Ingredients
For the stock (yakhni)
- 1.7 lb (750 g) mutton bone in
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1 black cardamom pod
- 8 green cardamom pods
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon whole black pepper corns
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 5 cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 large cinnamon stick
- 2 tablespoon salt or to taste
For the rice
- 4-5 tablespoon (60 ml) oil
- 2 (300 g) medium onions sliced
- 3 cups (600 g) basmati rice ideally sela
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 4 cups/1l water (IMPORTANT: please read notes if you are changing the serving size)
For the carrot topping
- 2 (120 g) medium sized carrots julienne cut
- 1 large handful raisins or sultanas
- 1 large handful nuts lightly crushed (I used pistachios but any will do)
- 2 tablespoon (25 g) sugar
- 4 tablespoon (60 ml) oil for frying
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients for the yakhni to a pot and cover with enough water to submerge all the meat. Bring to a boil and then cover, simmering for 1.5-2hrs, till the meat is tender but not falling off the bone. Keep checking after the 1.5hr mark to get till the right doneness.
- Meanwhile, in a pan heat 3-4tbsp of oil and add your julienne-cut carrots. Saute these on medium heat for 5 minutes, till they are tender, and then add the raisins. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, till the raisins begin to swell up. Finally, add 2 tablespoon of sugar and the lightly crushed nuts and cook for just a minute. Turn off the heat.
- Take a clean sheet of aluminium foil and place the carrot mixture with all the oil onto it. Fold it around the edges tightly into a parcel shape. Set aside.
- When the mutton is tender, strain out the liquid stock using a colander and discard the whole spices. Reserve the stock.
- In a heavy based pot, heat 4-5 tablespoon of oil and add the thinly sliced small onions. Sauté this on medium-high till the onions become lightly brown. The darker the onions become, the darker the rice will be. I prefer my Kabuli Pilau to be a light shade of brown, therefore I sauted my onions this much. You can saute them more if you prefer a darker shade. Add in the cumin seeds when your onions are just approaching your desired colour, so they get 1-2 minutes of frying.
- Once the onions are to your desired colour, add the mutton from the stock. Sauté for 5-8 minutes
- Add the reserved yakhni/stock. If you're short of stock, you can top it up with water. Bring to a boil.
- Add the basmati rice.
- Cook on high heat till the water begins to boil, and then reduces, until there is very little water left in the pot. Stir once or twice using a flat spoon (see picture below), being careful not to break any rice pieces.
- At this point, reduce the heat to the lowest possible, add the foil parcel full of the carrot mix and cover with a lid wrapped with a tea towel. Allow it to steam like this for 10-15 minutes.
- To serve, plate the rice on a rice platter and scatter with raisins, nuts and carrots from the foil parcel on top.
Notes
If you are adjusting the serving size: the amount of water you use will be: 0.5x = 2.5 cups/600ml water, 1x = 4 cups/1l water, 2x = 7 cups/1.65l water , 3x = 10 cups/2.5l water
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