MUTTON IN BATHUA SAG

PREAMBLE

Bathua sag is available in winter and my most favorite for making Kadi, Paratha, stir fry. It is a key ingredient in making the famous sharsho ka sag.

Sag mutton is very popular but it uses mostly Spinach and rarely a mixed sag of Mustard, Spinach and Bathua , Normally I don't use spinach in winter,

Here I will be using mutton , but you can use chicken and for vege use fried paneer and for temple dish eliminate onion garlic and Hing 

INGREDIENTS

* 500 gms, Meat goat or lamb with bone in, say about 8 to 10 pieces

* 400 gms Bathua sag plant  (use leaves  only and top soft stem) 

* 50-70 gms onion  finely chopped

* 10 cloves garlic ( fat one or 15 small one ) coarsely chopped

* 75 gms Tomato cut to small pieces

*  1 level tsp cumin powder, 1 level tsp each of coriander, red chili and turmeric       powder, mixed with water to a  paste

* 1/3 level tsp Hing ( LG, MDH etc )

* Green chili 4-6, chopped 

* 25 gms ginger chopped 

* 45 ml mustard oil + 15 ml ghee for garnish ( you can use all ghee)

* 1/2 level tsp sugar ( to taste , not to sweeten)

For the tempering 

 1 level tsp  cumin, 3 dry red chili, 1 tej pata. 8 black pepper , 3 cardamom, 3 cloves, 1 black cardamom , 11/2 inch Cinnamon

PROCESS

Cleaning of Bathua sag,,

It is most important because it has lot of sand and one sand particle under your teeth will spoil the food.

Pluck leaves and soft top of the stem , cut them coarsely and put into a container with at least 10 inch depth. Fill with water , Now float wash the sag by shaking your palm , The sand will settle and sag will keep floating , Take  out sag from the top and keep aside, drain water and wash container thoroughly. Again wash the sag and repeat  the washing 3 times. After 3rd wash slowly drain the water and see if sand is still there at the bottom, If sand is there , repeat washing ,

Cooking 

Heat oil in a thick bottom deep pan or a pressure cooker,

Give tempering of cumin red chili black pepper , hing and then add garlic onion followed by bay , leaf cardamoms, clove and cinnamon,

when Onion is translucent or slightly brown add the spice paste, chopped ginger, green chili and fry for few min, add Tomato and fry for 3 min , 

Add the meat and saute for 5 min, add salt,

add sag step by step allowing to shrink and water to come out. Mix well and simmer at low flame till the meat is done ( 30 to 40 min), add sugar and mix , ghee and mix well, The water should mostly dry out but the sag must remain wet,

Alternatively , pressure cook for 10 minutes or till the meat is done, Expel all excess water under high heat and stirring, add sugar, ghee and adjust salt, 

Eat with roti , paratha , rice, Pulao etc,

FRIED MUTTON /LAMB CHOPS

It has been ages , I posted any thing ..I have been cooking though and taking snaps too .

here is a fast but tricky recipe learnt from my son in law and i love it .Of course no need to tenderize the meat , if the bought out spice already has Papaya tenderizer.

The meat is tenderized here to give a burah kebab finish in texture of the meat 

INGREDIENTS

Lamb or mutton chops 8 pieces ( 600 to 700 grams dressed), flattened .

Raw papaya with skin , 2 inch chopped coarse or give one pulse in a grinder

Oil for marinade 1 tbsp ( mustard or EVOO or any oil of your choice )

Ginger garlic paste 2 tsp, 

Vinegar or lemon juice 11/2 tbsp

Curd 200 gms

Sugar 1/2 tsp 

SPICE 

Use any market bought out tanduri masala , or meat masala . Here I have used Anisa Arif's awesome tandoori masala.

CAUTION  If the spice mix has papaya or any tenderizer, do not use papaya mentioned above.

PROCESS

Acidify the meat with vinegar or lemon juice , mix the papaya and keep aside for 2-3 hrs.

Shake off or jet wash the papaya under water tap, and pat dry .(not necessary if you are making a curry ) 

Mix in 2 tsp of ginger garlic paste , 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp of Anisa’s Tanduri masla, leave aside.

In 200 gms curd whip in , salt and ½ tsp sugar, and mix with the meat.

