Shepherd’s Pie

A few weeks back we visited a very popular local irish pub and I was about to order the Shepherd's pie when I noticed that it has beef. That is definitely not an authentic Shepherd's pie. A Shepherd's pie is supposed to have lamb, just like fisherman's pie has fish and cowboy's pie has beef. This prompted me to make some of my own pie.

Ingredients For Meat Mixture

• 2 lb. ground lamb
• 1 onion diced
• 2 fat cloves of garlic
• 2 medium carrots diced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1cup chicken stock
• Freshly ground pepper
• Salt to taste

Ingredients For Mashed Potato

• 2 lb. golden potatoes cut into quarters
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 egg yolk beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
• 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper powder
• Salt to taste

Procedure Of making Meat Mixture
Preheat oven at 250F. In an oven proof baking dish take butter along with onion, garlic, minced meat. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Mix well. Add half a cup of chicken tock to it and stir.
Put the dish in the middle rack of the oven and cook for an hour. Carefully take the baking dish out. Add vegetables. Mix flour with rest of the chicken stock and pour over the meat mixture. Give everything a nice mix. Now cook it again for another hour. At the end of the cooking it will look like a thick meaty gravy.
By this mean time make the mashed potato. Boil potatoes in adequate water till tender. Drain it. Mash the potato with a little butter. Season it with salt and pepper. Sprinkle chopped parsley and mash till potatoes are smooth.
In a bowl whisk together egg yolk and milk and stir it into the mashed potato mixture. Top the meat mixture with mashed potato and spread it evenly to cover. You can pipe the mixture too, to give it a fancy look.
Bake it in a pre heat oven at 350F for 25-30 minutes.
Serve warm.

Nalli Nihari

Foods like nalli nihari made our stay in Hyderabad oh so enjoyable. One of the delights was to drudge through the insane evening traffic on Fridays to head to old Hyderabad, to pick up some nalli. I have forgotten the name of the restaurant but the taste still lingers on in my memory.
You can make this with lamb or goat. Ask the butcher for shanks (leg meat on bone). Made with a lot of spices this needs some planning, but the results easily make up for your hard work.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. lamb leg on bone
• 2 medium onions sliced
• 1/2 “ ginger cut into thin sticks
• 2 cups mutton stock
• 2 tbsp. clarified butter ( Ghee)
• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. whole wheat flour
• 4 tbsp. ghee ( Clarified Butter )
• 1 tsp. sugar
• salt to taste
• 4 tbsp. Nihari masala powder
  • 1 and 1/2 tbsp. cumin seeds
  • 8 green cardamom
  • 3 black cardamom
  • 2” cinnamon stick
  • 10 cloves
  • 3 blades of mace
  • 1 tsp. grated nutmeg
  • 14 black pepper corn
  • 1 star anise
  • 2 tsp. fennel seeds
  • 2 tsp. poppy seeds
  • 1 tsp. dry ginger powder
  • 8 dry red chili
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp. roasted chana dal powder

Procedure

Take all the ingredients listed under Nihari Masala Powder and dry roast them on medium heat till you start getting a nice aroma.  Turn off the heat and bring them down to room temperature. Dry grind them in a blender to make a fine powder of them.
Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan till it melts. Now add onion slices to it and fry them on medium heat for about five minutes. Add meat pieces to it and sear them on high heat to lock the moisture inside.
Sprinkle 2 tbsp. of freshly ground nihari masala powder and mix well. Saute everything together for about ten minutes on low heat.
Season the meat with salt, sugar and pour six cups of water to it. Give a nice stir and cook it covered on low heat till the meat is tender. it takes about 45 minutes.
Now pour the mutton stock over it along with the rest of nihari masala powder.
Mix the flour with half cup of water the add this mixture to the cooked mutton. Mix well and allow the gravy to simmer till it thickens.
Turn off the heat. Finish it off with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Dish it out and garnish with cilantro and serve.

Mutton Pulao

Durga pujo is just around the corner. The fall weather in Pacific North West is very close to that of Kolkata just before Pujo. The sky is blue with fluffy clouds hanging around. The first nip of chill is in the air. Some variant or atleast look-a-like of kash flower abounds in our area.

