Meat Pulao
Meat pulao (also spelled pilau, pulav, or pilaf) is an Indian one-pot rice dish: basmati rice cooked in the stock of lamb or beef with onion, ginger, garlic, and whole spices. The meat is braised first and the rice finishes in the stock it left behind, the way yakhni pulao is made. Unlike biryani there are no layers and no second pot, so it takes about 100 minutes, and the rice itself needs only 15 of them. Serve it with plain yogurt and a fresh salad.
Ingredients
- 600 glamb or beef on the bone (shoulder or ribs), cut into 4–5 cm pieces
- 300 gbasmati rice
- 1 large onion (about 200 g), thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 2 cmfresh ginger, grated
- 3 tbspghee or butter
- 700 mlhot water or broth
- 2 tspsalt, divided
- 1 tspcoriander seeds
- 1 tspcumin seeds
- 0.5 tspblack peppercorns
- 2 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick (5 cm)
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 green cardamom pods
- 1 pinchsaffron threads (or 1/4 tsp turmeric)
Method
- Heat the ghee in a wide heavy pot over medium heat and fry the sliced onion for 10–12 minutes, stirring, until deep golden. Add the grated ginger and garlic for 1 minute, then the meat, and brown it for 5–7 minutes.
- Add the whole spices: coriander and cumin seeds, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, and cardamom pods. Stir for 1–2 minutes until you can smell them.
- Pour in 700 ml hot water, add 1 tsp salt, and bring to a boil. Skim, cover, and simmer on low for 50–60 minutes, until the meat is tender and comes away from the bone. Meanwhile rinse the rice in several changes of water until it runs clear, soak it for 30 minutes, and drain well.
- Lift the meat out and measure the stock: you need 520 ml. Boil it down if there is more, add water if there is less, and taste it: it should be slightly too salty. Return the meat, bring to a boil, and stir in the drained rice, the remaining 1 tsp salt, and the saffron softened in 2 tbsp of the stock (or the turmeric). Level the rice, let it boil until the liquid is level with the rice, then cover tightly and cook on the lowest heat for 12–15 minutes. Do not lift the lid.
- Take the pot off the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice gently with a fork, lifting from the bottom without breaking the grains. Serve with yogurt and a fresh salad.
FAQ
No. In pulao the meat is braised first and the rice cooks in that same stock, in one pot, with gentle spices. In chicken biryani the marinated meat and half-cooked rice are cooked separately, then layered and steamed together with fried onions, yogurt, and saffron milk. Biryani is richer and takes more steps; pulao is milder and quicker. Uzbek plov is a cousin, but there the rice is cooked with fried carrots and a lot of oil.
Usually it is too much liquid, unrinsed rice, or too much heat. Rinse 300 g of basmati until the water runs clear, soak it for 30 minutes, and drain it well. Measure the stock after the meat has braised, not before, because the pot loses water as it simmers: 520 ml for 300 g of soaked rice, which is about 1.7 ml per gram. Once the rice is in, do not stir it, keep the heat as low as it goes, and keep the lid on.
Off the heat, the steam trapped in the pot keeps cooking the top layer while the moisture spreads evenly through the rice. If you open the lid right away, the top grains stay firm while the bottom ones are soft and clumped. Ten minutes is enough, though some recipes wait up to 15. After that, lift the rice from the bottom with a fork instead of stirring, so the grains stay whole.
Yes. Ghee gives a nutty smell, but you can use the same 3 tablespoons of sunflower or another neutral oil. Melted butter works too: it contains water and milk solids, so keep the heat at medium and give the onion a few extra minutes to colour. Coconut oil also works and adds a faint sweetness. Whichever fat you use, the onion still has to reach deep golden before the meat goes in, because that colour flavours the whole pot.
Use bone-in shoulder or ribs cut into 4–5 cm pieces: the bone and fat give body to the stock the rice cooks in, while lean boneless cubes dry out and make a thin one. Tough meat just hasn't had enough time. Young lamb needs 50–60 minutes at a low simmer, older mutton 75–90. For a firmer cut, marinate the pieces in yogurt with grated ginger for an hour before browning. The same shoulder works for rogan josh if you have meat to spare.
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Comments (1)
Salt the lamb at least 30 minutes before cooking meat pulao, or right before — never in between. Salt draws moisture to the surface; given 30+ minutes it reabsorbs. At 10 minutes, it's just sitting there making things wet.