Keep in fridge for 1-2 hrs

In a pan heat 2 tbsp oil ,   lay the chops along with the marinade,  pressing the chops, fry it on high heat for 2 min, reduce flame and continue frying. After 5 min. reverse the chops and continue as above.. The curd should dry out and burnt here and there,

Eat as it is … The meat will melt in your mouth 

Sorry no finished product photo, all finished 

LAU (GHIA) – MUTTON KI SHORBA (dish from famous Rampur cooking gharana

Enough of my vege recipes for you and thanks for your patience (The Non-veges) 

I was thinking of making a radical departure from conventional mutton dish that I eat.

I learnt this recipe from Farah Malik’s posting and she has permitted me to publish this recipe. She comes from Rampur and an expert in Rampuri dishes, apart from many others. Now I have access to her many recipes and will cook really and feed you virtually.

Thank you Farah for this amazing recipe.

THE RECIPE ;

It is a typical shorba, i.e. thin mutton soupy curry with fragrance and cooked over long time to maximize bone and other mutton juices. The spicing varies from recipe to recipe. Here Farah has used an awesome spice combo that is cardamom and mace ( jayatri) and no other gram masala. I have a mind to use a cinnamon , cardamom and clove combo or just cinnamon and star anise combo someday 

INGREDIENTS

- Mutton 700 gms ( bone in preferable shoulder and some lumber ( put) and chap ( Thoracic ) vertebra. Some fat is preferred

- Ghia ( Lauki) a medium young one ( I used 400 gms)

- Onion 1 medium, about 21/2 inch

- Garlic cloves 5-6

- Ginger 1 inch

- Coriander powder 1 heap tsp

- Red chili powder 1 tsp , more or less as you want

- Lemon juice 30 to 45 ml ( optional)

- Turmeric 2 tsp level

- White vege oil 2 tbsp ( I use low aroma ghee)

Garam masla

Cradamum 4

Jayatri ( mace) ½ inch

Salt to taste

Sugar 1 level tsp ( to taste not to sweeten)  not used in original recipe.

PROCESS

1. Chop and grind, onion, garlic and ginger to a smooth paste add coriander and chili powder . add little more water and soak. Strain the paste and extract with little more water . Preserve the extract and discard the solids

2.  Grind the gram masala and strain through a Muslin. ( I wet ground the garam masala and extracted)

3.  Peel the ghia (lauki) and cut to 2 inch size . If it is a fat lau, use ½ moon size. Baby seeds may remain

4.    Heat oil , remove from fire and add the juice, mix and return to low flame . Add the mutton and mix thoroughly. Keep frying in such a way that the color doesn’t change to brown, You may add little water from time to time to prevent browning.

5.  Add Turmeric powder, salt and 11/2 cup hot water . Mix and simmer for 30 minutes ( till the meat is semi soft.

6.  Add the Lauki , mix and simmer for 20 minutes till the lauki and meat is done

7.   Add sugar ( not in original recipe , but I add for tatse and not to sweeten). Not in original recipe by Farah

8.  Add the garam masala and simmer for another 2-3 minutes

9.  Add   lemon juice ( I did not)  , eat with rice, paratha  or roti  

KEEMA HARI MIRCH KA DOPEEAJA ( with Vege option)

First of all I apologize for my long absence from the blog world . And I must say , I am delighted that none of you have deleted me from , your blog followers list.  Thank you ! I must say , without your support over last 3 years , I would have vanished from the food blog world. It has been a great experience , to learn from you,  many dishes . Most of the dishes, I learnt from you, I wont be able to cook in my life time , so what ?few I will be able to at least ...

No humorous preamble this time because I am emotional now. So lets get down to cooking business.

THE RECIPE..

The recipe comes from the book  by Maharaja of Sailana, and i have made bit variations within permissible limits . It is my elder daughter's favorite dish and cooked for her . She just arrived from Mumbai.

INGREDIENTS 

1. Mutton fine keema 500 gms 

2. Green chili 250 grams ( use the hottest to medium to low heat ones, your choice) 

3. Onion , thinly slice 150 gms 

4. onion chunks , 1 inch , 100 gms 

5. Garlic 50 gms ( about 3 pods and not 3 cloves) , KEEP WHOLE CLOVES. DO NOT CHOP.

6. Cumin seeded 11/2 tsp.

7, Curd . 120 gms 

8. Ghee 200 ml ( 180 gms) 

9. Turneric 4 level tsp ( dont reduce or add 6 tsp) 

10. Lemon juice 30 ml

11. Coriander leaves , chopped fine 2 tbsp, heaped 

12. Salt to taste 

Main ingredients , (Keema in yogurt, cumin, turmeric and salt), sliced onion and green chili, garlic

De-seeded chili,, onion chunks, garlic cloves ( whole ) 

PROCESS 

* Slit the green chilis , de-seed and cut to 1/2 inch pieces.

