Indian/Pakistani Lamb Biriyani

Often recipes from the Indian Subcontinent have a fairly long list of ingredients, but the food from there has many great spices included, so please don't be intimidated, as much of it likely will be 1 teaspoon of this, and 1/2 teaspoon of that. "Biriyani," also often spelled as "biryani," has been common within India's Muslim population. In 1947, Pakistan was separated from India, as a Muslim majority nation, and in 1971, Bangladesh, then called East Pakistan, separated from Pakistan as an independent nation. Biriyani is a rice based dish often cooked for celebrations, and it is also made with chicken, as well as with fish by some. A common accompaniment is "raita," a yogurt based dish. *

Ingredients:

For the rice:

2 cups basmati rice
3 1/4 cups water (or whatever amount your brand's instructions call for)
1 teaspoon salt
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter + 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
"good pinch" saffron threads or 2/3 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons warm water to soak the saffron
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2 tablespoons sliced blanched almonds
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped 

For the lamb:

1 pound lamb, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil + 1 tablespoon butter
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cardamom  
1 large jalapeno or serrano chili pepper, finely chopped
3 tablespoons plain yogurt, thinned with about 2 tablespoons water

Follow the instructions on whatever brand of rice you use (believe it or not, there can be minor variations, between brands, or recipes). The basmati type of rice is overwhelmingly the most common type of rice used on the Indian subcontinent. The instructions will "typically" say to soak the basmati rice for some period of time in water, often with the water being changed a few to several times. Whatever method you use, cook the rice, with the teaspoon of salt in the water (the amount of water can vary somewhat by rice brand instructions). Drain the rice well. Soak the saffron in the warm water for about 30 minutes. Boil the eggs, then peel them. In a sauce pan, melt the butter, add the oil and then add the onion. Cook over medium heat until onion begins to brown lightly. Add the grated ginger and the cardamom. Cook for about 30 seconds, then add the water, the salt, the saffron/water, the cinnamon stick and the cloves. Cook until liquid just simmers. Turn the heat to low or very low, stir in the rice and cover with a lid. Cook per the instructions of your rice brand, usually about 20 to 25 minutes. Use a fork to fluff the rice, then add the sliced almonds.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, add the oil and melt the butter. Brown the lamb on all sides, remove the lamb from the skillet. Add the garlic and chili pepper. Cook for about 30 seconds only. Add the lamb pieces to a slow cooker, then add the heated oil, garlic and chili pepper, then add the black pepper, cumin, coriander and cardamom. Cook on "high" for one hour, then set the heat to "low" and cook until the meat is very tender, "about" 3 or 4 hours. After an hour of cooking on "low," stir in the thinned yogurt.

Serve a layer of rice with the lamb on top. Garnish each serving with some chopped egg.

* This is the link to my article about "raita:" http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/03/raita-to-cool-heat-of-spicy-indian.html

WORD HISTORY: 
Cube-The "assumption" is, "cube" is of Indo European origin, being passed from an Indo European root to Lydian, an ancient Indo European language in what is modern Turkey. Lydian seems to have died out around 100 BC. The Lydian form was a transliterated "kybos," which was the name of a game played with dice. This was borrowed by Greek as "kýbos," with the meaning, "square, die/dice, cube." Latin borrowed the word from Greek as "cubus," meaning, "die/dice, mass, lump, cube." This was passed to Latin-based Old French as "cube," and meaning, "a six-sided square shaped form." This was borrowed by English in the 1500s, likely from Latin, but altered in spelling by the French form. With Latin being the language of the Christian Church for so long, and with French being a Latin-based language, it is often difficult to tell whether certain words were borrowed from Latin or from French. There is a similar situation in English with some words of Germanic origin. Old English vocabulary was overwhelmingly Germanic, then Old Norse, another Germanic language, was brought to part of England by what were often collectively called "Danes," although not all were from Denmark. Many words were naturally very similar, and it is difficult to determine at times, if some of our modern words trace back to Old English itself, or to the similar forms brought in by Old Norse.