Ambur Mutton biryani | Ambur star Mutton briyani
Ambur mutton biryani is a famous biryani variety popularly known as Ambur star briyani, in which mutton pieces are cooked tenderly with minimal spices and unique method.
This Ambur style of preparation is very much unique, which is followed in the famous biryani outlet “Star Briyani”.
If you have noticed, here they call it as Briyani instead of biryani as they call in Ambur.
This is the method followed by Arcot chefs for royal Nawab families during the earlier days around the area of Ambur and Vaniyambadi in Vellore district. And it became so popular around the world. As the people who prepare this biryani specifically mention, in this particular method we should never use ghee and green chillies like other varieties of biryani.
This method involves a dum process for which they use a large charcoal filled type of wood log stoves and that gives an excellent slow-cooked aroma as well as tenderness to the meat. As a special mention, I would like to say that the rice variety used in this Ambur Star Mutton briyani is seeraga samba(as called in South) which is commonly known as jeera rice.
Mutton cooked in large iron kadais, and half cooked seeraga samba rice is added and put in dum process. But here we adopt the same style using a pressure cooker and a mini dum, easy to do at home. Also, there are a few fresh pastes you would have to prepare before-hand.
Follow the process exactly as given here and don’t try to replace the red chilli paste with powder because it will alter the taste. For instance, in this method instead of ginger garlic paste, we use separate pastes for ginger and garlic. First cook garlic paste in oil, later saute with ginger paste. This is the exact order to follow to make Ambur style star Mutton briyani.
In addition to that, I would like to tell that do not alter the step of adding half of the curd in oil as mentioned. It is one of the important steps to follow as mentioned by the popular Ambur chefs.
For other non-veg biryani recipes from my blog:
Dindigul style chicken biryani
Ambur Mutton biryani | Ambur star Mutton briyani
Ingredients
Ingredients:
3 pastes to prepare:
- Red chilli paste 7 red chillies+3 Kashmiri chilli
- Garlic paste 8 garlic pods
- Ginger paste 2 inch ginger
Main Ingredients:
- ½ kg mutton
- 2 cups seeraga samba rice
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cloves
- 3 cardamom
- 2 inch cinnamon
- 1 big onion
- 1 large tomato
- ½ cup mint leaves
- ½ cup coriander leaves
- ½ cup curd
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp salt
- 8 cups water approx.
Instructions
Preparation:
- Wash and soak jeera(seeraga samba) rice for 20mins.
- Clean mutton pieces and keep aside.
- Soak 7 red chillies and 3 kashmiri chillies in warm water. For half kg mutton and 2 cups of rice I used these many. But you can alter the quantity based on your liking. Kashmiri chillies gives a nice natural red color to the ambur Mutton biryani. You can skip these if you don't have and just proceed with normal red chillies. After 15 minutes, grind into a smooth paste using little water.
- Grind garlic and ginger pastes separately with little quantity of water and keep aside.
- Slice onion and chop tomato.
- Rinse and chop mint, coriander leaves.
Recipe to make Ambur star Mutton briyani:
How to cook biryani base mutton masala:
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker, saute bayleaf, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.
- Put half of the curd into the oil and stir very quickly before curd burns. You may see light brown gravy of curd, but do not worry.
- Proceed with adding the garlic paste first and continue stirring.
- Once when the raw smell of garlic is completely gone, add ginger paste.
- Saute nicely and cook ginger paste well in oil.
- Now add sliced onions and cook until they become brown in color.
- Add chopped tomato and cook until soft and pour the remaining curd.
- Also, mix mint leaves and coriander leaves.
- This is the time to add the red chilli paste and mix well.
- Wash mutton pieces well and add into the masala.
- You can add the required salt for the biryani.
- Mix everything and pour two cups of water.
- Cover with cooker lid with weight on it and pressure cook for five whistles.
How to cook jeera rice:
- In the meantime while cooking mutton, in another stove boil approximately 6cups of water.
- When water starts boiling, add soaked and drained seeraga samba rice.
- Let the rice cook for just 5mins until the grains are half-cooked.
- Please note that the jeera rice is very delicate and small and takes very less time to get cooked.
