Raan Biryani

The Name Persian Darbar itself reciprocates the Mughal Dynasty and the legacy of Mughalai Cuisine. Established in 1978, Persian Darbar is all about Mesmerizing Royal Ambience & Service, Rich Mughal Recipes, Love For Quality Food & Maintaining Consistent Taste over the years. They Mainly Serve Mughalai Dishes, along with North Indian and Chinese Cuisine. They are Experts in Serving various Lip-smacking Biryanis & melt in mouth Kebabs. But their another USP is Mutton Raan Biryani which got them a title of “Raan King of Mumbai”. Lets dig in to know more.

The Mutton Raan Biryani:

Whenever I heard word Raan, I start salivating thinking about that oh-so-succulent & tastiest piece of meat. So when I planned for this Raan Biryani, I started daydreaming about it daily and Finally that moment arrived & I realized Reality was far better that dreams. Beautifully cooked leg piece of Lamb i.e. Raan was in middle placed over biryani rice & masala with aesthetically placed boiled eggs, fried onions, cucumbers & tomatoes around. Presentation increased my curiosity for taste. It was such an indulgent experience, I have tried so many biryanis in Mumbai but this Raan Biryani has definitely set higher standard above all in terms of presentation & taste.

Ingredients

• For the marinade
• Mutton whole leg (of a lamb kid) – 1
• Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp
• Red chili powder – 1 ½ tbsp.
• Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
• Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
• Yogurt – ½ cup
• Salt – to taste
• Oil – 3 tbsp

For the rice

• Basmati rice - 3 cups
• Boiling water - 4 ½ cups
• Saffron – 2 pinch (soaked in 3 tbsp hot milk)
• Salt - to taste
• Ghee- 2 tbsp
• Oil – 2 tbsp

For layering

• Fried onion – ½ cup
• Fried cashew nuts and raisins – ¼ cup
• Coriander leaves – 3 tbsp
• Garam masala - just enough to sprinkle on each layer
• Hard boiled egg - 3 (cut to two halves)

Step by Steps

Step 1

Marinate the cleaned mutton leg with the remaining ingredients, except oil, overnight in the refrigerator.

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 200 degree. Move the marinated mutton to a baking pan, drizzle oil all over, cover it with aluminum foil and cook it for about 1 hour – 1 ½ hour turning the side after every 25 minutes (cooking time depends on the mutton you use).

Step 3

Remove the aluminum foil and cook it in the oven for another 10 – 15 minutes turning the sides to get the grilled effect. Remove from the oven and keep it aside.

Step 4

Grind garlic, ginger and green chili with yoghurt and keep it ready. Heat ghee in a deep pan, add cardamom, cloves and cinnamon to it. Add finely sliced onion and salt and saute till soft. Add the ground chili-garlic-ginger mixture and saute till the raw smell disappear.

Step 5

To this add chopped tomatoes and saute till the tomato is cooked. Add chili powder, turmeric powder and garam masala to it and saute it till the raw smell disappears. Reduce the flame, add the mutton whole leg to this and coat it with the prepared onion masala. Top it with coriander leaves and cook covered for about 5 minutes. Remove from flame.

Step 6

Heat ghee and oil together in a deep pan. Add the washed basmati rice and enough salt and fry it for about 5 minutes stirring continuously. Add the boiled water to it and cook the rice covered till done. Add the saffron with mix, combine and remove from flame.

Step 7

In the pan in which the mutton leg is cooked, make a layer with prepared rice. Sprinkle little garam masala powder, fried onion, cashews and raisins and coriander leaves. Now add make a layer of prepared masala over the rice layer. Repeat the process.

Step 8

Just before adding the last layer of rice, place the mutton whole leg, cover it with rice and top it with a pinch of garam masala powder, fried onion, cashews, raisins. egg halves and coriander leaves.

Step 9

Cover it with aluminum foil and bake it for about 20 minutes in the oven at 170 degree. Serve hot with raita, pickle and chutney.

Tips

1.For avoiding buring the Mutton and Rice you can place a flat tawa under the vessel. Then keep the vessel or pan on that tawa.

2. Don’t over cook the rice otherwise the rice may break.

3. Instead of mutton pieces, whole Raan can be used for this Recipe.