* Mix smooth, curd, Turmeric, cumin seeds, salt 

* add the keema to the mix and mix thoroughly, keep aside 

*  Heat ghee in a heavy bottom vessel and add the sliced onion. Fry to golden brown and immediately add the Keema mix.

* Mix thoroughly with heating.

* Fry for 5 minutes and add about 3 to 4 cups of water ( 450 to 600 ml)

* Cover and Boil for 10 minutes ( 1/2 cooked) 

* Add the green chili, garlic and onion chunks 

Green chili, onion chunk and garlic whole cloves added 

* Continue boiling , till the water evaporates out and ghee separates.

* Add lemon juice and coriander , mix.

* switch off burner 

Dish is ready

Devour with rice, roti or Paratha and if you dont have any of these , eat straight and finish it off 

VEGE OPTION....

Use soya granules , the quantity after soaking will be equal to 500 gms mutton keema. I wont be able to say how much dry granule it is . Ask our great Sangeeta Khanna 

A DATE WITH LAMB CHOPS AND HUA JIAO (FLOWER PEPPER)

(It has Vege and Vegan option)
Here I am, after a long time minus travelogue. During my Sahara days, one thing I have realized, that Chinese food is  quite diverse as ours 

It was a great experience eating Chinese food covering many regions but predominently Cantonese, Beijing and fusion Sichuan (Sczchuan) dishes. It was difficult to learn all dishes because of language, ingredients unknown to me and  time. Friday after noon was the only free time in a week, and I could spend some time in the kitchen with a can of beer. The ancient sign language was a great help, like drawing a hen,  a duck or a turkey to understand the bird being used for cooking . ( The turkey I drew was replied with a sketch of a donkey by the chef to know , if I meant donkey meat and vehemently denying that a  donkey was not in edible list of animals, I need to increase drawing skills to learn recipes, engineering drawing no problem).    

Coming back, I am giving here a very simple fusion recipe of Sichuan origin. The Sichuan recipe is famous for fire-hot (The Chinese fire-hot is no patch on our real hot recipes). As most chinese friends do not belong to Sichuan region , they did not have much appreciation for firy hot food. The Chef made it a  point to cook less hot Sichuan dishes once in a while. 

The Sichuan dishes have lot of red chili , ginger, garlic and the famous flower pepper ( HUA JIAO) and of course Soya sauce, Chinese vinegar, rice wine at your discretion. 

HUA JIAO . I am sure , most of you know what it is. It is a small fruit , dried and have a distinct fragrance ( Not known to Indo-Chinese food eaters) and has a numbing effect in  mouth but makes you feel its fire at your throat. ( The so called fire at the throat is no patch on the fire we get if we chew few Indian black pepper , so relax) . The fragrance is very distinct , specially when combined with star anise.

THE RECIPE . Here I am giving a simple Mutton fry  with Hua Jiao, dry red chili and star anise  seasoning. You can make Tofu fry also.
INGREDIENTS

For Boiling 
Mutton Chap   500 gms ( You can take few ribs too, with a layer of fat)
Hua Jiao 1 tsp 
star anise 1/2 
Red chilli 2 cut to pieces.
Ginger , 2 pieces ( 1 inch by 1/2 inch)
Garlic 4 cloves smashed
Vinegar 2 tsp
Green chili 2-3 ( optional) 
Salt to taste
Sugar 1 tsp
( MSG is added in all Chinese dishes, I did not have any )
For seasoning 
Red chili 6-8 cut to pieces
Star anise 1/2 
Hua Jiao 11/2 tsp
Julienne of ginger 1 tbsp
Chopped garlic 2 tsp
Oil for frying 

HUA JIAO ( SIchuan Pepper or Flower Pepper) 

PROCESS
Boil meat with above ingredients till tender. You can use a pressure cooker.
Take out the meat pieces and leave for draining water
Filter the water and use it as a clear soup. It may be quite hot so dilute with water. You can reserve the thick extract as a stock for future cooking.
Dip fry the boiled meat for 1 to 2 minutes and drain on paper napkin ( Dont worry, the meat will not absorb oil).

