Lamb Biryani
- Total Time
- 4½ hours, plus overnight marinating
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:8 servings
- 4green finger chiles (or serrano chiles), stems removed
- 8garlic cloves, peeled
- 1(4-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled
- 2medium yellow onions, peeled and quartered
- 2Roma tomatoes, quartered
- 1cup full-fat yogurt
- 1cup fresh mint leaves
- 1cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1tablespoon ground coriander
- 1tablespoon ground cumin
- 1teaspoon Kashmiri chile powder, plus more as needed
- ½teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 2½ to 3pounds lamb chops (or boneless or bone-in lamb shoulder pieces)
- 3(½-inch) Indian cinnamon sticks, or 1 large cinnamon stick
- 12whole black peppercorns
- 6cloves
- 6green cardamom pods
- 1tablespoon garam masala
- 1cup neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola
- 2yellow onions, thinly sliced
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- Kosher salt
- 3cups basmati rice
- 6tablespoons whole milk
- ½teaspoon saffron threads
- 2cups mixed fresh cilantro and mint leaves
- 6tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced
For the Lamb
For the Fried Onions
For the Rice
For Assembly
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the lamb marinade: Add the finger chiles, garlic and ginger to a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add the onions and tomatoes, process until smooth, and scrape into a bowl that will hold all the lamb and fit in your fridge. Add the yogurt, mint, cilantro, coriander, cumin, chile powder, turmeric and salt, and stir to combine. Add the lamb to the bowl and toss to coat in the marinade, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Step 2
Prepare the fried onions: In a Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat the oil over medium. Add the onions, season with salt, and sauté until browned, stirring occasionally, 25 to 30 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer fried onions to a paper towel-lined plate. Using your hands, pull apart the fried onions to separate to prevent them from sticking together, and set aside.
- Step 3
Add the cinnamon, peppercorns, cloves and cardamom to the remaining hot oil, and fry over medium until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the meat, its marinade and 1 cup water, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender and the sauce is very thick and dark, about 2½ hours, adjusting the heat as needed to maintain a low simmer. Stir in the garam masala and taste, adjusting with salt and chile powder as needed. Set aside.
- Step 4
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the rice: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and add the rice. Stir well and cook for 3 minutes, transfer to a colander in the sink to drain. Run some cool water on top to cool the rice; set aside.
- Step 5
Prepare the saffron milk for assembly: Warm the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat just until it steams. Remove from heat and add the saffron, crumbling it with your fingertips as you drop it into the milk. Set aside.
- Step 6
In a large, heavy, lidded pot, add about a third of the meat mixture in an even layer covering the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle the meat with a third of the herbs and a third of the rice, assembling lightly without packing the layers. Drizzle 2 tablespoons saffron milk over the rice and add about a third of the fried onions. Build two more layers of meat, herbs, rice, saffron milk and onions. Top with pats of butter and cover the pot with foil.
- Step 7
Put the lid on the pot of rice, transfer to the oven and bake until piping hot, about 1 hour. Let rest for about 10 minutes, then serve hot, digging all the way to the bottom of the pot with the serving spoon. To reheat, warm the biryani covered in the oven, or microwave.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Ndndr
the oil is for deep frying the onions, but you wouldn’t need that if it’s going to simmer for over 2 hours. It won’t change the taste and lamb has enough of its own fat to cook in. Eliminating the butter on top of the rice may leave it less rich, But having made biryani growing up, it’s still going to be really really delicious without. These seem like restaurant style additions that sacrifice health for additional flavor. Save yourself the 2600 calories. It’s still going to be awesome.
Cloudcover
Am I reading this correctly that in Step 3 we're supposed to use ALL of the remaining 1 cup of oil? In other words, the finished biryani has 1 full cup of oil (in addition to the 6 Tbsp of butter)? If so, it is what it is (no judgement) but just wanted to confirm.
Neelu
Made this with chicken, and as an Indian person who grew up eating biryani and is really critical of everyone’s biryani that’s not my mom or my grandma’s, this is a really solid recipe.
Rick H.
I was intrigued by this recipe but had no lamb. I substituted bone-in chicken thighs and basically followed recipe with a few changes. I browned chicken thighs before browning onions (scraping off the marinade and drying the thighs with a paper towel) and then, at the point of assembling the biryani, I deboned the chicken, discarding the skin and shredding the meat. Flavors were excellent. I highly recommend.
Lisa
Omg this is SO good, and super authentic. I've tried to learn biryani from my in-laws, but they don't measure, they don't do things the same way twice, and I've never been successful. I got the best compliment after making this -- my Indian stepdaughter said "Lisa this tastes like a grandparent's dish". I made it as is, but next time I'll try adding in potatoes, and lightly sauteeing cashews to put on top, like my in laws. Thank you, Tejal Rao!!