I have already started planning for the Durga pujo feast at home. A must have is the simple rustic mutton pulao. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. mutton pieces on bone
• 3 cups basmati rice washed and soaked
• 1 medium sized onion sliced
• 1 tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 tbsp. garlic paste
• 12-14 green chilies slit lengthwise
• 2 tbsp. plain yogurt
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp. Bengali garam maala
• 2 tbsp. whole garam masala (2” cinnamon stick, 8 cloves, 8 green cardamom)
• 4 tbsp. clarified butter (Ghee)
• Sugar to taste
• Salt to taste

Procedure

In a pan heat 1 tbsp. ghee till melts. Add onion slices and fry on medium heat. Add four slit green chilies along with ginger garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes away.
Add meat pieces to it and sear them on high heat along with the spices for about two minutes. Reduce the heat to the lowest mark. Sprinkle salt, sugar. Now add yogurt along with 1 tsp. garam masala powder and mix well.
Cook it on low heat till the mutton is three fourth done.
In a deep pan take enough water and bring it to a rolling boil. Add the soaked and drained rice to it and wait till it just starts to boil. It takes around three to four minutes time. Drain the rice on a colander.
Now in a wide pan heat two tbsp. ghee. Add bay leaves, green chilies, and whole garam masala. When it stops sputtering add the drained rice to it. Fry on medium heat gently so that the grains don’t break.
Add salt and sugar to your taste.
Now in a pressure cooker take the fried rice, put the meat pieces. Measure 3 cups of liquid (includes mutton stock + water) and pour over it. Put the pressure lid on and cook on high flame till one whistle comes. Let the pressure release on its own.
In a separate pan heat 1 tbsp. ghee till it melts and add green chilies and garam masala powder to it. Once they start sizzling pour over the pulao and serve….

Bhutwa aka Nepali Mutton

 

I got this recipe from Mr. Atul Sikand over a food network on Facebook. The day I decided to make it I called my husband to know whether he would be in early for dinner. He told me that he was at a Asian grocery store close to his office. So I asked him to look for Szechuan pepper (also known as timur) and fortunately store keeper exactly knew what I was looking for. This chili made the recipe extra special. If you cannot get it, you can always try with dry red chili, but be forewarned it will never be the same.

Ingredients

• 750 gms. mutton cut on bone in 2” pieces
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. garlic paste
• 10 dry red chili
• 1/2 tsp. methi (fenugreek) seeds
• 1 tsp. ajwain (carom) seeds
• 2 tbsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. timur (Szechuan pepper)
• 2-3 black cardamom
• 1’'”cinnamon stick
• 8-10 black pepper corn
• 1 bay leaf
• 150 ml. mustard oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Heat mustard oil in a pan till it smokes. Now reduce the heat and add bay leaf, cinnamon, black cardamom and pepper corn to it. Fry them on low heat for a minute till the oil becomes fragrant.

Add methi seeds and wait till the seeds turn black. Immediately add ajwain seeds and dry red chili.

Next to go in is chopped onion. Fry them on medium heat till they turn dark brown.

Add meat pieces to it and fry them on medium heat along with the fried onions. Fry for about ten to fifteen minutes till the meat changes its raw color and turn brown.

Sprinkle salt and sugar. Add a cup of water to it and mix well. Cook covered on low heat till the meat is 90% done.

By the mean time heat 2 tsp. oil in a small pan and add ginger garlic paste along with the coriander powder. Cook on low heat till the raw smell subsides.

Once the meat is almost done add this spice mixture to the meat. This is the time for the red chili powder to go in. Mix everything together and cook  for another ten to fifteen minutes.

When the meat is tender and the oil is separated add timur paste to it and let it simmer for another minute.

Your Bhutwa or Nepali style mutton is ready to serve.

Chole Gosth

Generally I make Chole Gosth when I have little left over meat. Not enough for everyone at home but at the same time the folks want to eat something non-vegetarian. It’s like cheating a little bit, but not really because it tastes awesome (if I may say so myself ).

