1. 1 Cup = 200ml

For the marinade

Ingredients

1. Mutton whole leg (of a lamb kid) – 1
2. Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp
3. Red chili powder – 1 ½ tbsp.
4. Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
5. Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
6. Yogurt – ½ cup
7. Salt – to taste
8. Oil – 3 tbsp

Method

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

For the biryani masala

Ingredients

1. Cardamom - 2
2. Cloves -2
3. Cinnamon - 1 small piece
4. Onion – 5 (thinly sliced)
5. Tomato – 2 (chopped)
6. Ginger -2 piece
7. Garlic - 10 - 12 cloves
8. Green chili – 8 – 10 (according to your taste)
9. Yoghurt – ¼ cup
10. Red chili powder - ½ tsp
11. Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
12. Garam masala powder – ¼ tsp
13. Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
14. Coriander leave – 3 tbsp
15. Salt - to taste
16. Clarified butter/ ghee – 4 tbsp

Method

1. Grind garlic, ginger and green chili with yoghurt and keep it ready.
2. 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.
3. 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.

For the rice

Ingredients

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

Method

1. 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.

For layering

Ingredients

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

Method

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Note : Try to get mutton leg of a small lamb kid so that the mutton will be soft and will get cooked easily. Mutton Raan Biryani is served specially on Eid.