On the heat. Hot

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg lamb curry pieces, bone in
• 500 g basmati rice, soaked 30 min
• 200 g brown lentils, par-boiled
• 4 potatoes, halved and fried golden
• — MARINADE
• 500 g yoghurt · 3 tbsp ginger–garlic
• 4 tbsp breyani masala · 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp salt · juice of 1 lemon
• Mint and coriander, a large handful each
• — TO LAYER
• 4 onions, deep-fried to crisp brown
• 100 g ghee · pinch saffron in 60 ml warm milk
• Whole spices: cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, bay

Method

1. Marinate the lamb, with half the fried onions crushed in, for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Boil the rice with the whole spices and plenty of salt until it is 70% cooked — the grain should still snap. Drain immediately.
3. Ghee in the bottom of a heavy pot. Layer: marinated lamb, then lentils, then potatoes, then rice. Do not stir, ever.
4. Scatter the rest of the fried onions, the herbs, the saffron milk and the remaining ghee over the top.
5. Seal the lid with foil or a flour-and-water dough rope. High heat for 10 minutes to build steam, then the lowest possible heat for 90 minutes.
6. Rest, sealed and off the heat, for 20 minutes. Open at the table and cut down through the layers with a spoon rather than mixing.

Cook's note. Durban vs Hyderabad. Lentils and fried potato in the layers are the Durban signature and are not found in most Indian biryani. They also make it feed twice as many people.

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