Mutton Biryani

Biryani, originally a Persian food, is believed to have arrived in India with or before the Mughals. The current Biryanis we get in India has a lot of Mughal influence. Typically there are three types of biryanis from the taste perspective in India at this time, Awadhi (somewhat light and infused with exotic spices), Hyderabadi (spicier), and the Bangladeshi Biryani (infused with cow milk ghee and special biryani essence). 

I have seen my mom and aunts cook biryani differently, all trying to manage recipes from different chefs to beat each other. I got my recipe from a chef that made biryani at our place in India on some occasion. I remember that guy didn't eat anything since morning in an effort to keep his smell and taste buds unsullied. So far, I have used the ingredients per my taste, and never really measured them. Here I have tried to give a rough estimate, please use the spices per your discretion. Here is the recipe for you. 

Ingredients:
Mutton about 2.5 lbs
1/4th cup ghee+oil
1 big onion
2 tbsp garlic juice
2 tbsp ginger juice
Salt per taste
1 tbsp red chili powder or to taste
2 tsp mace
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp rose water
1 tsp kewra water
1/2 tsp biryani essence
2 tsp garam masala (made with cinnamon and cardamom, without cloves)
6 potatoes halved 
Salt and red chili powder for boiling the potatoes
5/6 strings of saffron soaked in 1/4th cup milk warmed
5 cups basmati rice, 1/4th cups salt to boil the rice
1/4th cup yogurt
1/4th cup khoya
5 boiled eggs cut in halves

Ingredients for the biryani spice (this wasn't part of the original recipe, you can do this if you like your biryani a little spicier)
1 tsp mace
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sha-jeera or caraway seed powder

Preparing the Meat

1. Heat some ghee + oil
2. Add sliced onions and fry till brown
3. Add some water to this fried onion
4. Add garlic juice + ginger juice to this
5. Then add the meat to this water
6. Put some salt and red chilli powder
7. Cook the meat till tender (meat can be seen just above the water)
8. Add powdered mace, nutmeg, garam masala (without cloves), rose water, kewra water and biryani essence to the meat

Preparing the Potato

1. Boil some water
2. Add salt and red chilli powder
3. Add halved potatoes to it
4. Boil till the potatoes are fully cooked

Preparing the Rice

1. Boil the rice till half-cooked in salted water

Dum

1. Add this rice to the meat (Rice must be half-cooked)
2. Sprinkle yogurt, milk
3. Add biryani spice
4. Sprinkle ghee and khoya
5. Add some of the mutton gravy on top to keep the biryani from drying out in the oven, keep the rest for later use
6. Cover the bowl
7. Keep it on low heat for some time or put it in the oven at 350F for about 4/5 hours or longer