Instant Pot Kacchi Lamb Dum Biryani. Tender morsels of lamb, marinated and cooked with the rice. Get the authentic taste of lamb biryani with half the work and no packaged spices!
Why You're Going To Love This Lamb Biryani
- Fast. Ready in about 30 minutes.
- Easy. Just a few easy steps to have a tasty main course on the table.
- Authentic. Tastes just like something served at your favorite Indian restaurant.
- Delicious. A meal your whole family will love.
I feel confident in telling you that this Instant Pot Kacchi Lamb Biryani, using only fresh ingredients, is restaurant-style and quality. Normally this is not a compliment in my eyes, but restaurants actually do a better job of lamb biryani than most of us do at home.
This homemade, unashamedly full-bodied, well-spiced Lamb Biryani has now negated my need to go out to get my favorite dish. Dum biryani takes forever to make. I mean, forever.
It's also a long multi-step process that despite my love for biryani, I'm not able to even contemplate. So I made this simple but very flavorful Instant Pot Chicken Biryani, and it's equally yummy low-carb cousin, the Low Carb Chicken biryani, but people repeatedly asked me for a Lamb Biryani version.
The problem is that lamb takes a lot longer than rice to cook, and I wasn't sure how I was going to do this.
It's taken me a while but I've finally figured it out, and this Instant Pot Lamb Biryani is the delicious result of my cogitations. Be warned this is indeed a longer list of ingredients than I typically advocate, but I assure you it is utterly worth it. It's one of the best recipes I've made this year.
And if you're looking for more great lamb recipes, my Instant Pot Jordanian Mansaf is absolutely wonderful!
Why Is It Called Kacchi Lamb Dum Biryani?
Before we start a quick Hindi lesson so you understand what you're making. Kacchi = raw. Dum = cooked slowly with steam. Making Kacchi biryani is considered an art form because you're essentially putting raw meat at the bottom, rice on top, and hoping like heck nothing burns as you cook it all together. There are elaborate machinations people go through to make this work.
Or you know, use an Instant Pot and follow this recipe.
It's important to cut as much of the fat off the lamb as you can. I didn't do that as well as I should have, and you can see some grease at the bottom. Honestly, a good Lamb Biryani should be a bit greasy but still. Do your best without going overboard.
What Kind Of Lamb Do You Use In Biryani?
For this Lamb Biryani recipe, you can use either lamb shoulder or leg of lamb. Just make sure you remove any visible fat for a delicious recipe that isn't too heavy or greasy.
How To Make Lamb Biryani
- Rinse rice and set it aside to soften
- Marinate the lamb
- Cook the onions in the oven
- Layer lamb and rice, cook 6 mins HP, and do a FULL natural release (see notes about Dum = cooking with steam).
Love Instant Pot Recipes?
- Instant Pot Butter Chicken is an easy 30-minute dinner and you can make rice on top of it, as the video shows.
- Pressure Cooker Rice and Dal is a great vegetarian rice dinner.
- This Lebanese Lentil and Rice dish is another great Vegetarian Instant Pot recipe.
- Instant Pot Indian Khichadi is comfort food in a bowl!
- Instant Pot Risotto with Shrimp is another one-pot comfort meal.
- Buffalo chicken casserole for the days you want low carb recipes
- You might also like low carb Chicken Biryani that uses riced cauliflower.
- Chicken and Mushrooms are a great combo.
- My kids love Instant Pot Pork Chops with Rice and Vegetables
- Zucchini Lasagna- You won't even miss the pasta.
- Haluski Recipe - A wonderful cabbage and noodles recipe.
If you love this Lamb Biryani recipe as much as we do, make sure you share it with your friends on Facebook and Pinterest so they can try it too!
Ingredients
Marinate together
- 1 pound (0.45 kg) lamb cubes, shoulder or leg or lamb, all visible fat removed
- 1//2 cup Full-Fat Greek Yogurt
- 1/2 cup (80 g) Onion, minced
- 1/2 cup (8 g) Cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup (11.25 g) Chopped Mint, chopped
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Minced Ginger, minced
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons (2 teaspoons) Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Turmeric
- 1/4-1 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper, (adjust to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) Ground Cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) Ground Cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon ) Ground Cloves
- 1 (1) Serrano peppers, minced (adjust to taste)
For the Rice
- 1 cup (185 g) Basmati Rice, Please use aged Indian basmati, not an American basmati, if possible
- 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) Kosher Salt
- 1 cup (250 g) Water
For the Garnish
- 1/2 cup (8 g) chopped cilantro
- 1 (1) Onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Oil
Instructions
- If you follow the order in which I list steps, this will come together efficiently. So first rinse the rice and set it aside. This rinse will allow the rice to soften a bit and absorb some water.
- Into a bowl, pour all the ingredients for the marinade, along with the lamb.
- Let the lamb marinate for 30 minutes, while the rice rests. This is a good time to get the onions for the garnish together.
- Turn your oven to broil. Line a baking pan with foil.
- Thinly slice your onions and break apart the slices with your fingers. Lay these on the foil covered pan, add salt and the oil, and mix well.
- Broil these onions for about 15 minutes stirring only once or twice. Traditionally this is done in a pan on the stove, but it's quite a painstaking process. This method is largely hands-off and works well.
- By this time, your lamb has probably marinated and you're ready to put it all together.
- In the inner liner of your instant pot, spread the marinated lamb, yogurt and spice mixture to cover the bottom.
- Carefully spread the rice all over the meat in a uniform layer.
- Pour in the 1 cup of water and gently push down the rice until it's submerged under water. Do not mix the lamb and the rice together.
- Cook at High Pressure for 6 minutes and allow it to fully release pressure naturally. This part is important, here is where we are approximating the "dum" (steam cooking) part of the Dum Biryani.
- Open and garnish with 1/2 cup chopped cilantro and the browned onions.
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Nutrition
Originally Published June 25, 2017
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Anjali
This recipe worked so well for me - thank you!
Amber
My family really enjoyed this! I had to use a little more water in my 8qt instant pot and the rice still could've been cooked a bit more. I added some bright green peas at the end and drizzled it with ghee before garnishing with the salt, cilantro, and onions. Side note: I could've eaten those broiled onions by themselves-so good!
Jill
This dish is incredible! Highly recommend for those who love succulent lamb and Indian spices.
John Dacosta
Best biryani I've ever made. Thanks
Dilini
Hello I would like to cook this for a crowd, I want to use 4 cups of rice and adjust things accordingly. I have an 8 q pot. Will it work in 1 go or will I have to make 2 batches? Do I have to adjust cooking time? Thanks
Theo
Have you tried this more traditionally with Jameed instead of greek yogurt? Do you have any instructions for using Jameed instead?
Theo
Oops, I meant to leave this on the Mansaf recipe