Authentic Lamb Biryani Recipe: Aromatic and Flavourful Pakistani Rice Dish
Learn how to make authentic lamb biryani with tender lamb, fragrant spices, and perfectly cooked basmati rice. This classic Pakistani dish is ideal for festive occasions or hearty family meals
Ingredients
Ingredients for Rice
- 800 grams basmati rice 3 mugs
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1.5 tsp salt to taste
- 3 tbsp yellow food dye I used the powdered food dye and mix it with water
Ingredients for Lamb Biryani Masala
- 3 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
- 4 onions, finely chopped
- 2 tsp garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tsp ginger, finely chopped
- 0.5 tsp black peppercorns
- 1.5 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 black cardamom pods
- 1 piece of cinnamon bark, about 1 inch long
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 6 cloves
- 7 green cardamom pods
- 2 tsp salt
- 0.25 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, blitzed in food processor I add the tinned tomatoes, puree and green chillies in food processor to blend
- 4 green chillies, finely chopped to taste
Ingredients for deep frying ( or cooking in air fryer)
- 2 small potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters or small bitesize chunks
- 1 onions, finely sliced
- 1 litre oil for frying not needed if using an air fryer
Ingredients for Lamb- Step 1
- 1 kg lamb, boneless
- 1 onion, finely sliced
- 1 black cardamom
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
- 1 litre water
Ingredients for Lamb- Step 2
- 230 grams natural yoghurt or half a mug
- 1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
- 2 green chillies, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice or the juice of half a lemon
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
Ingredients for Lamb- Step 3- Spice Tarka
- 2 tbsp ghee (or oil)
- 0.5 tsp black peppercorns
- 1.5 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 black cardamoms
- 1 cinnamon bark, 1 inch long
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 6 cloves
- 7 green cardamom pods
Instructions
- Wash the rice thoroughly and leave to soak.
Method for deep frying or cooking in air fryer
- Heat the oil in a wok, then add the onions and fry until golden brown.Alternatively, for a healthier touch you can air fry the onions. Spray/brush with oil and put 2 tablespoons of oil in the air fryer tray. In my air fryer the onions took 13 minutes to cook on 180C.
- Leave the onions to drain off on a plate covered with kitchen roll sheets.
- Parboil the potatoes, then also deep fry them until golden brown. Also leave to drain off on a plate with kitchen roll sheets.Alternatively, for a healthier touch you can air fry the potatoes too. Spray/brush with oil and put 1 tablespoons of oil in the air fryer tray. In my air fryer the potatoes took 15 minutes to cook on 200C.
Method for the Lamb Biryani Masala
- Heat the oil and then brown the onions. If the onions start to catch on the pan, add small splashes of water. Due to the amount of onions, this should take around 15 minutes.
- Then add the garlic and ginger and masala spices, stir through. Then proceed to add the remaining masala ingredients.
- Cover with the pan lid and let the mixture simmer on a low heat for 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring at regular intervals to check the masala is not catching on the pan, if it is, add small splashes of water. After the 15 minutes, you should see the oil separate to the top of the masala.
Method for Cooking the Lamb
- In a pressure cooker, add all the step 1 ingredients. Cover with the lid and bring to the boil (this could take up to 10 minutes due to the amount of water in the pressure cooker).
- Once you hear the pressure cooker hissing, cook for 12 minutes.(If you do not have a sauce pan and are cooking by saucepan, add extra water, 1 litre and cook on low heat for an hour, until the lamb is soft.)
- Be careful when releasing the steam, you may want to let the pressure cooker sit for 2-3 minutes to cool down slightly before then releasing the steam.
- There should be some liquid still left in the pressure cooker, you can keep this to add into the masala pan later. However, if there is a lot of extra liquid left in the pressure cooker, you can drain this off and keep this separately as a broth for you to enjoy at another time. You only want to add 150-300 ml of the liquid.
- In a bowl, add the step two ingredients and mix through thoroughly.
- In a small frying pan, heat the ghee, then add the remaining step three ingredients. Lightly fry for 2-3 minutes on medium heat.
Method for Cooking Rice
- Boil water in a large saucepan and add the rice ingredients except the food dye, cook until the rice is soft and then drain off the remaining water.
Bringing together the Lamb, Masala and Yoghurt mixture
- Add the masala to the lamb mixture from the pressure cooker and let it simmer together on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Turn the heat off and then add in the yoghurt mixture and the spice tarka. Mix everything together thoroughly.
- Then add in the deep fried potatoes, again mix through gently.
Method for Layering the Lamb and Rice
- In a large saucepan, add a tablespoon of oil and 2 tablespoons of water and spread it across the bottom of the pan.
- Then add in half of the lamb masala mixture, sprinkle over generously half of the deep fried onions.
- Next add half of the rice over the lamb, and sprinkle the yellow food dye on the rice. Give it a gentle mix so the yellow colour spreads over some of the rice, but not all of it. You do still want to see some white rice.
- Repeating the layering process of lamb masala, deep fried onions and rice and yellow food dye.
- When this has been completed, add a tablespoon of ghee over the top of the rice.
- The final step is to cover the saucepan with the lid and put in oven for steaming "dum" for 45 minutes on a low heat, around 140C (minimum 30 minutes), this really lets everything meld together and enhances the flavours.
- NB: If you do not have an oven, you can leave it on the hob on the lowest heat possible. I sometimes put my tava (chapati pan) on the hob, then put the rice pan on top of the tava and then the rice steam this way. This helps to minimise the chance of the rice in the bottom of the pan burning.
