Hyderabadi Dum Biryani

It was the last working day at office here in Oman a day before the generous 9-days Eid-Ul-Adha holidays could start. Productivity was sure to be less because the holiday mood had set in and you could see people excitedly chattering in groups obviously about their holiday plans and so many other things other than work. Some also left office early so that they could finish their packing since most were travelling. I waited with bated breadth for the clock to tick 4 p.m. I was home in 30 minutes. So 9 full days of fun and laziness   --- Oh the Joy !!!!

Day 1 and Day 2 of the hols were spent in Eid preps and Eid celebrations. For Eid, I did spread out a lavish lunch on the table comprising of Chicken Soup, Mutton Biryani, Deep fried Chicken, Curds Raita, Vegetable Salad and a baked Dessert. Too tired to do anything for dinner, we tried our best to eat the leftovers and then spent the evening packing for our exciting 5-day UAE trip scheduled for the next day.

Day 3 was a very exciting day. It was a pleasure waking up very early that day.We woke up well before the day light and left home early to the airport. Boarded the 7:50 am flight and reached Dubai 45 minutes later. At 10 a.m. we were at our friend's place having sandwiches for breakfast and discussing our touring plans and etc etc. We were meeting up with his family that afternoon in one of Dubai's largest parks at the seaside and spending the rest of the day with them.

So after some rest, we got ready and left to the park- Mamzar Beach  park is the name which was so huge, that residents of Dubai themselves found it difficult to track down what is where in it. It was boiling hot that day with high humidity levels and we did find it terribly uncomfortable being outdoors in the afternoon. But mingling with their family and having a hearty Hyderabadi meal that they had cooked, made us forget everything except for enjoying ourselves at the place. We spent the rest of the evening with them, had a lot of fun and then accompanied them to Al Awir Road where the huge Dragon Mart is located for some shopping.

Dragon Mart is such a huge place which sells all China made products - from textiles to home commodities, from fashion accessories to hardware,furniture products, electrical & machinery gadgets and carpets, building materials to books, footwear, handbags etc. etc. It stretches to about 3 kilometres in total and it is impossible to cover in an evening. It had thousands of shops inside and looked more like a mega mall . Bargaining with the Chinese vendors was an amazing experience.

We entered the GB section only and were taken aback with the huge number of tiny shops selling almost similar stuff with varying rates and a large range to choose from. Nevertheless, the experience was awesome and we did end up buying some stuff and returned home almost at midnight with a large number of shopping bags.

Too tired for the day, we fell asleep after deciding on our next day's tour plans. The rest of the days spent in the UAE will be shared in my next posts.

Now coming to the recipe .... Since we enjoyed a lip smacking Hyderabadi meal prepared by our dear Hyderabadi friends, I did borrow the recipe so that I could try out the delicious Biryani when I come back to Muscat. And I tried it out for a very satisfactory result( not as tasty as the one they had made, but something worth sharing). Savour the delight of this royal dish with a play of Hyderabadi spices.. So here goes the recipe for it.

 

INGREDIENTS:

For the Marinade:

 

1/2 kg Mutton
1/2 kg Onion sliced and fried to golden brown in some oil
3 Lemons juice
Salt to taste(Salt used for the mutton and the rice should be mixed together in the mutton marinade only)
1 tsp Ginger +Garlic paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
5 green chillies
1/4 litres curds
1 tsp Hyderabadi Biryani powder

For the Hyderabadi Biryani powder:

1 full packet Cinnamon (200 gms)
1 handful Cloves
1 handful cardamoms
2 handfuls black pepper
1 star anise
1/2 handful black cumin

Dry grind the above ingredients into a fine powder and store it for future use.

Other Ingredients:

6-7 spoons Oil/Clarified Butter(Ghee)
1/2 Kg Rice
4-5 whole black peppers
1-2 cinnamons
1 handful finely chopped coriander leaves
8-10 mint leaves
1 pinch Biryani Color dissolved in 1 tsp water/ a pinch Saffron strands dissolved in 1 tsp water


HOW TO MAKE:

1)  Marinate the mutton with the ingredients of the marinade and set aside for 2-3 hours.

2) Cook Rice - Heat water and when it comes to boil, add the black peppers and cinnamon sticks & raw rice to it. When the rice-water comes to the first boil, drain the rice. Rice is still hard at this stage. This is the correct stage for you to drain the rice.

3) Set the Biryani Layers -  In a large bottomed vessel, pour in the mutton marinade. This is the 1st layer. Then top the first layer with the half cooked rice. Pour the Clarified butter/Oil on the Rice layer and top this with finely chopped coriander leaves, Mint leaves, fried onions and the Biryani Color.

4) Seal this vessel with a thick flour paste so that no steam comes out.

5) Switch on the stove to a full flame and keep this vessel for 10 full minutes. Reduce the flame to a minimum one and allow the contents to simmer for 30 minutes and switch off the stove.

6) Break open the seal only at the time of serving. Serve hot with curds and cucumber salad.