  Take 1 tbsp of leftover oil and when hot add ginger and garlic , saute for 2 minute at high heat and add red chili, star anise and Hua Jiao. 

Stir for few seconds and quench with 2 tbsp water. Reduce heat, add the fried meat , mix and dry off quickly.
The dish is ready. The flavor is awesome.

TOFU..One can use Tofu with this spicing. One variation is, dust Tofu pieces ( about 10 mm thick and 50 X 50 mm ) with corn flour and dip fry to light brown.
Boil the pieces as above and finish with the seasoning. You may not fry the tofu, simply boil with the mix and then give seasoning. You may eliminate the garlic to make it a perfect Vege dish.
You can use Light Soya during Boiling or in the seasoning for meat or vege dishes.
I feel sad that I will be again out of kitchen and blog for some time. But will meet you at FB. 

MUTTON PASANDA CURRY AND TRAIN TO SANTINIKETAN

Dear Friends . HAPPY NEW YEAR ( I have already wished you all , still it is for 2011, as  it is too early to wish Happy New year for 2012)

 I am back after a 10 day trip to Calcutta, Sundarban and Santiniketan. The Sundarban trip was very memorable as few of my college mates met after many decades. My classmate came all the way from Houston with her husband. It was a 3 days 2 nights trip on boat to the dreadfully beautiful Sundarban. We did not see any tiger, ( normally no one can see them) and hopefully the tigers did not see me too, (or decided not to chew old bones), else I would have been writing from Hell. ( not Heaven ).

For 10days, it was marathon eating every where particularly at my in laws place in Santiniketan. Every where it was fish and more fish and it was 4  to 5 fish dishes for lunch and dinner. Oh God , I never imagined, I would ever get tired of eating fish!!!

So I thought I should cook a simple Mutton dish for a change and few vege dishes for SOMEONE who is a Vegetable freak.

THE RECIPE.

Here is a simple and fast dish for you ( Non-vege only). It can be cooked with mutton ( with or without bone), chicken, beef etc. The basic idea is to spend minimum time. Here I have used Mutton Pasanda. I made pasanda to make a pasanda biriyani, but was feeling lazy so made this curry after spending lot of time to cut pasanda from a chunk of meat. It was a criminal wastage of time, indeed. You need not use Pasanda for this fake dish.

This dish will be cooked with all the spices , onion garlic etc added together with a seasoning. 

PASANDA. Many of you must be knowing what is pasanda . This is just to refresh. It is cut in long strips from a chunk of thigh meat  and about 1/4th inch or less thick. The technique needs lot of skill. It is like peeling an orange continuously with out breaking. The flat pieces are then hit lightly with the sharp edge of the knife to make grooves and then further smashed to flatten.  . Indian Butchers are expert in cutting Pasanda. It is a base material for many dishes, from Kebab, Biriani, to cutlets, stir fries, crispy lamb fry with honey and sesame etc etc. The size of the pieces will depend what pasanda dish you are making. Pasanda, being very thin and smashed, picks of the marinade very nicely.

PASANDA 

 CLOSE UP VIEW, PASANDA

INGREDIENTS

Mutton Pasanda 500 gms, cut to 1 X 2 inch pieces.  ( or 750 gm mutton with bones or 500 gms without bones, 3/4th inch chunks)

for the marinade

Fresh curd 3 heap tbsp ( about 50 gms)

2 onion chopped fine ( 11/2 inch size)

2 level tbsp chopped garlic ( you can use more)

2 level tbsp chopped ginger ( you can use more)

1 heap tsp Coriander powder.

1 level tsp roasted and powdered cumin. ( if you dont have roasted one , use raw powder) 

1 tbsp mustard oil
1 heap tsp turmeric powder.
2 cardamom,  1/2 inch cinnamon powdered coarsely by slashing. ( optional) 
Seasoning
Cinnamon 11/2 inch long broken to pieces
Cardamom 4 , peel ruptured
Black pepper 10 
Bay leaf 2
2 green chili chopped to 1/4th inch
Other ingredients
Tomato 1 chopped fine ( about 2 inch size)
Red chili powder 2 tsp (more the merrier)
1 onion thin and uniformly  sliced. 
3 -4 tbsp mustard oil
Salt as required
Sugar 1 level tsp ( this is for taste and not for sweetening)

PROCESS.

