Awadhi Mutton Pulao

This is the sort of pulao that makes the word pulao sound far too casual.

The mutton is first cooked into a proper yakhni with curd and a coarse spice mixture, then removed so the broth can be strained completely clean. That yakhni is rebuilt with milk, cream, saffron, rose and kewra, while a second, much finer masala brings in fennel, mace, kebab chini and pipli. The meat goes back, partially cooked rice is layered over it with birista, and the whole thing disappears under a tightly sealed lid for dum.

It sounds elaborate, and it is. But every bit of fuss has a purpose: deeply flavoured meat, perfumed yakhni, long separate grains of rice and absolutely no whole spice ambush waiting halfway through dinner.

A pulao with the administrative complexity of a small government department.