The lure of nihari

Forgive us readers but come Eid ul Adha, we at Star Lifestyle tend to go overboard with our enthusiasm of eating beef. We go on a mode of 'beef starvation' -- refraining from consumption of meat altogether in the build-up to Eid. And come 'E' day, we devour like never before.
Gluttony, as they say, is a wonderful sin and we are but mere transgressors.
If beef is high in cholesterol -- which I am sure it is -- 'nihari' is a potential A-bomb. Just like all things fun in life, the recipe for making 'nihari' is simple enough. You put everything in a pot and let it simmer. For a week...and a few days more! That is where the secret lies. The simmer.
With every passing day, the watery liquid turns thicker; the eventual product resembling a paste sticky to the touch. And yummy to the taste.
No food is better suited for a feast of gluttons than the extravagant nihari, a culinary jewel for the people in the Indian subcontinent.
A stew of the feet and bone marrow of cow, goat or lamb (and thus the term paya), it's so rich in fat, and so oily the dish can be, that some people try to avoid it all together and for good reasons. But Eid ul Adha provides us the best excuse to indulge in this delectable item!
The word nihari comes from the Arabic word, 'nihar', which means 'morning'. This food was mainly eaten early in the morning, as a breakfast item, although nowadays nihari is also eaten in lunch and dinner.
An early breakfast with nihari, 'naan roti' or 'luchi' or 'chaal er gurir roti' even -- sheer delight. Have tamarind sauce to go with it, and you will experience bliss. In fact, in some regions it is very popular; the famous 'mezban' in Chittagong often has nihari as an additional item.
From Chittagong to Old Dhaka, nihari has played its charm on all of us. Although we try to cut down on its intake and limit ourselves to the time of Eid ul Adha, there are many people out there who just can't stop having enough of it.
The speciality of home-made nihari is simple the fact that it's made from scratch. It bears the touch of affection from the cook, our elderly grandmother or our mother herself.
In the days following Eid, nihari is a popular dish, homemade and right from scratch! So this Qurbani Eid, spoil yourself a little with this utterly spicy dish of nihari, the recipe for which follows:
Easy nihari
Ingredients:
1 kg (cut into 4 to 6 large pieces) beef
1½ kg knuckle/marrow bones
250g ghee/oil
1 cup onions (finely sliced)
1½ tsp garlic paste
2 tsp ginger paste
1 packet shan nihari curry mix
100-150g wheat flour Method:
In a large pot, heat 150g ghee or oil, and add in garlic paste, ginger paste and ½ cup onions. Stir for a minute and add the meat, bones and Shan Nihari Mix. Fry for a few more minutes then add 10 to 12 cups of water. Cover and cook over very low heat for about 6 to 8 hours, or until the meat is tender. Mix together the wheat flour with 3 cups of water. Add this to the pot gradually, stirring constantly so that it mixes evenly. Remove the bones and cook on over high heat for 15 more minutes. Heat the remaining oil or ghee, and fry the other ½ cup of onions in it until golden brown. Add the fried onions to the nihari, cover and simmer for another 30 minutes over low heat. Garnish with finely chopped green chillies, sliced ginger and lime juice.

By M H Haider

Recipe: Asma Aziz