Cut Pasanda into 1 inch by 2 inch pieces.

Whip the curd and mix all ingredients mentioned under marinade then mix the meat.

Keep aside for 1 hour. 

Heat oil to smoking in a pressure cooker, remove from fire and give seasoning of bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon, green chili and black pepper.

Add the sliced onion and fry to brown. ( just 2 shades below dark brown), add tomato immediately to prevent over frying of onion.

Soute for 5 minutes.

Add red chili powder stir for 30 seconds and add the marinated meat along with the liquid.

Mix well. Add salt , sugar and 1/2 cup water.

Pressure cook for 6 minutes . (Count time from 1st whistle and reduce heat.).

Open the cooker after the pressure becomes normal, and boil to drive off water and the gravy should be of thick consistency.

Eat with rice, Paratha, roti.

Finished dish, Mutton pasanda curry

 TO SANTINIKETAN

Santiniketan is my in-laws' place, have been travelling there since 1970s. Apart from Tagore connection, one loves to be there to spend some time, repeatedly.

I dont want to write a travelogue on this ( too much on the net already). Here I give a compilation of video clips on train to Santiniketan.

I like the bengali folk songs called Baul. Most of you will not understand the meaning but enjoy the train ride and the rhythm of the song.

REZALA FESTIVAL VEG, NON VEG

You will find this recipe very interesting, very different in flavour  and awesome! While wrting the word "interesting" I remember an explanation and meaning of the word given by my brother, who studied in Penn and stayed for few more years in US before coming back to India.

One day he said " Be careful when an American uses the word interesting while eating food"

I asked " What do you mean"

"Americans always use very superlative adjectives for things they like..awesome, fantastic, yummy , out of the world etc. But if they dont like some thing they will never use any bad adjective like horrible food, cant eat this stuff  etc etc . Instead they will say " Intersting" , which means very bad but I am trying to make it interesting. So if you call an American for dinner and if he uses the adjective interesting, dont cook it in future"

So it is a joke in our family and among closed friends circle ..If any one says interesting we immediately ask " American Interesting or normal interesting"?

Most of you are in USA, so I dont know how far it is true, but I liked it.

So here the dish is not American Interesting.

THE RECIPE

This dish is very simple to cook and fast. It needs only curd and onion for the gravy and a typical seasoning.

You walk into most of the restaurant in down town Calcutta, you will get  a very well  known dish called Razela , mainly cooked with the ribs and chops of mutton and chicken too. Of course Chicken Razela doesn't stand any where near the mutton one. But it is quite tasty "the chicken-way" for people who don't eat Mutton.

Most restaurants claim, it as their special and they were the originators of the dish. I have been eating Razela since 60s when I came to Calcutta. All Razelas are more or less same, but the most famous one was served at Sabir's  in Chandni Chowk area of Calcutta. No one can match their taste.

After lot of discussions with experts and experiments long back, I arrived at this Razela, which people say, it is close to the Sabirs.

The gravy  has a very different taste and I tried vege version which people love it too, including the carnivores.

In this posting I shall give a detailed method for the Mutton Razela and only photographs and tips for the Vege version. The chicken one is not presented here as I haven't cooked in recent past.

I am giving here

MUTTON RAZELA

POTATO RAZELA

PANEER RAZELA WITH POTATO OPTION

GOBI ( CAULIFLOWER) RAZELA WITH CARROT (OPTION)

INGREDIENTS

lamb or goat meat 500 gms ( normally rib with a layer of fat and chops are used. You may use other parts with bone or boneless too. As you know, mutton cooked with bone gives a very rich taste. Choice of meat portion is yours)

Common for all vege and non vege dishes

fresh thick curd 300 gms

onion 300 gms 

( you can use more or less depending upon how much gravy you want. but the onion and curd should be approximately of same quantity. The gravy is thin)

 for the gravy

Freshly ground or crushed white pepper 1 level  tsp ( black pepper is also good) add more if you want.

bay leaf 1 

cardamum 2

clove 2

cinnamon 1 inch approx. broken

sugar 2 tsp level

salt to taste

For the seasoning 

Bay leaf  1

Dry red chili 1

black pepper 1 tsp slightly heaped or heaped.

cardamom 3

clove 3

cinnamon 1.25 inch broken.

