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Lamb Biryani

Lamb Biryani is a traditional Indian dish of layered rice and meat. This version, however, is not the richly flavoured authentic version, but the simpler dish that would be served in your local British Indian Restaurant (BIR). The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic BIR dish of: Lamb Biryani.

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

30 minutes

Serves:

4-6

Rating:

Tags : BIR CurriesSpice RecipesLamb RecipesBritish Recipes

A Biryani is a traditional North Indian consisting of layers of rice and meat flavoured with plenty of ghee and saffron. This makes a traditional biryani a very expensive meal (which is why it was only served at major festive occasions. The recipe given here is for the modern restaurant version, which includes less ghee and omits the saffron, making it a far more cost-effective dish. Indeed, this is exactly the same kind of Biryani that you will be served at your local Indian restaurant.

Ingredients:

500g roast or cooked lamb
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp cashew nuts, roughly chopped
1 tbsp sultanas
800g pilau rice
1l cooked curry sauce
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp hot chilli powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Cube the lamb into pieces about 3cm per side. Meanwhile heat the oil in a wok, add the nuts and cook until lightly golden, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the sultanas to the wok and remove within a second or two (as soon as they've plumped up) and set aside.

Add the lamb pieces to the wok. Stir to coat and instantly turn down the heat to low. Warm the rice either in a pan or a microwave and add to the lamb. Heat for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring very gently so you don't break the grains (if you can it's better to toss the mixture than stirring as this will preserve the rice). Transfer the rice and meat mixture to a serving dish and keep warm in the oven.

Add the curry sauce to a separate pan, bring to a simmer then add the garam masala, the chilli powder and the salt. Pour the sauce into serving dishes then sprinkle the biryani with the nuts and sultanas and serve.

For the full collection of curry restaurant dishes on this site, see the: British Indian Restaurant and Restaurant-style Curries page