Ingredients

• 2 lb. mutton cut into medium pieces on bone
• 1/2 lb. chickpeas soaked overnight
• 2 large onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp. ginger paste
• 1 tbsp. garlic paste
• 2 large tomatoes chopped
• 5-6 green chilies
• 1 tsp. cumin powder
• 1 tbsp. red chili powder
• 2 tbsp. chole masala
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• 4 tbsp. oil
• Handful of freshly chopped cilantro for garnishing

Procedure

In a pressure cooker take soaked chole and add 2 cups of water along with a pinch of salt. Cook till two whistles come. Let the pressure settle down on its own. Open the lid and transfer the chole in some other container. Keep an eye not to overcook them. They should retain their shape.

Add 4 tbsp. oil in the pressure cooker and add chopped onions. Fry on low heat till you can see the edges turn brown. Add mutton pieces to it and fry them along with onions on medium heat till the meat takes a light brown hue. Add tomatoes, green chilies, ginger garlic paste. Sprinkle cumin powder, chili powder,chole masala, salt and sugar. Sauté on medium flame till the oil starts getting separated from the edges.

Pour half a cup of water and give a nice mix. Close the pressure cooker and cook the mutton on medium heat for 15 minutes. Let the pressure release on it own. Open the lid add add the boiled chick peas to it.

Mix once again and allow them to simmer together on low heat till you have a thick gravy.Turn off the heat.

Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and green chilies.

Serve with Naan, chapathi or Paranthas.

Sahi Mutton Chanp

Southern Amenia, a famous restaurant in Golpark, Kolkata served a different kind of Chaap. It differed from the traditional Kolkata Chaap in being a bit mellow. When we were in college we used to love frequenting Southen Amenia just for this Sahi Chaap. Unfortunately worker dispute lead to it’s closure. Some of the workers even started making it on their own and selling it from a shack right outside the Amenia building. Now that all remnants of it has disappeared I have to make it for myself. Hope you enjoy it as well.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb. mutton chops
• 1 medium onion coarsely chopped
• 7-8 garlic cloves crushed
• 2-3 dry red chili
• 4 tbsp. thick plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. red chili powder 
• 8-10 almonds blanched and peeled
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 1 tsp. freshly ground Bengali garam masala
• 1 tsp. rose water 
• 2 tbsp. ghee (Clarified Butter)
• 2 tbsp. oil 
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Make a smooth paste of almond with milk and reserve it for later use.

You need to get mutton (goat meat) chop pieces to make chaap. In Kolkata you can just let the butcher know and he will make the chops ready for you. Outside your homeland, you need to specifically instruct the butcher to break the chops with the broad side of their flat knife. Otherwise use your metal meat tenderizer to flatten the chops.

Heat 1 tbsp. ghee in a pan till it melts. Now add chopped onion, sliced ginger and crushed garlic to it. Fry on medium heat till the onions start getting a golden brown hue. Turn off the heat and let them cool down to room temperature.

Now add the fried spices to a grinder and make a smooth paste of them with a spoon of yogurt.

Wash the chops and pat them dry.In a mixing bowl mix yogurt with the onion, ginger, garlic paste and red chili powder. Season the mixture with salt.

Rub this spice mixture well on both sides of the chops. Allow it to rest for half an hour.

Heat oil in a wide frying pan till it melts. Now reduce the heat and temper it whole dry red chilies. Arrange the mutton chops in a single layer. Cook it covered on very low heat for about 45 minutes.  Frequently remove the cover and mix the spices. Fry the chops till you can see that the oil gets separated from the rest of the spices.

Now add almond paste to it and cook for another five minutes on low heat.

Sprinkle rose water and garam masala powder over it. Drizzle one spoon of ghee and keep it covered till you serve. Enjoy with Biryani or laccha paratha.

Laal Maas – Rajasthani Red Meat Curry

Rajasthan is not a place people associate with Meat. My husband is always eager to narrate the horror story of how he had to stay without non-vegetarian food for a whole long week in Rajasthan. But Laal Maas or Red Meat is a famous Rajasthani dish. The story I have heard is that the Rajputs feasted on this after their hunting expeditions. They carried the simple spices required for this and cooked laal maas in the jungle. Even though I do not really hunt, I love my share of laal maas. This is one of the dishes where you’d need to get rid of your inhibitions and go full throttle on red-chilies and oil.