Tpagardener
Meat> has to be bone in, NO lamb chops, always prefer "raan" meaning front and rear shoulder/shanks, large pieces no smaller than 2" preferably larger
Kate
This recipe was delicious. The only adjustments I made were included the yogurt and spices in the blender/grinder so that the entire marinade was made in one fell swoop. This actually is a great lamb curry recipe you can just stop after the lamb is cooked and you essentially have lamb curry which you can eat with naan or just plain rice separately.
B Jean
Made the recipe as written, with the exception of the butter - had it out ready to go & just forgot it The lamb fell off the bone at the stage of layering which worked out well (used lamb chops, bone in). Don’t understand the comments about skipping steps or cutting cooking time or using an instant pot - I think you have to just go all in on this recipe. Definitely worth it.
mj
I made this and used nearly all of the oil. Think about how much rice 3 cups is and you'll see where it goes. As you only par-boil the rice it needs some extra care to get a really luscious result. And before you ask, no it wasn't greasy. It was exactly the way biryani is supposed to be.
PamAT
Have people simmered this with or without a lid? I feel like it will be more tender if I keep the lid on. All advice welcome.
Breuklyn
Incredibly simple and delicious. Used one large jalapeño pepper in sauce. Don’t forget to make Raita to sève with this - and if you have time home made naan. Perfect during COVID-19 social distancing as we have time to cook!
Shab
The recipe tasted authentic and delicious! Just like ones from Northern India. Notes: 1. Par boil the rice for longer (8min). 2. Serve with Raita and Onion Laccha (look online) for a truly authentic experience
TMJ
Fabulous results! We made half the recipe using 1.75 lb boneless leg of lamb. We cut the meat in bite size pieces and removed fat before marinating. We used all the oil as instructed. We simmered the meat and marinade in COVERED pot for only 1.5 hours—gravy was dark brown and the meat was tender. While there was a fair amount of gravy after simmering, we worried there wouldn’t be enough moisture to fully steam the rice so we boiled the rice for 8 minutes instead of 3. Turned out beautifully!
Kevin in EH
Agree. It also helped that there was only lamb, duck breast, and maybe pork shoulder left at the King Kullen....
Golem18
Good question - needs an answer. Seems like a lot of oil
steazyD
Used goat instead of lamb and quadrupled the spices/fried onions. 10/10
Mir
How come my rice wasn’t cooked? I parboiled it, but still it didn’t cook completely. Then I added more water and at the end the rice was overcooked.
Mike M
I was super excited to make this, but lamb is pretty hard to get where I live. Chicken seemed to be too simple a substitution, so I was about to get two good-sized raccoons from my neighbor, Johnny. As you probably know, you really should soak raccoon in milk before preparing, so that added a day, but it’s worth it. Overall, it was fantastic! It was a little gamy (understandable), but the meat was fall off the bone delicious. I skipped the pats of butter at the end.
petethecat
Rice came out dry— not enough liquid to properly cook the rice in the oven. Will try parboiling longer by or will all together avoid cooking rice with the lamb in the oven— there is basically no way to guarantee your rice is cooked due to the unknown liquid leftover from cooking the lamb.
SubhenduB
Instead of the deep frying onions in oil , same result ( fried crispy onion aka barista) can be achieved in an air fryer. This is how : a) use a mandoline chopper , to cut/dice the onion -uniform thickness b) gently separate then with and douse with some oil b) air fry at 250F for about 30 minutes , turn intermittently about 10 min interval
hawkhandler
flavor was good but it was soooo oily. almost kind of inedible. i need to figure out how to drain it. additionally the rice wasn't done cooking after an hour in the oven but that might be because i was using brown basmati rice?
carol mark
What would you serve with this?
K. Park
Delicious. Used both chicken and lamb. Cut oil down to 1/4 cup and it was delicious. Simmered for 1.5 hours in Dutch oven then baked for another hour. This was plenty of time.
J
Rice was a bit undercooked but otherwise this was amazing! Will parboil rice a bit longer than 3 minutes next time.
lorenzo
Add extra 1 or 2 fried onions
Mary Carroll
I like my food really spicy. This was too hot even for me. Bitter too.
Judith
Made this with a few minor tweaks. After frying the whole spices in the onion oil for a few minutes I removed the spices and put them in cheesecloth so that no one would bite down on a whole clove while eating. I then discarded the oil as the marinated lamb does not need oil to cook on the stovetop. As suggested by others I par boiled the rice for eight minutes. Dish was a lot of work but delicious.
CocoK
Made this for Eid, exactly as written except for parboiling rice for 8 minutes as other users thankfully suggested. My Indian husband (a biryani connoisseur) loved it. It was full of flavor, and heat! And I think the marinade/meat base makes an excellent curry, I’d like to try w chicken. This is a NYT winner!
Valerie
Was not a fan.
Stefanie Obermeier
Very flavorful and intensely spiced, feeds 12 I found the ratio meat stew to rice was off, ½ of the meat and its gravy would’ve been enough. Careful with the salt as the stew reduces quite a lot. The fried onions were delicious on its own but got lost once the dish was baked, will sorincle on top next time.
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