Meet meat
MINCE MEAT WITH PEAS
Ingredients
½ kg mince meat
½ cup oil
½ medium sized fried onion
2 green chillies
½ cup fresh coriander
1 tbsp papaya paste
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
4 tomatoes
½ packet kebab masala
1 cup green peas
Ginger for garnish
Charcoal for 'dum'
Method
Combine kebab masala in a chopper/blender and make a fine paste. Heat up a small piece of charcoal and place over mince meat using a bread slice as a base. Pour 1 tbsp of hot oil, cover and let it rest in a refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
Heat oil in a pan and fry green peas for a few minutes. Strain and keep aside.
Add the marinated minced meat in the same pan using the same oil. Put it on simmer with the lid on for 45 to 60 minutes.
Add some fried green peas and butter. Turn up the heat and fry for few minutes more. Garnish with ginger and serve.
NARGISI KOFTA
Ingredients
1 kg meat, cubed
6 eggs, boiled
1 egg, beaten
250g fried onions
6 green chillies
2 tsp ginger and garlic paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup oil
1 tbsp kofta masala
For gravy-
½ onions, ground
½ kg yoghurt
1 tsp ginger and garlic paste
2 tsp fenugreek seed
4 green chillies
½ a bunch of fresh mint, finely chopped
2 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
50g kofta masala
Method
Grind the fried onions, meat, green chillies and ginger garlic paste together, then mix in the red chilli powder, salt, beaten egg and 1 tablespoon of kofta masala. Shell the boiled eggs and coat with the meat mixture, then deep fry in hot oil. Remove and drain on absorbent paper.
In the remaining oil, fry the fenugreek seeds until fragrant, and add the ground onions and cook on high heat until the water evaporates. Stir in the kofta masala into the onions in the pot and spoon in the ginger garlic paste and yoghurt. Cook the mixture until the oil separates. Then carefully add water, a little at a time, and keep stirring to make a thick gravy. Let the gravy bubble for 5 minutes.
To serve, fill a pretty dish with the gravy, slice the koftas in half lengthwise and arrange on top. Garnish with green chillies, ginger and mint.
CHATPATA BEEF MASALA
Ingredients
1 kg beef, cubed
375g onions, sliced into rings
250g yoghurt
250g tomatoes
6 green chillies
1 bunch fresh mint
2 lemons
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
1 cup oil
1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
50g kebab masala
Method
Heat the oil in a deep pot and fry the ginger and garlic paste, then add meat and brown it all over. Now lower the heat and spread the tomatoes and onion rings on top. Beat the yoghurt with kebab masala and spread it over the meat and cover the pot with a close-fitting lid and seal the edges with strips of raw dough. Let the meat simmer on low heat for one hour or until tender. Turn up the heat to dry off excess water, and add green chillies, mint, lemon juice and chopped ginger. Cook for 5 minutes and serve piping hot.
AFGHANI 'DUM' KEBAB
Ingredients
½ kg meat, with fat
2 onions
250g tomatoes
2 green chillies
1 tsp black pepper powder
2 tsp ginger and garlic paste
1 egg
2 tbsp rice flour
Oil, as required
50g murgi masala
Method
Combine the meat, onions and green chillies in a chopper and grind to a fine paste, then mix in the murgi masala, black pepper powder, ginger and garlic paste, egg, and rice flour and knead well. Deseed the tomatoes and dice into 2-inch pieces. To cook, shape handfuls of the meat mixture onto skewers in 1-inch long kebabs, interspersed with tomatoes. Barbecue the kebabs on hot coals, or alternatively, shape kebabs onto shashlik sticks and fry in a shallow pan. Smoke with a piece of coal for added flavour.
BEEF BIRYANI
Ingredients
½ kg meat
½ kg tomatoes
50g dried prunes
1 kg rice
1 tsp cumin seed
1 bunch fresh coriander
1 bunch fresh mint
6 green chillies
½ tsp salt
250g onions
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 cup oil
1 packet or 50g Bombay biryani masala
Method
Begin by putting the rice to soak for half an hour. Heat the oil and fry the onions to a crisp brown colour, then add meat and 2 glasses of water and cook for half an hour or until the meat is tender. Now toss in the tomatoes, dried prunes, ginger garlic paste, Bombay biryani masala and fry thoroughly. Scatter green chillies, coriander and mint on top and turn off the heat. In another large pot, heat 2 tablespoons oil and flash-fry the cumin seed until it stops crackling.
Add the soaked rice and salt and stir to coat the rice with oil, then pour in enough water to steam the rice. When the rice is half-cooked, scoop out some from the centre and fill the cavity with the meat mixture.
Cover the meat with the scooped rice, add 1 cup of water and cook on low heat for half an hour until the rice is cooked through. Stir once and serve.
MUTTON ALMOND KORMA
Ingredients
1 kg mutton
1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
250g yogurt
1 cup ghee
250g onions
1 tbsp kewra water
15 almonds
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 packet or 50g korma masala
Method
Heat the ghee and fry the onions, removing them when onions are a deep golden brown. Reheat ghee and add ginger and garlic paste, mutton, korma masala, yoghurt, and fried onions, and cook on low heat for half an hour until the meat is tender and the oil separates. Add water, a little at a time, to make the gravy. When the gravy is the thickness you desire, cover the pot and let it simmer very gently for half an hour. Remove from the stove, stir in the almonds, garam masala powder, and kewra water and serve hot.
DUM GOSHT MASALA
Ingredients
½ kg mutton
250g tomatoes
4 onions, finely sliced
½ cup yoghurt
1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
1 packet or 50gm achar gosht masala
For stuffed chillies -
½ cup lemon juice
10 green chillies
2 tbsp achar gosht masala
Method
Slit the green chillies lengthways and stuff with a paste of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons achar gosht masala. Heat the oil and fry the onions, then add meat, ginger and garlic paste, and 1 glass of water and cook in a covered pot until the meat is tender.
Mix in the tomatoes, yoghurt, the remaining achar gosht masala and cook on high heat until the oil separates. Pour in 2 glasses of water for the gravy. Arrange the stuffed chillies on top of the meat and simmer until gravy is richly fragrant. Serve with fresh naans.
BOMBAY BIRYANI
Ingredients
1/2 kg mutton
8 leaves of fresh mint
6 cloves of garlic
½ cup onions, sliced
4 potatoes; ½ kg rice, boiled
4 green chillies; 1 pinch yellow food colour
1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
1 cup yoghurt; 2 tomatoes
½ cup oil
1 packet or 50g Bombay biryani masala
Method
Heat oil, fry onions, and add mutton, 1 glass of water, garlic cloves and Bombay biryani masala in a pot. Cover and cook for half an hour. When the meat is tender, stir in the potatoes, yoghurt, ginger and garlic paste and tomatoes, then cover and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in the mint, green chillies and boiled rice. Sprinkle with yellow food colour and cook in a covered pot for half an hour, until the rice is thoroughly flavoured with mutton. Serve hot.
By Elora Hossain
Photo courtesy: Elora Hossain
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