Ingredients

• 500 gm. mutton (lamb or goat meat) on bone
• 2 medium onions finely chopped
• 2 tbs. finely chopped ginger
• 10 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. Kashmiri Red chili powder
• 1 cup yogurt whisked
• 3 whole green cardamom
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 2 black cardamom
• 1/2 leaf mace
• 4-5 black peppercorn
• dry roast and grind the following to a fine powder
  • 10-12 whole dry red chili
  • 2 tsp. coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp. whole cumin seeds
• 8 tbsp. mustard oil (mustard oil helps get a better color)
• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro (Coriander leaves) for garnishing
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Heat mustard oil in a pan and add cinnamon, cardamoms, mace and black peppercorn. Allow them to crackle. Add chopped garlic, ginger and green chilies to it. Fry on low heat for 3-4 minutes. Now add chopped onion to it and fry everything together till the edges of onions start changing color.

Add mutton pieces and fry them on high heat for about 3-4 minutes. It will help in sealing the juices inside the meat pieces.

Now add ground dry spice, Kashmiri red chili powder to it and fry along with the spices.

Turn off the heat and allow it to cool down completely. Add whisked yogurt and mix well. Turn on the heat and season it with salt. Mix once again and cook it covered on low heat for 45 minutes. Keep a cup of warm water ready and so that you can add it to the gravy whenever needed.

Remove from heat when meat is well done. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.

Note:

Traditionally in Rajasthan KACHRI powder is added to tenderize the meat and also to add a tanginess. I didn’t have the same so I added yogurt instead. If you have Kachri powder add 1/4 cup while frying the spices. 

 

Kerala Mutton Stew

I first had this in Thiruvananthapuram, in god own country, Kerala. We were served the mutton stew along with appam. This is mildly spiced and very soothing in the coconut milk broth. It goes great with steaming white rice as well.

Ingredients

• 1lb. mutton (I used goat Meat)
• 1” ginger cut into thin strips
• 5 – 6 garlic cloves chopped
• 2 medium potatoes cut into halves
• 1 medium carrot cut into big chunks
• 5 – 6 French beans cut into 2” long pieces
• 1 cup thick coconut milk
• 5 – 6 green chilies slit lengthwise
• 2, 3 bay leaves
• 1 twig of curry leaves
• 1tsp. pepper powder
• Salt to taste
• Whole garam masala
  • 1” cinnamon stick
  • 2,3 cloves
  • 2 green cardamom
  • 2 star anise

Procedure

Heat oil in a cooker. Add garam masala and wait till you smell the fragrance. Add chopped ginger, garlic to it. Fry on medium heat.

Add other vegetables and sauté them on high heat for few minutes. Add mutton pieces and sear them on high heat. Add bay leaves and salt to it and mix well. Pressure cook it for five minutes.

Let the steam settle down. Add crushed black pepper powder and curry leaves and stir well. Pour thick coconut milk and cook everything together for another five minutes.

Traditionally this stew is served with appam.

Hyderabadi Kacchi Gosth Biryani

Biriyani is just a name for traditional Indian way of cooking meat and rice. How it is cooked and what is added varies drastically across India. In one such variation meat is cooked separately with gravy and then mixed with half-cooked rice and put on the final “dum” (slow cooking). In another, marinated raw meat is layered in rice and spices and cooked together. The meat in this case is kacchi or raw. As you can guess this is what I cover in todays post.

This recipe comes from the Hyderabad Nizams kitchen. One of our relatives (Habu Dadu) ran away from home at a young age and finally with a lot of twists of fate landed as the apprentice of the Hyderabad Nizams chief chef. He worked in the Nizam’s kitchen for many years and finally retired in Kolkata. When he used to visit our home he used to come with his own bag of spices and cook for us. It used to be a grand feast which I remember till this date. Todays recipe dedicated to his fond memories.

