Mutton Kuruma/ Mutton Stew

"Food is our common ground, a universal experience"

-James Beard

                                 I sincerely hope I could spend more time at blogging. But the thing is I get distracted by lots of other stuff which I enjoy doing from time to time.. The latest errand is making clothes for my baby girl. I used to stitch clothes for myself before and enjoyed it thoroughly. Now that I have a girl, my latest infatuation is making frocks for her.

                           And when I am caught up with designing the little dresses, I find that time just flies away without any regard for my bewildered self. I just get carried away by the designing, cutting, stitching and gawking at the finished product. Even in my dreams, I see my little girl fluttering in her beautiful summer dress in the enchanting breeze. Now, you get a hint of the measure of madness I actually am in! I myself think me nuts sometimes.. Frankly! So, the cooking, picturing, editing and all such stuff could wait for the time being. But still, I feel guilty about the blog , that I thought I would post a recipe which I drafted long  back.

                         Mutton Kuruma was one of the dishes I began making with mutton in my early days of experimenting. It was a total mess for the first few times I attempted it. But later I began to find balance in the amount of spices and texture of the curry and now it is one of Mr.KB's favourites (and mine too :)) I make it the same way my mom in law used to make but I omit adding yogurt for reasons of my own.

                      Being a child, I used to hate mutton. I was weary of its meaty taste and its fatty texture. But I guess your taste buds develop over time. Over the years I have found love in mutton preparations, if not as much as my better half. I guess the wall of hatred towards mutton began to collapse slowly after the marriage. The husband of the mutton hating girl was a great fan of the same. And during my early days of marriage, I used to watch in wonder as Mr.KB ate mutton with such pure indulgence and unadulterated mirth. I guess that was when I began to see mutton in a whole new perspective.

      This is the recipe of Mutton Kuruma, the North Kerala way..It is usually made with out adding turmeric powder and hence has a whitish to pale colour. It goes well with Aappam, vellappam, pathiri,ghee rice etc.

Rogan Josh (Restaurant style)

                The temperature is hitting near to lowest in the year. It's freezing out there, under 5 degree Celsius. And everybody is fast drawing back to their habitats, shielding themselves from the bitter cold, except those who cannot help it. The streets seem to be deserted and the shops in the streets are at the lowest time of sales..

                     

 

 

                   The son is so reluctant to go to school. It's difficult to wake him up in the chilly mornings. Only the prospect of getting two days holidays,this week is what gets him going. The room heater is always on duty; right from dawn to dusk. And laziness is at its highest peek especially in the quiet mornings.

 

                   So after the hassles and commotions of the morning; with the son at last send to school and the husband send to office, I usually cuddle up near the younger ones, enjoying the warmth of their blankets and the heater. It is such a nice time to sleep the day away.. But Alas! you cannot sleep to your fill! One of the kids would wake up and ask for food and I have to get up, though reluctantly wearing all the wool that is available in the house:)

 

 

 

           Slowly, reluctantly you have to cast off the layer of laziness from you to become active in the kitchen again. Cooking to the appetite is the greatest way to ward off the chill. The warmth of the steam coming out of the pan on the stove, the aroma of spices which fills the kitchen with warmth, the gurgling sound of water as it boils in the kettle and the little chit chats of the son and daughter is all it needs to swing you into the mood...

 

            So, I made Rogan Josh, the other day..one of my favourite Indian mutton preparations. As the name suggests, it is the synonym of intensity when it comes to flavour and spices. A passionate blend of spices, a sweet n sour kind of indulgence. Perfect for the weather, I say. It goes well with steamed rice and chappatis. I made it the restaurant style, the most popular way it has been prepared ever.

