Instant Pot Lamb Biryani

Someone got a new gadget for Christmas! And someone has time to work out how to use it now!

I have been interested in pressure cookers, from a safe distance, for a while. But I was still very surprised when Santa put one under my tree! The reason I haven’t gotten one before is that it seemed a bit daunting to learn a whole new way of cooking, and one that comes with its fair share of safety briefings.

I have never made a biryani because I was worried about the rice burning to the pot, and put off by the time it takes to cook it. So this meal felt like the natural first one to try out.

I completely didn’t believe that it only takes 7 minutes to cook in the Instant Pot. But trust me – it does! SEVEN MINUTES! But it’s not like that’s all  the time that it takes – you still have your prep, sauté and depressurising time, so all in all this probably takes about 40 minutes from start to finish. Which is relatively quick for this type of meal, but it’s not like dinner will be made in 7 minutes.

Sorry about all the ingredients, but the whole spices are really key to the flavour if you have them!

Meal prep life

I have found that some of the recipes for the Instant Pot don’t explain much and assume a level of knowledge. I am still very much learning so I will assume no such thing and explain as much as I can as I'm testing it out.

Serves 4 easily

Ingredients

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 5 cardamom pods
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 piece of cinnamon bark
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 green chilli, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ inch garlic, grated
• 500g lamb mince
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 250ml pasatta
• Salt and pepper
• ½ cup frozen peas
• 1 ½ cups of basmati rice
• 500ml vegetable stock

Method

You can do this in a saucepan, or in the instant pot, using the saute button.

Heat the oil, fry off the whole spices (cardamom, cloves, cumin seeds, bay leaf, cinnamon bark) for 5 minutes until aromatic.

Add in the onion and fry for a few minutes, then add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir to mix.

Add the mince and ground spices (coriander, paprika, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, cayenne) and fry off together for a few minutes until all browned and mainly cooked through.

Stir through the pasatta, salt and pepper and frozen peas and stir, cooking for a minute or two.

If you’ve done this in a saucepan, at this point tip it all into the instant pot.

Add the rice on top..

.. and then cover with the vegetable stock.

Put the lid on the instant pot and twist to lock it. Press the “pressure cook” button and ensure the light is lit up under the “high pressure” heading. Set the time for 7 minutes by pressing the + or – buttons on the timer until it reads 00:07. Leave it a few seconds and it will beep to indicate that it is starting.

Allow to cook for 7 minutes, then leave it alone for 10 minutes after this to depressurise (it will beep after the 7 minutes and then the timer will start for the natural depressurisation).

This is 8 minutes into the depressurisation

Gently, and very carefully, turn the steam knob to the venting position to get rid of the remaining pressure. Remove the lid. 

Stir and serve!