My husband loved mutton, especially the tender meat from a goat, and I came up with this recipe so that I could make it at a moment’s notice. The secret was that I would marinate the mutton and then keep it overnight in the refrigerator or even freeze it. This meant I could make biryani on call.

Ingredients

Mutton 1/2 kg, cut into cubes and in the bone

Basmati rice 3 cups, washed and soaked for 30 minutes

Tomatoes 2 large, chopped

Green chillies 2, chopped

Onions 2 large + 1, thinly sliced

Ginger 1”

Garlic 4 cloves

Mint leaves, a few

Cloves 2

Bay leaf 1

Cinnamon 1” piece

Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp

Coconut oil 2 tbsps

Coriander leaves for garnish

Raisins 3 tbsps

Ghee 1 tbsp

For the marinade:

Yoghurt 1 cup

Turmeric powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder 2 tsps

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Pepper powder 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Marinate the washed mutton in all the ingredients and leave it overnight in the refrigerator.

Heat the pressure cooker and add the oil. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

When they stop sputtering, add the two large sliced onions. Sauté till they turn transparent.

Crush the ginger and garlic and add to the cooker. Sauté for two minutes till the raw smell disappears.

Add the marinated mutton pieces. Add the cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon, tomatoes and green chillies. Mix well. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water and cook in the pressure cooker for two whistles on high flame. Reduce the heat and cook for five minutes. Switch off the heat and let the pressure cooker cool down.

Once the cooker is cool and the steam has escaped, open it and stir through once.

Drain the rice and add to the pressure cooker. Close the lid and cook for one whistle. Reduce the heat and cook for one whistle. Let the pressure cooker cool down.

Heat the ghee in a small frying pan and fry the small onion, sliced, till they are brown and crisp. Take care not to burn the slices. Take it out and fry the raisins in the same ghee for a few seconds. Take them out with a slotted spoon.

Open the pressure cooker and stir the remaining ghee in the frying pan through the fluffed up biryani.

Serve on a rice platter, garnished with the coriander leaves, fried onions and raisins. It goes well with a green salad, raita and pappadams.