 

 

 

 

 

Rogan Josh (Restaurant Style) Recipe:

 

1 kg boneless lamb, preferably Indian

1tsp freshly ground ginger

1 tsp freshly ground garlic

3 medium onions, finely chopped

2 tbsp tomato puree/ 3 tomatoes blended to pulp

8 cardamom pods/ elakka

2 bay leaves / vazhana ila

1 piece mace/ jathi pathri

6 cloves / grampoo

1 tbsp pepper corns

1 cinnamon stick(2 inches long)

1 tsp coriander pdr

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp fennel seeds

3 tsp kashmiri chilli pdr

1 tsp chilli pdr

5 tbsp plain yogurt

1/4 tsp garam masala pdr

1/4 tsp black pepper pdr

3 tbsp vegetable oil

Coriander leaves/ cilantro to garnish

Salt to taste

 

Method:

• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and brown the meat in it. Set aside.
• Put cardamom, bay leaves,mace, cloves, pepper corns and cinnamon stick into the same oil and stir.
• When the aroma comes out, add onions and saute until brown. Add the ginger  garlic paste.
• Add cumin and fennel seeds and saute. Then add the chilli powders and saute in low heat
• Add tomato puree and saute. Adjust the salt and add fried meet cubes. Stir for 30 seconds.
• Add yogurt, 1 tablespoon at a time and stir well to combine.
• Now add a cup of water and bring to boil. Cook covered on medium heat for 1 to  2  hours, stirring occasionally to prevent the gravy from sticking to the sides and bottom of the pan. If you are pressure cooking, it may take 30 to 45 minutes.
• When the cooking is done and the gravy is nicely coated on the meat, sprinkle  garam masala powder  and black pepper powder on top.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with ghee rice or chappatis.

 







Malabar Mutton Biriyani

                                          " Come delicious little dreams
                                      Become more and more yummy deals
                                                 So that you could heal
                                            All pretty unhappy kinda feel"

          I don't know why I am becoming poetic nowadays. I usually do when I am quite unparallely happy or totally devastated. Uncanny.. right? But that's what I am.. During the uneventful days I am quite normal. Unusual happiness or utter sorrow brings the Quixote out in me. No wonder most of the great poets were said to be a little out of their mind. Insanity brings outrageous rhythm to your thoughts which pours out as words with a complete twist. Actually I am pushed into such bizarre moods simply by the thoughts of home or by a homely food or hearing my son pronounce correctly a moderately difficult word without efforts. So what was it that let the Miss Loony loose in me this time?

        It was a very traditional goodie which actually send my palate (and mind) to extra ordinary ecstasy. Yes the 'Malabar Mutton Biriyani' is something which is more nearer to ecstasy.... if you are a biriyani lover. And like many others, I also think my mom makes the best biriyani . She makes it in the traditional "dum" procedure. 'Dum' is the process by which biriyani is cooked by retaining all its fragrance inside by sealing the lid with dough and keeping a weight on top of the lid so that the fragrant vapour is never going to escape out through any vent. Also hot embers of wood are distributed evenly under the pot as well as over the lid  so that the biriyani gets cooked equally over the top and bottom. So much to do for the traditional flavour lock technique... But I do not make it the traditional way because of lack of facilities in my little flat. I try to compensate it though, with resources I have... like aluminium foil to cover the vessel over which the lid is kept which is held intact by clothe pegs :) and keeping the whole vessel in the oven to get the 'dum' effect. Not bad in the outcome.  Actually it tastes almost its traditional cousin.
Here is the recipe...

Things you need:


For rice:
Basmathi rice or any other biriyani rice - 5 cups, soaked for 10 minutes and drained
Boiled water - 10 cups (it depends on the rice you use. some rice needs less than double the amount of water )
Salt to taste

For the masala:
Fresh  tender mutton  - 1 kg (cut into medium sized pieces, washed and drained)
Vegetable oil - 4 tbsp
Large onions - 5, sliced thinly
Ginger minced - 2 tsp
Garlic minced - 2 tsp
Green chillies, minced - 6
Tomato , sliced - 3
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tbsp

Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Poppy seeds/ cus cus - 1/2 tsp
(Soak these two for at least 1 hour)

Grated fresh coconut - 3 tbsp (optional)
Lemon juice - of 1 lemon
Coriander leaves , sliced - 3/4 cup
Mint leaves, sliced - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste

Others:
Ghee / Clarified butter - 1/4 cup
Cashew nut - 50 g
Raisins - 50 g
Onion, sliced thinly - 1

Garam masala powder:

