Aghani Kabuli Pulao (Easy Recipe)

Steps

1. Add all the ingredients for the yakhni to a pot and cover with enough water to submerge all the meat.
2. Bring to a boil and then cover, simmering for 1.5-2hrs, till the meat is tender but not falling off the bone.
3. Keep checking after the 1.5hr mark to get till the right doneness.
4. Meanwhile, in a pan heat 3-4tbsp of oil and add your julienne-cut carrots.
5. Saute these on medium heat for 5 minutes, till they are tender, and then add the raisins.
6. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, till the raisins begin to swell up.
7. Finally, add 2 tbsp of sugar and the lightly crushed nuts and cook for just a minute.
8. Take a clean sheet of aluminium foil and place the carrot mixture with all the oil onto it.
9. Fold it around the edges tightly into a parcel shape.
10. When the mutton is tender, strain out the liquid stock using a colander and discard the whole spices. Reserve the stock.
11. In a heavy based pot, heat 4-5 tbsp of oil and add the thinly sliced small onions.
12. Sauté this on medium-high till the onions become lightly brown.
13. The darker the onions become, the darker the rice will be.
14. I prefer my Kabuli Pilau to be a light shade of brown, therefore I sauted my onions this much.
15. You can saute them more if you prefer a darker shade.
16. Add in the cumin seeds when your onions are just approaching your desired colour, so they get 1-2 minutes of frying.
17. Once the onions are to your desired colour, add the mutton from the stock.
18. Sauté for 5-8 minutes
19. Add the reserved yakhni/stock.
20. If you're short of stock, you can top it up with water.
21. Add the basmati rice.
22. Cook on high heat till the water begins to boil, and then reduces, until there is very little water left in the pot.
23. Stir once or twice using a flat spoon (see picture below), being careful not to break any rice pieces.
24. 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.
25. Allow it to steam like this for 10-15 minutes.
26. To serve, plate the rice on a rice platter and scatter with raisins, nuts and carrots from the foil parcel on top.