Ghee 5 tbsp ( about 75 ml, more the merrier)

Garnishing

Dry Red chili whole 5-6

PROCESS ( for Meat)
Wash meat and keep aside.

Grind onion to a fine and smooth paste.
Add curd to the onion paste and mix throughly in a blender or mixer ( this is important)
Mix pepper powder.

Mix the meat , the spice for the gravy and marinate for 1 hr. If you dont have time, straight proceed for cooking. You can do this step in the pressure cooker or thick bottom vessel that you will be using for cooking.

Add sugar and salt and cook under pressure.DO NOT ADD WATER. THERE IS SUFFICIENT WATER IN MEAT , CURD AND ONION Australian and New Zealand Lamb will cook in 6-8 minutes, Indian lamb (God knows). If you are not using pressure cooker, adjust water from time to time. The gravy is thin finally. When the meat is done stop cooking.

Add or remove water to get a thin and not so thick consistency. Adjust salt.

In a Skillet / Kadhai, add ghee and heat, throw in the seasoning. As soon as the aroma comes, pour the seasoning into the Meat vessel and cover.

Bring to boil and boil for 2 mibutes, covered.

Put the raw dry red chili to garnish.

Dish is ready.

This photo is without flash

This photo is with flash

NOTE: The dish will not have any pungent onion smell, so don't worry. The pungent onion smell comes if you add onion paste in hot oil and don't fry properly.
Some people add a bit of ginger garlic paste, which I don't. If you want you can give 1 tsp of the paste.  
Mixing of onion paste and curd is important. When the curd curdles, it will be dispersed evenly with onion, giving a smooth thin gravy.
For more gravy add more curd onion paste mix at the beginning.
This dish needs good quantity of ghee, so don't reduce, you may add more.
VEGE RAZELA
Ingredients and  Process remain same. Only minor change in treating the vege or Paneer.
Potato Razela
Boil Potato , peel and cut into large pieces.
Fry to condition or stabilize the potato surface. No browning is necessary.
You can use boiled potato as it is. I fry a bit.

Proceed with making the gravy as above (without the potato). Boil for 5-8 minutes, covered. Adjust water ( remember Potato will adsorb lot of water, so you may keep it thin or can add water later.)
Add Potato , boil for a minute, give seasoning and proceed as above. 

Potato Razela

Paneer Razela

 Cut paneer in large size, say 1 inch thick , 2 X 1/1.2 inch. ( you decide the size, but don't make thin as it would be fried.)

Fry the Paneer to light brown and proceed as Potato Razela.

Potato paneer Razela

 Proceed as above, given with Potato and Paneer.

Cauliflower Razela ( with Carrot , option)

I generally cook this with Cauliflower only. But someone insisted , to use carrot this time..( else Carrot will be there in the break fast with additional germinated green gram, raw turmeric, Jaggery et al..the standard punishments for me.. you know ).But the taste was good.

You may try Cauliflower alone raw, and also souteed cauliflower to get that light aroma.

It will be same as that with meat,

Marinate the raw cauliflower, carrot and proceed with normal boiling until the Cauliflower gets cooked. Proceed as above after the Cauliflower is cooked.

Similarly you can make Potato-Cauliflower Razela, I love it.

Dear Friends, I am taking a break due to some very important work and I may not get time to read all the postings and learn and put my appreciations. I shall make it up in February. And I will be very angry  if any one deletes my name from the blog follower list..and I may put huge quantity of hot red chili powder secretly in the next recipe  ha  ha

Keep blogging,,my most favorite pastime is to read recipes...

Amendments 
1. This dish is normally eaten with roti, chapati, paratha, tanduri roti, bread, Nan , mainly  wheat product, But being a Bengali I ate with rice too.
2. There is a very nice chicken rezala recipe by Kalyan of Knife. I forgot to mention. Please try here . Apart from the recipe, Kalyan has given an excellent write up on Rezala.

MUTTON KASHA WITH VENGEANCE

Friends, bloggers , fellow Foodies, lend me your ears; If I had to eat, consecutively for 3 days , a "health-food" breakfast comprising of 2 chopped carrots, 3 chopped tomatoes (big ones) , a plate full of germinated Mung dal and Bengal gram, soaked peanuts, chopped raw turmeric , ginger, small pieces of Jaggery ; 1 banana, 1 hard boiled egg and a glass of milk; dont you think it is too much!! What was my offence for this punishment?? Because during my walking session, I was caught loitering in the park, instead of brisk walking. SOME ONE says Loitering is no exercise, a house wife loiters 3-5 KM in side the house and gains weight. One has to do brisk walking to a point one really breathes hard!!!

