QnA : Methi Boti Ka Lagaan

Question : Can I please have the recipe for “Methi Lagaan”?

Answer : Lagaan cooking is very popular in the traditional Awadhi cuisine and has filtered down through generation to evolve with much more grandeur and refinement. Most of the five star hotels or upmarket India restaurants will have the dishes cooked in lagan, the recipe which comes close to the request is methi boti ka lagaan because methi fenugreek leaves) does not have the aura to carry the dish all on its own.

Ingredients:

1 kg    Shoulder of lamb
1 cup    desi ghee (clarified butter)
1 cup    yogurt
1 cup    fried brown onion
4 each    green chilli
1 small bunch methi (fresh fenugreek leaves)
6 garlic cloves, chopped
½ tsp    red chilli powder
1/3 tsp    turmeric powder
½ tsp    cumin powder
½ tsp    coriander powder

Marination
½ cup   coriander leaves
¼ cup   mint leaves
1 ½ tbsp ginger garlic paste
1tbsp     raw papaya paste
2tsp      coriander powder
1tsp      red chilli powder
1tsp      cumin powder
¼ tsp    all spice powder
4 green cardamoms
2 black cardamom
4 cloves
1 medium stick cinnamon
Salt to taste

For the preparation:
Clean lamb by removing unnecessary specks of fat and slime, de-bone and cut into 1 ½ inch cubes. You can also ask your butcher to do the same for you. Alternatively you can also use the lamb with bone making sure that pieces are medium size. Crush the fried onions into coarse powder using a pestle.

Wash green chilli, slit, remove seed and cut into strips.

Marination: Clean mint and coriander, wash and finely chop. Blend using minimum water to obtain smooth paste. Put the paste in a bowl, add the remaining marinade ingredients and mix well. Blanch the fenugreek leaves, drain and immediately put into ice water. Drain again and squeeze the leaves to remove excess water. Chop them very finely or alternately blend them using a blender.

For the cooking:
Rub the cubes of meat well with the marinade and keep aside for 2hrs.
Spread ghee (keep aside 1 tbsp) in a lagaan, place the marinated meat along with the marinade to the centre of the container, pour on the whisked yogurt and onion powder, add green chilli and cook on dum (cover the lagaan with the lid and seal it with the flour dough to prevent the steam from escaping) over low heat for 45 minutes or until the meat is cooked.

In a separate pan, heat 1 tbsp of ghee, add garlic and sauté for 30seconds. Add methi leaves, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder and stir to mix well. Season lightly with salt.

Add this methi to lamb and cook for another 5 minutes to allow the flavour to mingle and develop. Ideally it should be eaten the second day as the flavour keeps on developing during the resting period and this holds true for almost all the meat curries.

Serve with the choice of Indian bread or rice.

Note: If you are a vegetarian, you can use ingredients like fresh button mushroom, corn kernels with great effect.

P.S. Lagaan is a Round, deep dish made from copper, or aluminium  mainly used for making biryanis or  mughlai/awadhi curries. Its typically used in “dum” cooking.

Tags: handi, tikka masala, palak, sambhar, chettinad, tandoori, indian curry, tandoor, curries, dosa