Mutton yakhni pulao (pilaf)
A super flavourful pulao recipe from Kashmir, made with succulent goat meat and basmati rice, wherein they are cooked together in a aromatic mutton stock
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 2 cups Basmati rice soaked in water for 15 mins
- 1 cup carrots diced
- 1 large onion sliced
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 dried red chilis
- 3 tsp garam masala powder optional
- 4 tbsp yoghurt
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped (optional)
- 3 tbsp ghee
- salt to taste
For the yakhni (mutton stock)
- 500 g mutton curry cut pieces
- 8-9 cups water
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 2 inch cinnamon
- 4 cloves
- 4 green cardamom
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 inch ginger roughly chopped
- 3-4 pods garlic
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a pressure cooker, add all the yakhni ingredients. Cook on a medium low flame until the mutton is fully cooked (mine took around 40 minutes)*
- Drain the stock and keep aside. You should get around 5-6 cups of the stock
- At this point, you may discard the whole spices from the meat too. But I am going to keep them, except for the bay leaves
- Heat a pan with the ghee and add the cumin seeds and dried chilis
- Once fragrant, add in the sliced onion, and sautee´until soft and translucent
- Add the carrots and fry them for 5-6 minute and then on a high flame add the yoghurt
- When the water in the yoghurt dries out, reduce flame to medium and add the strained and cooked mutton. Add the garam masala (if using) and mix well
- Now goes in the soaked rice, stir it in well with the meat and masalas
- Add 4 cups of the yakhni (mutton stock) to this, taste and check for salt at this point and adjust if required
- Cook on a high flame until you see do not see any water on the surface of the rice
- Turn the flame to a low, cover and cook until the rice is fully done
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves (if using) and keep covered for 5 minutes
- Serve the mutton yakhni pulao (pilaf) fresh and hot, with some chilled yoghurt. Enjoy!
Notes
- *You can also make this in a large stock pot. Cover and cook until the meat becomes tender
- You could replace the mutton with lamb or chicken
- g - grams
- tsp - teaspoon
- tbsp - tablespoon