Tags: balti, curries, lentil, naan, desi, karahi, tandoor, indian curry, chettinad, idli

While I also have to wait for sometime now to post few of the recipes from the Rajasthan
episode, it was always there in the mind to back up the earlier posted blogs with some fantastic
recipes.

Hara Mutton
1 kg shoulder of lamb
3 medium red onions
½ cup refined oil
1 bunch of fresh spinach
1small bunch of spring onion
1bunch fresh coriander leaves
2tbsp green chili paste
1tsp turmeric powder
1 ½ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
3 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
5 green cardamom
2 black cardamom
1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
5 cloves
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt to taste

For the preparation:
Debone the lamb, remove sinews and extra fat, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces. You can also ask your
butcher to do the same for you. For extra flavour, you can also prepare the lamb stock with the
bone by simmering it for 2-3hours with few onions, carrot, bayleaf and peppercorn.
Peel and chop the onions. Clean and wash spinach, spring onion and coriander. Blend them
using small amount of water until smooth. Remove in a bowl and add the green chili paste.

For the cooking:
Heat oil in a pan; add both the cardamoms, cinnamon and bay leaf. As soon as it starts
crackling, add chopped onions and fry until light golden. In order to enable onion release water,
add pinch of salt which is hygroscopic in nature.
Next add cubes of mutton and some salt and stir fry on medium heat until surface of lamb has
all browned. At this stage add ginger-garlic and fry for another 2 minutes.
It is the time for the masalas do the wonders now, add all the powdered maslaas and fry until
each of the mutton cubes are well coated with the blend.
Check the doneness of the mutton, add little water/ mutton stock and simmer until mutton is
almost done. Stir in the green paste from the bowl (spring onion, spinach, coriander and green
chili paste) and simmer for another 2-3minutes until mutton pieces are well coated with the
paste. Check seasoning, sprinkle lemon juice and mix well. Serve hot

The other interesting recipe which is unique and little difficult for the moderate palate is laal
maans. It challenges even the fiercest supporters of authentic spicy food.
1 kg leg of lamb
20 red Rajasthani chili
½ cup refined oil
3 medium red onions
1 whole garlic pod
5 green cardamom
3 black cardamom
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup thick curd
3 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

For garnish
Coriander
Ginger

For the preparation:
Clean the lamb, remove excess fat, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes on the bone.
Remove stems from the chilies, slit open in half and remove seeds. Soak in warm water for
10minutes. Blend to obtain smooth paste.
Peel and crush garlic. Peel, wash and finely slice onions. Peel and cut the ginger into julienne
(matchstick size). Wash and chop coriander.
Toast the cumin in a dry pan until lightly colored and aromatic, immediately transfer to a cold
surface. Crush it into fine powder using a pestle.
Whisk curd in a bowl, add cumin, coriander and turmeric powder and whisk again lightly to mix
everything.

For the cooking:
Heat oil in a deep bottom pan, add garlic and sauté for 2minutes until lightly colored and
aromatic. Add sliced onion and both the cardamoms and fry for 8-10minutes until onion is
golden brown.
Next add mutton cubes and salt, stir for 8-10minutes until the pieces are lightly colored. Add
the yogurt mixture and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Check doneness of lamb, add enough water to cover the lamb and bring to simmer. Cover with
a lid, stirring occasionally to make sure that it is not sticking to bottom. Check for doneness
again, it should be tender and the gravy should be thick. Adjust seasoning and remove from
heat.
Garnish with chopped fresh coriander and ginger julienne and serve on the bed of chapatti as
tradition would suggest. Few people would crush some crispy poppadum on sprinkle on top of
mutton.

Tags: chicken, bhatura, curries, chana, gosht, balti, dosa, indian curry, roti, sambhar

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

Question : Please tell me what can be prepared from excess sambhar (apart from using for idli/dosa), pls. note it’s made from chana dal. I don’t want to throw it away. Pls. tell me where I can reuse it.

Answer: Even though Sambhar is not typically versatile because of its unique taste but there are some of the possibilities which you can easily try at home. I am not sure what kind of vegetable (mostly seasonal) you are using for making it, the same is difficult to use as they are mostly overcooked by the time sambhar is finally prepared.

There is one typical preparation in South India called “Bisi bele huliyana’ also know as “Bisi bela Bhaat” where “bisi” means hot, “bela” means dal, “Bhaat” means rice and “Huli” means sour or tangy.

Preparing Bisi Bele Bhaat

The recipe works very well with the leftover rice which alongwith leftover sambhar can a healthy, sumptuous main meal of the day. You may also come across some other recipes of this preparation in books and internet where they start with a scratch but this version also works well for soul satisfaction.

Remove the vegetables from the sambhar as much as you can, you definitely do not want them to be overdone and mushy, keep aside. Use 1 cup ice with two cups of sambhar.

