AFGHANI PULAO
A rice and lamb/mutton dish made with special techniques and flavourful ingredients.
Equipment
- 2 pots with lids
- frying pan
- Ladles
- Knife chopping board
- mixing bowls
- sieve
Ingredients
- 500 g lamb/mutton shanks (you can also use lamb/mutton leg cut into medium pieces)
- 400 g Sella rice (or popularly known as biryani rice. You can use basmati rice but this one is preferable)
Veggies:
- 250 g onions (diced into cubes)
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 200g carrots (julienne cut)
Other ingredients
- 50g raisins
- 50g almonds
- 2 tbsp butter ghee
- 1/2 cup cooking oil
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- 4 cups water
- 3 tsp salt ( approximately. At this point taste the broth and it should taste like in a normal gravy) and 2 tbsp for rice.
- 1 tbsp sugar (optional)
Pre-preparation
- Soak the almonds in boiling water for 5 minutes, and peel the skin off. if you want you can chop them into quarters or use them as it is. I normally prefer to half them.
- Wash and soak the rice for at least half an hour before cooking.
Instructions
- In a pot, heat oil and splatter cumin seeds.
- Add the diced onions and sauté. When they are turned brown, add just¼ cup water so they don’t burn any further.
- Add the meat, ginger paste and garlic paste.
- Fry for 6-8 minutes or until the colour of the meat changes.
- Add 4 cups of water, salt, fennel seeds powder and cardamom powder.
- Cover with the lid and cook on high flame for about 8-10 minutes or until it starts to boil and there’s enough steam inside the pot. Leave it to simmer and cook on low medium flame for about an hour.
- After about an hour check if the meat is tender. Cover it again and let it simmer cook till the meat is tender.
- When completely done add the garam masala powder.
- Taste for salt again and adjust if needed. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Now take the meat out from the broth and set aside.
- You now have the meat and broth kept aside separate.
- In a pan, fry the carrots, raisins and almonds one at a time. You can mix them after frying and place them on a foil and close it from the top like a packet.
- Boil water with 1 1/2 tbsp salt and add rice to it. Let it boil until 80% of the rice is cooked. When done, drain the water using a sieve immediately.
- Transfer the drained rice, while its steaming hot, into a pot.
- Pour in the broth kept aside and gently mix it. Doesn’t need to be completely mixed, just a few gentle turns should be fine.
- Place the shanks on top of the rice and place the aluminium packet of garnishing. Cover with a lid. Make it secured by adding aluminium foil/tea towel.
- Keep on high flame for about 5 minutes and then lower the flame once there’s steam in the pot. Leave it on slow flame to cook in the steam for about 25-3o minutes.
Notes
- When you switch off the flame, do not open for another ten minutes because the rice is very soft and continues to cook in the steam inside.
- In a rice plate, take out the rice, place the meat and then sprinkle the garnishing.