Seeraga samba Mutton Biriyani

Name: Seeraga samba Mutton Biriyani
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: Tamilnadu
Ingredients: 1 inch piece ginger; 7 cloves garlic (you may need more if you use small Indian garlic); 10 green chillies; 1 teaspoon kalpasi; 1/2 inch piece cinnamon; 2 cardamom; 1/2 of a star anise; 2 clove; 2 small piece mace (jadhi pathiri); 500 grams mutton with bone; 500 ml seeraga samba rice; 3 tablespoon ghee; 3 tablespoon peanut oil; 2 medium onions, sliced; 1 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 tomatoes, chopped; 5 sprig mint leaves, chopped; 5 sprig coriander leaves, chopped; 1/2 cup curd; juice of half a lemon/lime

June 4, 2018 by Suguna Vinodh 47 Comments

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As a Tamilian, I am so partial to biriyani made with the aromatic short grained seeraga samba rice. The rice soaks up the meat stock and spices so well that the end result is very flavorful. I tried this mutton biriyani during one of our travels. Chef Peter is a home cook at Tipperary estate and we loved his mutton biriyani. He uses green chillies alone for spicing up the biriyani. It was very different. He was happy to share the recipe and here it is.

Prep Work
Soak the seeraga samba rice in water. Set aside. Soak the rice when starting to cook. Let the rice soak for half an hour.

Cook the mutton in a pressure cooker with two cups of water and a teaspoon of salt for 20 minutes. Ignore the whistles. I like the mutton to be “fall of the bone” tender. So cook for a long time. Remove from heat and let the pressure from the cooker release naturally.
Note: I always salt the mutton while cooking. The mutton will be well seasoned and flavorful that way. Also always buy mutton with bone. Bone is so flavorful.

The important thing in this biriyani is the masala paste. Here is what you will need.

Grind all the ingredients for the masala paste with little water. Grind to a fine paste. Make sure that the paste is fine and not coarse. Set aside.

Making the biriyani
Take a heavy pan and add in the ghee and peanut oil. Chef Peter says that wood pressed peanut oil (மர செக்கு கடலெண்ணெய்) is the secret for his biriyani. Add in the sliced onions and the remaining salt. The salt helps in browning the onions quicker.

Saute till the onions are nicely brown and caramelized. It will take about 10 minutes.

Add in the masala paste and saute for 3-4 minutes.

Add in the tomatoes and the herbs (roughly chopped mint and coriander leaves). Saute for a couple of minutes.

Remove the mutton pieces and add in the mutton cooked water (mutton stock). Measure the stock and add it to the pan.

Add in half a cup of curd. Whisk the curd well so it does not form into lumps when added to the pan. Add in the water.
Note – For every cup of rice used, we need two cups of liquid. I have used two cups of rice today. So I need four cups of liquid. I had one cup of mutton stock. So I added that one cup of mutton stock and three cups of water (1 stock + 3 water = 4 liquid). Please also note that I have not included the curd for measurement.

Add in juice of half a lime and the cooked mutton with bone.

When it come to a boil, drain the water from the rice and add it to the pan.

Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for the first four minutes on medium flame.

Open the lid. Gently mix once from the bottom, cover the lid again and simmer for 10 minutes on very low flame.

The rice will be about 80% done. Switch off the flame and close the pan with a lid. Do not disturb for the next 20 minutes. The rice will get swollen and absorb all the left out moisture. This time is very important. Do not rush.

After the rest, Enjoy Peter’s home style seeraga samba Biriyani!