nap. If I was lucky I would get an hour and a half to get something made. However with something like lamb pilau, where you need an hour just to tenderise the lamb in the yakhni (broth), meant that lamb pilau was not something I could easily make.

My version of making Lamb Pilau

This is how I evolved the pressure cooker method of making pilau. The method of making this pilau is very similar to making my chicken pilau. However the use of a pressure cooker, to speed up the cooking time of the lamb in the broth is a game changer. Instead of having to simmer the lamb in the broth for around an hour, the lamb will be tender after 12 minutes in the pressure cooker. I adore my pressure cooker for this! Without it, there’s no way you can have tender lamb in under an hour.

Ingredients tips

I always make pilau with with the meat on the bone. I find the bone adds depth to the flavour of the yakhni (soup or broth) which the rice will cook in. For the pilau, I like to use lamb shoulder, I personally prefer the tenderness of lamb shoulder for this dish.

In addition, I always use whole spices for pilau. The children tend to complain about having to pick out the whole spices. If they accidently eat a cardamom pod, mummy is in trouble! So I use a spice strainer in the yakhni, to reduce the amount whole spices that go into the rice. You could also use a muslin cloth and tie the spices in the cloth and put that in the pressure cooker. Alternatively, you can use a sieve to reduce the whole spices going into the rice pan.

Keeping your pilau traditional

Some people will add tomatoes into their pilau. However a traditional pilau just has the browned onions and the lamb. You can of course make a vegetable lamb pilau like my matar pilau, here I have given the option of adding tomatoes. However I just can’t add tomatoes in with a chicken or lamb pilau. My mind just knows it’s wrong! I always serve my pilau with a yoghurt boondi, also yoghurt raita works very well too. The ultimate finishing touch is kachumber (South Asian salsa).

When browning the onions for a pilau, it’s crucial to get a nice dark brown colour as this dictates the colour of the rice. The darker the onions are, the darker the pilau rice will be. It also enhances the flavour accordingly. You will need to add splashes of water to the onions as it browns, this is to stop it burning. The water will help the onions dissolve

One of those desi things you grew up hearing was that yakhni was always the thing to have specifically when you had a cold or the flu. I would therefore compare it to a chicken broth. Therefore, whenever I make pilau, I will without a doubt always make extra yakhni for the family to drink.

History of Lamb Pilau/ Pulao

Pilau is believed to have originated from the Mughal empire. It is something that nobility and aristocracy would have eaten. The Mughals are knows for extravagant feasts and culinary sophistication. Many Pakistani dishes have evolved from this time, such as Nihari. I would have loved to have sat and eaten at one their royal banquets!

INGREDIENTS  

Yakhni Ingredients

• 1 kg Lamb shoulder, on the bone, cut into small pieces You can use any other cut of lamb that you prefer, or even boneless lamb.
• 1 onion, skin removed, cut in half
• 1 tsp of finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp of finely chopped ginger
• 7 cloves
• 10 black peppercorns
• 1.5 tbsp of coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 6 green cardamon pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 black cardamon pods
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 litres water 7 mugs of water approximately

Rice Ingredients

• 800 grams basmati rice 3 mugs approximately
• 5 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped I use a food processor for speed
• 4 cloves
• 5 black peppercorns
• 3/4 tbsp of coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
• 3 green cardamon pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 black cardamon pods
• 3 tsp of salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS 

• Firstly wash the rice until the water runs clear and leave to soak in cold water. Soak for at least 30 minutes. The longer you leave the rice to soak, the quicker it will cook.

Yakhni instructions

• Put the water the pressure cooker and add all the yakhni ingredients. Next, cover with the lid and bring the water to boil. Once you heat the steam pressure build up and the pressure cooker starts to whistle, turn the heat down slightly and let it cook for 12 minutes. The lamb will be tender after this time.

Rice instructions

• Whilst the yakhni is cooking in the pressure cooker, start to make the rice. In large saucepan, heat 5 tablespoons of rapeseed oil. Next add the onions and turn the heat down to low. You will need to brown the onions. Constantly stir to ensure that the onions do not burn.You will need to brown the onions until they are a very dark brown, the colour of the browned onions dictates the colour of the pilau rice. The darker the onions, the richer the colour of the rice.
• As you are browning the onions, you will see that the onions will start to stick to the pan, therefore you will need to add small splashes of water (100ml approximately) and keep browning the onions. The onions will as a result start to dissolve. This will take around 20 minutes, but don’t be scared of browning the onions for longer if you haven’t got that dark brown colour.
• Once you have browned the onions sufficiently, add the rice spices. Stir for around 3 minutes. Turn the oven on on at 90C, fan assisted.

Combine Yakhni to Rice Pan

• Next add the cooked lamb from the pressure cooker to the onion saucepan. I tend to do this using tongs.
• Add the lamb into the onions and brown. This gives the lamb pieces more flavour from the onions. Then add the drained rice and stir through.
• Next we will need to add 5 mugs of the yakhni to the rice pan (or 1750ml of yakhni). Make sure you use the same mug that you measured the rice with to measure the yakhni. When I pour the yakhni into the onion pan, I use a sieve to take out any additional spices/onion pieces.
• Once you have added the yakhni, stir through and cover with the pan lid. Make sure the heat is on medium.
• Once the water has nearly dried out. Turn the heat off. The next step is to do dham (steam) the rice. Put the lid back on the saucepan and put the saucepan in the oven for 35 minutes.You can also do the dham on the hob by covering with saucepan with a thin tea towel, putting the saucepan lid on top and turning the heat down to very low. However I quite like having my gas hobs free for making other bits and pieces.The rice strands should be separate and not soggy or stuck together, then you know the rice has been cooked properly.
• Serve your pilau with boondi raita or vegetable raita (yoghurt based with finely chopped tomatoes, cucumber and red onion, seasoned with salt, red chilli powder and cumin seeds) and kachumber (red onions and tomatoes marinated with lemon juice and salt). Perfect side condiments to accompany your pilau rice.

See my video on Youtube, Instagram or TikTok to see how to make this dish!