Hyderabadi Biryani

Ingredients

• •Meat
• •Rice
• •Whole spices

Steps

1. 1Marinate the meat in thick yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, red chili powder, fried onions, mint, and a squeeze of lime for at least two hours, or overnight for deeper flavor.
2. 2Wash and soak long-grain basmati rice for 30 minutes, then boil it in generously salted water with whole spices like bay leaf, cinnamon, and cardamom until it is about seventy percent cooked, still firm at the core, then drain.
3. 3Heat a heavy-bottomed pot and spread the marinated meat evenly across the base.
4. 4Layer the par-boiled rice on top of the meat in an even layer, then scatter fried onions, chopped mint, coriander, and saffron soaked in warm milk over the surface.
5. 5Drizzle melted ghee over the top and seal the pot tightly with a lid, sealing the rim with a strip of dough if you want to trap the steam completely.
6. 6Place the pot on a very low flame, or on a heavy griddle to diffuse the heat, and cook undisturbed for 35 to 40 minutes so the meat cooks through in the sealed steam while the rice absorbs its flavor from below.
7. 7Turn off the heat and let the biryani rest, still sealed, for 10 minutes before opening.
8. 8Gently mix the layers together from bottom to top just before serving, so the rice and meat combine without turning mushy, and serve hot with raita.