- Cook the rice only 3/4th. Means the rice should be softer outside but still firm inside.
- Check often and once half or 3/4thcooked switch off and drain the water immediately and keep aside.
How to give dum for the biryani:
- Keep an old Tawa on a stove.
- Let the pressure of the cooker drop naturally and open the lid.
- Add the half cooked and drained jeera rice into the mutton curry.
- Mix gently along with a tsp of lemon juice.
- Close with a plate without leaving any gap.
- Keep a heavy weight on top of the plate - I used another cooker full of water.
- Now place this entire set up on the tawa as shown here.
- Switch on the stove, keep in low flame for 20 min undisturbed.
- After 20mins of dum, switch off and the delicious and fabulous Ambur mutton biryani is ready to serve.
- You can transfer the biryani from the cooker to another without breaking the delicate rice grains.
- Tips:
- 1) You can follow the same recipe to make the Ambur chicken biryani also. But the only modification would be for chicken, no need to give 5 whistles. Just pressure cook up to two whistles and proceed with other steps.
- 2) Follow the order of the steps exactly to get the original taste of authentic Ambur style mutton briyani.
- 3) Multiple the quantity respectively for large batches.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Preparation:
- Wash and soak jeera (seeraga samba) rice for 20 mins.
- Clean mutton pieces and keep aside.
- Soak 7 red chillies and 3 kashmiri chillies in warm water. For half kg mutton and 2 cups rice, I used these many. But you can alter the quantity based on your liking. Kashmiri chillies give nice natural red color to the Ambur Mutton biryani. You can skip these if you don’t have and just proceed with normal red chillies. After 15minutes, grind into a smooth paste using little water.
- Grind garlic paste and ginger paste separately with little quantity of water and keep aside.
- Slice onion and chop tomato.
- Rinse and chop mint, coriander leaves.
Recipe to make Ambur star Mutton briyani:
How to cook biryani base mutton masala:
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker, saute bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.
- Put half of the curd into the oil and stir very quickly before curd burns. You may see light brown gravy of curd, but do not worry.
- Proceed with adding the garlic paste first and continue stirring.
- Once when the raw smell of garlic is completely gone, add ginger paste.
- Saute nicely and cook ginger paste well in oil.
- Now add sliced onions and cook until they become brown in color.
- Add chopped tomato and cook until soft and pour the remaining curd.
- Also, mix mint leaves and coriander leaves.
- This is the time to add the red chilli paste and mix well.
- Wash mutton pieces well and add into the masala.
- You can add the required salt for the biryani.
- Mix everything and pour two cups of water.
- Cover with cooker lid with weight on it and pressure cook for five whistles.
How to cook jeera rice:
- In the meantime while cooking mutton, in another stove boil approximately 6cups of water.
- When water starts boiling, add soaked and drained seeraga samba rice.
- Let the rice cook for just 5mins. Keep checking until the grains are half-cooked.
- Please note that the jeera rice is very delicate and small and takes very less time to get cooked.
- Cook the rice only 3/4th. Means the rice should be softer outside but still firm inside.
- Check often and once half or 3/4thcooked switch off and drain the water immediately and keep aside.
How to give dum for the biryani:
- Let the pressure of the cooker drop naturally and open the lid.
- Add the half cooked and drained jeera rice into the mutton curry.
- Mix gently along with a tsp of lemon juice.
- Close with a plate without leaving any gap.
- Keep a heavy weight on top of the plate (I used another cooker full of water).
- Keep an old Tawa on a stove.
- Now place this entire set up on the tawa as shown here. The bottom cooker is biryani and top cooker is for weight.
- Switch on the stove, keep in low flame for 20 min undisturbed.
- After 20mins of dum, switch off and the delicious and fabulous Ambur mutton biryani is ready to serve.
- You can transfer the biryani from the cooker to another without breaking the delicate rice grains. Serve with Mutton curry.
Tips:
1) You can follow the same recipe to make the Ambur chicken biryani also. But the only modification would be for chicken, no need to give 5 whistles. Just pressure cook up to two whistles and proceed with other steps.
2) Follow the order of the steps exactly to get the original taste of authentic ambur style mutton briyani.
3) Multiple the quantity respectively for large batches.
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