Aloo aur Gosht ki Tahari
One dish meals are a savior. In today’s revved up life, they are a time, fuel saver, and cleanup is a breeze. Tahari is one such balanced and nutritious one pot family meal that is very often cooked in Hyderabadi homes.
Aloo aur Gosht ki Tahari – Spiced Basmati Rice with Potatoes and Lamb meat
Tahari might be called as a cousin of Biryani. During the process of Biryani preperation, the meat and rice are layered and then cooked on dum (slow heat) in one pot. Whereas in Tahari, once the meat is cooked, water is poured to the meat and then rice is added and cooked along. There is no layering process in Tahari as in Biryani. The ration of water:rice has be perfect for a well cooked Tahari, or else you end up with a mushy mess.
There are two kinds of Tahari: 1. Minced meat+Rice Tahari; 2. Lamb meat with bones+Rice Tahari. Today I am writing about the latter one. The previous kind I have already blogged a while earlier. Adding tomatoes to Tahari is optional. I have always seen both my Ammi and my Mother in law add tomatoes to Tahari, but there are some that do not suggest it. I prefer to add tomatoes as it gives a nice flavor to the dish that I love. However you can avoid adding tomatoes if you want.
Aloo aur Gosht ki Tahari – Spiced Basmati Rice with Potatoes and Lamb meat
Ingredients:
Basmati Rice – 3 cups
Canola oil – 1/2 cup
Onions – 2 cups, sliced
Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp
Salt – 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Mint leaves – 1/2 cup, loosely packed, finely chopped
Cilantro – 1/2 cup, loosely packed, finely chopped
Red chilli powder – 2 tbsp
Tomatoes – 2, large, diced
Potatoes – 2, large, quartered
Yogurt – 1 cup, lightly whisked
Lamb meat with bones – 650 gms
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
Juice of a Lime
Method:
1. In a vessel, add rice and wash it in 2-3 changes of fresh cool water. Then, soak it in surplus fresh cool water for about 30 minutes while you prepare the following meat preparation.
2. In a pressure cooker at medium high heat pour in oil and as soon as it warms up, add the sliced onions. Stir fry them until they are golden brown in color. Add ginger garlic paste and fry along for a minute. Add red chilli powder, salt, chopped tomatoes, chopped mint and cilantro and turmeric powder and mix well. Cook for 2-5 minutes until the tomatoes are mushy. Add the lightly whisked yogurt and keep stirring for a minute. Add the quartered potatoes and mix. Let cook covered until the potatoes are tender (test using a fork) and oil has separated. Add the lamb meat with bones and mix well. Cook until the meat is no longer pink. Cover with the lid and pressure cook until the meat is tender. Open the lid and add garam masala powder and lime juice. Let the mixture cook until oil separates. Now pour in about 4 cups of water, close the lid, increase the heat and let it come to a boil.
3. Drain the soaking rice and keep it ready.
4. As soon as the meat mixture begins to boil, add the drained rice and gently mix. Let it come to a boil again. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer and cover with a lid. Let it cook till very little water remains. Keep checking it every now and then, and give a gentle stir everytime. Add a few splashes of water if you feel you need more water for the rice to cook. Once the water is mostly dried up, close the heat, but leave the saucepan on the hot stove so that a nice steam forms. Let the dish rest for 15-30 minutes. Serve warm along with a pickle or papad.
Note: You can even lightly fry the quartered potatoes before you add to the dish. I prefer not to.
Luv,
Mona
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July 4th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
wonderful recipe! Its one of my favorite and I agree, one dish meals are so convenient. When do you add the potatoes?
Thanks for sharing!
Salma, I apologize for the typo. Just updated the post.
July 5th, 2011 at 4:50 am
I do with veggie …this looks yum
July 5th, 2011 at 8:28 am
This looks mouthwatering, whenever I make it I always mess up with the water amount hence my rice gets too sticky most of the time, Nd sometimes it’s sticky rice but not tasty enough because of lack of spices
July 5th, 2011 at 10:45 am
Dear Mona,
Your Tahari is my Biriyani, infact in my nativeplace Biriyani is almost always made with the rice cooked in the stock, but masala varies. (Southern Tamil Nadu). I tasted Hyderabadi Biriyani first after coming to UAE where a friend’s husband had cooked it. Really Superb. I like both varieties. Your recipes great. Thank you.
July 6th, 2011 at 12:12 am
hi mona
I was always a silent reader in your site ans i must say grrrrrrrrrrrrr88888888 site and i visit yr site everyday to see yr delicious recipe and seeing this recipe my mouth is watering and i would like to know if i can make with any other oil and what would be the quantity as i dont use canola oil. if you cud help? thank a lot mona
Sunita, thanks for the appreciation. You can use sunflower oil or any vegetable cooking oil instead of Canola oil. I stick to Canola oil as it is healthier.
July 7th, 2011 at 7:47 am
looks delicious !!!
July 10th, 2011 at 12:24 am
delicious looking biryani looks wonderful
congratulations you have won the giveaway in my site sent you an email
salaams
July 10th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
I share your views on one-pot meals and this ones sounds great. I’ll definitely try making this.
July 11th, 2011 at 8:09 pm
Hey Mona! I am dropping by after a long long time. Need to catch up on some of your recent blog posts. 🙂 Gosht ki Tahari is one of my favorite. Ever tried eating this with an unusual side-dish: Tamate ki Chutney? It’s 7th heaven!
July 19th, 2011 at 10:55 am
How do I prevent the rice from becoming gulati/smushy? Just made this and the rice seems like it will be gulati.
Farah, if this was your first time cooking rice and meat/vegetable together, then inshallah you will get the hang after a few trial and errors. Just follow the steps carefully. Or use a rice cooker.
August 2nd, 2011 at 6:28 pm
yumm..my mom makes this tahari and I LOVE it! She also adds some mixed vegetables (gobi, peas, green beans) to it for those of you that like veggies!
August 2nd, 2011 at 6:30 pm
I usually add an extra cup of water to rice, for instance I would boil 4 cups of water for 3 cups of rice..this works for me and it doesn’t come out gullati 🙂
September 23rd, 2011 at 3:20 pm
To avoid the rice being gulati or mushy, the bench mark we usually follow is to fill the water one inch above the level of rice in the pot.
July 4th, 2013 at 1:43 am
plz mention it serves how many ppl?
July 9th, 2016 at 8:37 am
in our house we have a slight variation to this.. just that we fry shazeera before the onions . also i once added kasuri methi or fresh methi ( even better)to the tomatoes and the dish turned out awesome too..
July 9th, 2016 at 10:21 am
no wait we added shazeera AFTER we fried the onions..:)OMG MOna ji.. you have no idea… how many duas come ur way esp with working women like myself who don’t cook that often and end up getting married to foodies..in short.. u help SAVE marriages.. lol…Jazakallah. May Allah increase you in health and happiness..