GOSHT KI DUM AWADHI BIRYANI

INGREDIENTS:    serves 4

1kg  rice
1kg  mutton (1/2 kg boneless and 1/2 kg on the bone),
                             cut into 50gm pieces
50g  onions, sliced
40gm  ginger-garlic paste
15gm yellow chilli powder
200gm  yoghurt
2  tbsp cream
6  green cardamoms
4  cloves
1  blade mace
1  litre water
20gm  almond paste
Salt, to taste
2  drops vetiver (kevda ) essence
1  tbsp  rose water
150ml  clarified butter or ghee
For the spice-mix (broiled )
2gm each, cinnamon, mace and nutmeg
5gm  green cardamom
2  cloves

Method:

• Wash and clean mutton. Grind all the spices in the spice-mix together. Wash and soak rice for one hour in water. Fry onion in ghee till golden brown.
• Remove onion, and to the same oil, add ginger-garlic paste, yellow chilli powder, spice-mix (retain a pinch of the mix to use later ), salt, almond paste, yoghurt and mutton.
• Saute till mutton turns a golden colour. Add water and cook on a slow fire till mutton is tender. Remove the mutton pieces and strain the stock through a fine sieve.
• parboil rice with cloves, green cardamom and mace and set aside. Layer the pot (preferably non-stick) with half the rice and cover it with lamb pieces. Add cream to the mutton stock and pour half this mixture over mutton. Sprinkle half the browned onions.
• Dissolve saffron, kevda and rose waters in warm water and sprinkle half of it over mutton. Layer the remaining rice over mutton and pour the remaining stock mixture.
• Top rice with the rest of the browned onion. Sprinkle the pinch of spice-mix over the rice and place on dum for 20-25 minutes. Open and serve hot garnished with fried sliced onions and garlic-flavoured raita.