Vengeance is the answer to this, so I pulled out a pack of lamb which I had kept in the fridge among frozen spinach, turnip, peas, fish, chicken etc. ( Luckily SOME ONE doesn't believe, the cholesterol and red meat hoax predominantly going around in India, so there is no restriction on red meat, but majority at home believes in fish and chicken eating )

 I cooked this dish after many decades to please SOME ONE so that if I am caught next time loitering around in the park, the offence will be pardoned. But I must admit in absence of this SOMEONE , I wouldn't have existed so far in life.

THE RECIPE

This is a simple recipe, but carries lot of emotional values. Many decades back, when I did not have a proper kitchen I developed this dish, I did not have anything to grind spices or  make paste of ginger, garlic , onion;. the powdered spices were not reliable. To thicken the gravy I used chopped Tomato and onion in such a way that you cant make out that tomato was used.  The oil used was removed before serving and kept as an  Oil extract of Garam masala flavor for future use. Turmaric and Garam masala plays a key role in the flavor. It is quite thick , called as " KASHA MEAT" type in Bengal. I have recently introduced bit of ginger garlic paste but it is optional.
It is some times customary to add a suffix to a dish, Like Mutton Kalia rasala, Gost Sunderpuri, chicken Kolhapuri etc. So the name of the dish has a suffix of vengeance  to counter the effect of health food..

INGREDIENTS

Lamb/ Goat meat 500 gms

Onion 300 gms

Tomato 300 gms

Green chili 4

Garlic 6 cloves ( large ones)

Oil 4 tbsp ( more the merrier)

Turmeric 1 level tsp

red chili powder 1 level tsp ( More the merrier , I use Very hot chili powder)

Sugar 1 level tsp for caramel ( will not sweeten)

Marinade

Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp , optional

Curd 1 heap tbsp

Mustrad Oil  2 tsp
Blak pepper 6, smashed

Turmeric powder 1 level tsp.
Coriander leaves chopped , 2 tbsp heap
Salt as required

Spices

Cardamum 6, smashed

Cinamon 1.5 inch broken into pieces

Clove 2
Bay leaf 1

PROCESS

Marinate the mutton/lamb and keep aside for 30 min or more.

Cut the onion into thin slices
Cut the tomato into circular thin slices ( for faster frying./ dehydration)
Chop garlic coarse
Chop green chili 6 to 10 mm 
In a thick bottom pan or in the pressure cooker, heat oil , add sugar and caramelize ( it will melt and become brown ), immediately add 2 cloves, bay leaf, green chili, garlic and soute for 15 sec.
 add 3/4th of chopped onion and soute to light brown, 
Add Tomato and reduce heat so that the tomato releases water.

Tomato frying half way through

Keep Frying the mix so that most water is driven out. It will look like a dark brown paste and tomato would lose all its sour taste and tomato flavor and identity.
Add the meat, balance 1/4th of the onion , spices, 1 level tsp Turmeric, red chili powder, and all the ingredients.. 
Mix thoroughly and and Bhuno ( Stir fry) for 5-10 minutes, until oil starts separating.
Add 1.5 cup of water, 
Pressure cook for 5-6 minutes ( i.e. 6 to 8 minutes after the 1st whistle , reduce flame)
( Note: If it is a good young lamb it will be cooked in 6 minutes assuming that , the stir frying was done for 10 minutes. I like the mutton bit stiff, I mean the fiber should not fall apart or leave the bones. But if you like very soft and falling apart type mutton  you can pressure cook longer, it wont make any difference if you cook for 12 minutes or 20 minutes.)
Cool the pressure cooker on its own, open and if it gravy is thin, boil and expel water,  adjust salt if needed.
Eat with rice or Roti.

Removing excess oil
I normally use bit excess oil, and remove from the top, as much oil as possible. This oil is very rich in aromatics and can be used for dishes where the aroma of this extract ( Yakhni) is acceptable. Most people will keep the oil in the gravy, choice is yours.

For my great foodie friends Colorful geranium leaves from the Himalayas