Yakni Biryani/Pulao

Yakhni Biryani/Pulao

I was raised a vegetarian. In my early 20s, I was introduced to meat and seafood, etc. after I got married. Basics I learnt from my partner. He gave me very simple tip, use fresh ingredients and if you are cooking chicken, use tomatoes and for lamb/goat, avoid using them if possible.

Seafood and fish curry, I was informed by my wise partner to follow simple tamarind curry recipe we south Indians make at home and add fish/shrimp to it!

This is the training I received and over the years, with the help of friends, family and tons of trial and error, I manage to rustle up decent meals for my family.

The Yakhni biryani/pulao is my son's favourite.

The recipe for this came from a dear newspaper colleague from Lahore.

Ingredients.
1 Medium sized onion
1 small pod of garlic
6 green chillies
400 gms of lamb meat with bones
bay leaves, 3 cloves, cardamom, few peppercorns
2 tbs vegetable oil
salt to taste

Wash the lamb, mix all the ingredients and 3 cups of water, pressure cook the lamb for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Some people like to tie the masala in a muslin and discard it later. I put them all together and use a strainer to get the meat stock.

 Meat stock has salt and oil, wash and add 200 gms of basmati/long grained rice to it, adjust the water accordingly. if you have extra stock, store it for later use.

 Pick the meat pieces leaving the cooked onion, garlic, etc and add them to the rice with the stock and cook.

In about eight minutes, when it started boiling, I waited for few more minutes till the water evaporated (rice cooked almost 70 per cent).
Then I placed a cover and cooked it over low flame for about 4 minutes.

Added fried onions and fresh coriander. Turned the stove off and put the lid back to keep the flavours sealed in.

Served with mint raitha and spicy mango pickle.

Ranga Rajah.