Instant Pot Lamb Biryani is an aromatic one-pot dish made with basmati rice and lamb. Flavored with complex spices, it is topped with caramelized onions, raisins, and nuts. One of my favorite recipes, it's the pressure cooker version of a family recipe for biryani. A feast in every bite!
Blend the milk, yogurt, turmeric, biryani spice, garam masala, chili powder, salt, lemon juice, dried apricots, ginger, garlic and white poppy seeds.
Add cilantro and mint and blend some more, until marinade is smooth.
Stir together lamb and marinade in a medium bowl, and refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours.
Heat the Instant Pot in Saute mode, and add oil or ghee to the Instant Pot inner pot when it’s hot. Add sliced onions and fry the onions until they are caramelized and brown, but not burnt! This can take 20 to 30 minutes. Remove onions with a slotted spoon, and set aside. This step can also be done in a frying pan.
Add raisins and fry until plump (add more ghee or oil if needed). Remove with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Add cashews and fry until they’re golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Both steps can also be done in a frying pan.
Press Cancel to turn off the Instant Pot and deglaze the inner pot with a couple of tablespoons of water so there’s nothing stuck to the bottom of the inner pot.
Add back half the fried onions to the inner pot. Add in the lamb with marinade.
Close the Instant Pot and pressure cook for 12 minutes on High Pressure.
Stir the bottom of the Instant Pot and make sure there's nothing stuck to the bottom. Pour the water into the bowl that the lamb was marinated in, and swirl around to pick up any remnant marinade. Pour this water into the inner pot and stir to combine.
Rinse the rice and add to the Instant Pot. DON'T stir, but press the rice down into the gravy. This helps prevent the Instant Pot burn message.
Close the lid and pressure cook for 6 minutes. Do a 10 minute natural pressure release. Open the Instant Pot and stir up the biryani carefully.
Let the biryani rest for about 10 minutes and sprinkle remaining fried onions, raisins, cashews, cilantro and mint.
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Notes
If the onions begin sticking to the bottom, deglaze occasionally with a tablespoon or two of water.
Onions may also be cooked on the stovetop, in a frying pan.
It’s important that you don’t stir the rice when you add it to the Instant Pot, or you could have issues with the Instant Pot not coming to pressure. Just press down to cover with liquid.
If you don't have access to biryani masala (spice mix), substitute the following: 2 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, ½ tsp black pepper powder, ½ tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder.
See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips, including homemade garam masala.