 4 Cinnamon sticks of 2 inch length

8 Cloves

8 Cardamom

1 Nutmeg

4-6 mace/ jathipathri

4 Star anise

1 tsp fennel seeds

Dry roast all these and powder. Store in an air tight container

Method:

Making the masala:
        Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the sliced onions and saute until translucent. Add the minced ginger, garlic and green chillies and saute. Now add the sliced tomatoes and saute until it becomes mushy. Add the turmeric powder, pepper powder,coriander powder and garam masala powder and saute for another 2 minutes. Now add the lemon juice, salt and the leaves. Cook for a couple of minutes with the vessel covered. Meanwhile grind the soaked fennel an poppy seeds into a very fine paste. If there is difficulty grinding them add a little coconut to it and grind.Add this fennel poppy paste to the masala and saute. Finally add the mutton and mix everything well. Now close the pressure cooker and cook with the weight on in high heat. After the first vistle comes simmer the heat and cook for another twenty minutes and remove from heat.

Making the rice:
      Heat another heavy bottomed deep vessel and add ghee to it . Add a thinly sliced onion and fry it until deep brown and crispy. Remove it from the ghee and keep aside. Now fry the cashews and raisins in the same ghee until brown and puffed up. Take out from the ghee and keep with the fried onion. Now add the basmathi rice to the remaining ghee and saute until it starts becoming translucent. Add hot water to it . When it comes to a boil add adequate salt and simmer the heat and cook it by covering the vessel. Stir the rice occasionally to ensure uniform cooking. Remove from heat when all the water dries up and the rice is almost cooked.

Layering:
      Heat a deep round vessel and add the biriyani masala to it. On top of it add a layer of rice about 3 inches thick. Spread some fried onion, cashews and raisins on top of it. Sprinkle a little garam masala powder also. Above this add another layer of rice, then the onion cashew mix and go on until all the rice is layered. Now press the top layer with a spatula in such a way that the rice forms a dome shape. This helps in retaining the spicy vapour of biriyani inside the rice layers and gives the rice a nice fragrance. Now cover the top of the vessel with an aluminium foil and place the lid tightly on top. Secure the lid with clothe pegs or any other clips. Place the vessel in oven and cook at 160 degree C or gas mark 2 for 10 minutes or simmer the heat and keep it on the stove for another 15 minutes. Then remove from heat. Do not open until you start serving.

Serve:
      Serve hot with coconut chutney , curd or pickles and salad. Mix the masala and rice before serving. Garnish it with fried onions, cashews and raisins.

Eid Celebration and the Garden Barbecue

             It was Eid-Al -Ad'ha... another reason to celebrate.. Belated 'Eid Mubarak' to all my readers. 

             Well I was too busy to post anything on Eid. The celebration started with going to the 'Eid gah' or Eid gathering in open air where we performed the Eid prayer..., met family and friends and exchanged greetings... Then there was the  ritual slaughtering  of goat in memory of the sacrificial mind of the great forefather and Prophet, Ibrahim(A)... later on visiting friends and family..

            It was on the second day we went for barbecuing with friends to a public garden.. The climate was pleasant and the night was beautiful... It was real fun barbecuing in the garden with all the chatters and delicious smell of cooked meat coming up..The event was decided in haste and we didn't have ample time to marinate the meat. I had loads of mutton in my freezer from the Eid slaughtering and so I took some marinated mutton and my friends brought chicken.. So the menu was diverse. We ate them with pita bread and home made middle eastern garlic sauce or Thoom, the recipe of which I had posted earlier. Unlike usual, we women decided to do the bbq grilling. Here are some pics from the grilling..

The marinated mutton ready to get on to bbq.. It was a simple marinade with ginger garlic paste, ground green chillies, lemon juice and salt. I couldn't risk losing time on cutting em to smaller pieces.. that's why it looks a little weird.. :)

Lighting the coal..

The chicken to be cooked and the half cooked mutton

                                                     chicken and mutton are almost done..

                                            ....the cooked chicken ready to be eaten

By the time everything was cooked, everybody had gone loony with hunger... So, do I need to say the food vanished into thin air, the moment it was transferred to the serving plate? :) No wonder they say, 'hunger is the best taste maker'... grilled chicken and grilled mutton had never tasted this yum before..