Ingredients

For Marinating

• 1kg mutton cut into medium pieces on bone
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 1tbsp. salt
• 1/2tsp. sugar
• 1tbsp. ginger paste
• 1tbsp. garlic paste
• 1tbsp. green chili paste
• 1tbsp. garam masala ( You can use Biryani masala of your favorite brand)
• 1tsp. red chili powder
• Juice of 1 lime
• 250gms curd (Yogurt)
• 1 bunch coriander leaves finely chopped
• 1 bunch mint leaves finely chopped

For Rice

• 500gms. basmati rice
• 2 – 3tbsp. salt
• 50gms. ghee (Clarified butter)
• 1tsp. saffron soaked in quarter cup of warm milk

 

Required Appliance

• Heavy bottom pan (I use Martha Stewart or Simply Calphalon vessels)
• Tawa or skillet

 

Procedure

Soak basmati rice for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok and deep fry the onion slices till they are brown. Remove and drain them on a paper towel.

Arrange mutton in layers in a heavy bottom pan. Add Half of the fried onion, ginger-garlic paste, green chili paste, chili powder, garam masala powder, salt, sugar, yoghurt, oil, lemon juice, chopped coriander and mint leaves to it. Mix everything well with mutton  and keep it marinated for 3-4 hours.

By the meantime in a pan take water along with 2- 3  tbsp. salt and bring to a rolling boil. Stir it well and add presoaked basmati rice to it. Once you have added the rice it will stop boiling. Wait till it again starts boiling. This rice is 50% done. Make an layer of rice on top of the marinated mutton. Add about a cup of water ( Preferably the water in which you boiled the rice).

Sprinkle some more fried brown onions on top of it. Drizzle few spoons of saffron soaked milk over it.

Now seal the vessel tightly with aluminum foil.

We will not be cooking this directly on heat because if we do so the meat will char by the time the biriyani is cooked. So take a tawa (skillet) and place the biryani vessel on top of it. Cook it on medium heat for about 45 minutes. By the end of this time you will see the aluminum foil has swollen up. That means it is ready. Remove the foil an serve it with raita.

Goat Steak

Finally getting around to post our new-year dinner :).

My husband loves eating steaks, however, my meat choices are limited to the traditional bong palate. Hence we cannot go out eating steak. So for this new year I made goat-steak at home.

We also use this as a common healthy yet tasty dinner option. I know that Goat and healthy is already raising some eyebrows. We were raised identifying goat with red-meat and something which is unhealthy and to be avoided. However, this is a total myth, goat is actually more healthy than chicken and is definitely not among the real red-meats (beef). To debunk this theory let me put the nutrition values of goat (left) and chicken with skin(right) side by side (source http://nutritiondata.com)

 

Isn’t it an eye opener that chicken is 80% more in calorie and 6 times more in fat?

Leaving calories and fats aside, lets come to the more interesting things. Goat steak is yum :) as my daughter calls it. Also this recipe works equally well with Lamb steak.

Ingredients

1. 4 medium sized goat steaks
2. 1tbsp. chopped garlic
3. 1tsp. chopped ginger
4. 2tbsp. plain yogurt
5. 1tsp. chopped mint leaves
6. 1tsp. dried basil
7. 1tsp. cumin powder
8. 1/2tsp. dried red chili flakes
9. 1tsp. black pepper powder
10. 1tsp. dark soya sauce
11. Juice of one lime
12. 1/2 cup red wine
13. Cooking spray (or cooking oil)
14. Salt

Procedure

First take a mixing bowl and mix all ingredients other than wine and cooking oil. Take the steaks and coat both the sides with the marinade. Keep them in a refrigerator for 2-3 hrs.

Apply cooking spray on the skillet and place the steaks in a single layer. Keep the marinade reserved for sauce. Grill the steaks on medium high heat for 15 minutes and then flip them over. Again apply some cooking spray all over and grill for another 15 minutes.

In the meantime make the sauce. Take a pan and transfer the left over marinade into it. Add wine and cook it over medium heat till it thickens.

Place the grilled steaks on a serving plate and drizzle some sauce over to keep them moist. Garnish with little sour cream or Greek yogurt of your choice.