Mutton Vermicelli Biryani

A small twist in a regular biryani, where vermicelli is used instead of rice. This makes the dish versatile as it can be a royal snack for your evening guests or a nice wholesome family lunch. The vermicelli which I have used here is the pasta style vermicelli which I found in pasta section. I would not recommend any rice vermicelli for this recipe as it can be too delicate for the dum cooking. Very fine and thin vermicelli will also not work for this recipe.






Ingredients:

For the gravy

• 500 gms mutton
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3 inch piece of ginger
• 4 green chilies (for making paste)
• 4 whole green chilies (for frying)
• 2 medium size onion
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 cup chopped coriander leaves (3/4 cup for gravy + 1/4 cup for dum cooking)
• Salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup cooking oil (or as per your need)

Preparation:

1. Make a paste of 4 big size cloves of garlic, same amount of ginger & 4 green chilies (as per your taste).
2. Finely chop 2 medium size onions and 2 medium tomatoes.
3. Chop coriander leaves.

Method:

• Heat 1/4 cup or less oil in a pressure cooker and fry 2 onions finely chopped till soft and transparent. Then add 4 whole green chilies, ginger+garlic+green chili paste and chopped mint leaves.
• Add chopped tomatoes, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder & 1 tsp garam masala powder. Fry well till tomatoes are well combined.
• Then add mutton pieces, salt and 1 cup water, cook for 1 minute. Place the lid and pressure cook for 20 minutes or till mutton is cooked. Once cooked add 3/4 cup chopped coriander leaves.
• Remove some of the top layer of oil from the gravy and set aside for later use (dum cooking).

For Preparing Vermicelli

Ingredients:

• 500 gms Pasta Vermicelli 
• 1 large onion sliced & deep fried 
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• Salt
• 1/4 cup warm milk + few drops of rose water + Saffron strands
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves
• 3 tbsp ghee 

• Heat a large vessel (this will be used for dum cooking) filled with water (3 or 4 times more than the vermicelli). Bring to a boil with vinegar, salt and oil.
• Add the vermicelli and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Do not over cook as it has to be dum cooked again.
• Drain the vermicelli in a colander and set aside.
• In the same vessel (in which vermicelli was cooked) pour the hot mutton gravy.
• On the gravy, spread half of the cooked vermicelli and sprinkle with half of milk + rose water + saffron mixture. Sprinkle a half of chopped coriander leaves and half of fried onion. 
• For third layer repeat the previous step with rest of the cooked vermicelli.
• Make some deep dents so that the steam can easily circulate. Pour some ghee and some oil from top layer of the mutton gravy over the vermicelli and seal the vessel with a foil and a tight lid. (to avoid the steam from escaping)
• Cook on medium low heat for 15 minutes. You will see the foil has puffed up due to the steam. Switch off the gas and let the biryani stay covered for another 15 minutes.
• Serve hot with Raita or salad.

Step by step pictures