Royalty On Your Plate – Lamb Yakhni Pulao (Pilaf)
Lamb Yakhni Pulao is a Lamb Rice Dish from the Indian subcontinent, where the lamb is first cooked to prepare a stock called Yakhni, and then the rice is cooked in the aromatic broth of the lamb. This video tutorial demonstrates the step-by-step process of cooking Lamb Yakhni Pulao (Lamb Rice Dish) from scratch.
How to Prepare the Lamb Yakhni (Lamb Stock):
To prepare the Lamb Yakhni, throw in washed and cleaned lamb pieces in a cooking pot.
Add onion, ginger, garlic, salt, ajinomoto and water. Slow cook the lamb pieces on medium flame for 45 min or until the lamb pieces are cooked but not tender. Separate the lamb pieces from the lamb stock (Yakhni). Mash the garlic head and keep it aside. Discard the other cooked aromatics.
How to Cook Lamb Pulao/Lamb Rice Dish To cook the Lamb Pulao (Pilaf)/Lamb Rice, use a heavy bottom and add ghee. Fry sliced onions until light golden. Fish out half of the fried onions for later use. Add whole spices and saute for 30 seconds, then add ginger-garlic paste, additional garlic paste from Lamb Yakhni and lamb pieces. Saute for a few minutes. Then add, green chilli paste, tomato puree and yoghurt. Saute for a few min. Add rice and saute for a few min. Add the Lamb Yakhni (stock), season with salt. Add mint leaves and whole green chillies (optional).
Cover the Lamb Rice and cook rice for 5 min on medium flame. Uncover and add rose water, kevda water and food color as demonstrated in the video tutorial.
Cover and cook rice on low heat for 45 min. If the cooking pot isn’t heavy enough at the bottom, place a flat frying pan to avoid direct contact with the cooking stove.
After 45 min, turn the flame down and let the Lamb Rice Dish (Lamb Yakhni Pulao/Pilaf) rest in the residual heat for around 10 min. Serve the lamb Yakhni Pulao with pickled red onions and red chutney. Garnish the Lamb Rice Dish with fresh mint leaves and fried onions.
Ingredients for Lamb Yakhni (Broth)
– 1 Kg Lamb (Shoulder and Chops)
– 6 cups room temperature water (use the same cup with which rice is measured)
– 1 Onion
– 1 thumb size Ginger
– 1 Whole Garlic
– ¼ tsp Ajinomoto
– Salt to taste
– 1 Bag of Spices, which includes:
– 1 tbsp Whole Pepper
– 1 tsp Cloves
– 2 Bay Leaves
– 1 Cinnamon Stick
– 2 Star Anise
– 1 tbsp Fennel Seeds
– 1 ½ tbsp Coriander Seeds
– 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
– 1 tbsp broken Mace (or 2 Mace Flower)
– 5 Cardamom
– 2 Black Cardamom
Ingredients for Cooking Lamb Pulao (Pilaf)
– 3 Cups Basmati Rice
– 5 ½ Lamb Broth (use the same cup with which rice is measured)
– Cooked Lamb Pieces
– 2 Medium Onions
– 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
– 4 Green Cardamom
– 2 Black Cardamom
– 2 Bay Leaves
– 1-2 Cinnamon (1 inch)
– 1 tbsp Ginger Paste
– 1 tbsp Garlic Paste
– Additional Garlic Paste from Yakhni
– 4-5 Large Green Chillies
– 2 Thai Chilli (finely chopped)
– 1 Small Tomato (freshly pureed)
– 10 Mint Leaves
– ½ cup Yoghurt
– 2 tbsp Rose water
– 1 ½ Kewra Water/Kevda Water
– Mint Leaves for Garnish
– Fried Onion for Garnish
– ½ tsp Orange Food Color diluted in 2 tbsp water (Optional)
– Salt to taste
– 3 tbsp Ghee
Ingredients for Red Chutney (Accompaniment for Lamb Yakhni Pulao)
– 5 Dried Red Chilli (Soaked)
– 2 ½ TBSP Vinegar
– 1 Small Tomato
– 2 Garlic Cloves
– 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
– Salt to taste
Ingredients for Pickled Onions (Accompaniment for Lamb Yakhni Pulao)
– 1 Red Onion
– ½ cup White Vinegar
– 1 cup Warm Water
– 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
– Salt to taste
– Sugar to taste