Reheat the sambhar, add some water if it is too thick. Next add the rice and slowly simmer, crushing with the back of your spoon, until they resemble like thick rice porridge but still retaining some texture. Add the vegetables and mix well. Check seasoning now, sprinkle lemon juice and stir in freshly chopped coriander leaves. You can also garnish with the slivers of fresh coconut and roasted chana dal if you like some crunch into this preparation.

Preparing South Indian Lentil Soup with left over sambhar

Carefully remove the vegetables from the soup and keep aside. Blend the soup until smooth, strain if required. Put the pureed content in a pan, add coconut milk to thin it to soup consistency, garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with toasted bread.

- Kuntal

Tags: sambhar, indian food, roti, bhatura, chettinad, indian curry, kulfi, palak, lentil, dal

While travelling in the Rajasthan hinterland, I was asked one very good but common question” what does it take to make a very good Biryani at home”. I remember answering to one of the guest readers of www.sonzyskitchen.com blog on the art of making good Mughlai Biryani but at this point of time, it may require greater attention to details like demystifying the ingredients and its purpose, art of steaming in vapour characterized by the lavish use of aromatic agents which produces the delirious effect and leave people spellbound. One of the reader’s question on Lazzat-e-taam” is also pending for some time which I will enquire from the master craftsmen of Lucknowi cuisine as the spice blend is difficult to procure outside Lucknow.

At this stage I wish to concentrate my focus on the multi-dimensional culinary offerings of Rajasthan which I covered briefly in my previous writing. There some really prominent foods of the state which are making splash elsewhere with little realisation of its glorious past which often covered in the thick dust of memory. With evolution, food has also changed its character and people are more than willing to modify the taste, texture, flavour, spicing to suit the palette and at the same time undergoing the risk to become oblivious of the glorious chapters of the past.

This piece of writing will try to focus on the famous Rajputana cuisine or the royal food of Rajasthan against the recent backdrop of the disappearance of the princely kingdom from the map of India.
Some of the Mahrajas or Kings are still living that dream albeit in a new context. People do regard them still as the king but their form of doing administration has take a new hue which is mostly charitable in various fields like schools, colleges, hospitals, old age home, women’s welfare, rehabilitation, town development, so on and so forth.
They have also turned their palaces, a new smart business concept, into resorts and heritage hotels which not only take care of the high maintenance and upkeep but also hands them their share of profit as well.
They are, in fact, the torch bearers of their cuisine and the privileged few will have the opportunity to savour a delicacy from their home kitchen in the cosy comfort of their palatial dining hall.

So what do they actually cook in their home? I am not sure that they themselves indulge in the mundane cooking but anyhow the question is also intriguing as to what do they actually eat in their day to day life?

One thing is for sure if you happen to become guest to one of the Mharajas that the meal will be a grand display of their opulent past, sumptuous and fill you with an experience of a lifetime.

The Rajputana cuisine was primarily based on the utilisation of game birds and game animals but with the government ban on the shikars (killing) as they would be fondly remember from a memory recoup and slaughtering has taken this aspect out of a possible game feast. Campfire was quite common during their heydays where open barbeque of the game killed that day would invite all towards a communal dining fare with light entertainment of songs and dance.

I may not recreate one of the recipes here because describing those experiences will transcend the limit today but some of them will definitely follow in the coming days.

The other intriguing aspect or application, or I may simply call it the improvisation which developed as an effect of the need was Khad cooking which was merely a royal expression of life in the outdoors during their shikar (hunting) foray. These were simple cooking parties or night out but full of pomp and show to impress their masters. The protagonist himself would indulge in these pleasures casting aside their social etiquette of mega living and would eat heartily using their hands.

A khad is a deep pit dug near the main camp so that the roasting pervades the air around and arouses the taste buds while salivating the glands. The bottom of the pit is filled with coal or charcoal which is then surrounded by dried twigs, leaves and small branches. The coal will then be topped with dried cowdung shaped like a flat round cake. This is also known as upla in some parts of India.
The meat will be smothered with marinades and should preferably be kept for 4-6hrs. It will then be wrapped in giant rotis (Indian flatbread) made with whole wheat flour and secured with a strong thread.
This parcel will again be wrapped in juts sacks and tied again with thread which then resemble like a tight jute strewn parcel. This parcel is then put on live coal and cowdung and ghee (clarified butter) is poured on to the parcel containing the meat. Fire the entire coal set-up and cover he parcel with surrounding twigs, branches. etc.
This will cook for some time depending upon the size of the meat but a typical leg of lamb would take almost close to 2hrs to get cooked.

I am not sure whether some of you can do this at home but take part if opportunity beckons you some day. Enjoy until then and wait for the next topic where I cover a recipe from the royal kitchen.

Tags: balti, roti, palak, paneer, dhokla, naan, kebab, kulfi, tandoor, dal

The word “keoti” means a medley of lentils here and hope is a recipe of interest for the readers
of sonzyskitchen blog. One of the cousins of this lentil recipe is called Hyderabadi Saat Nizami
which is a blend of seven lentils and host of tempering. The difficulty of this lentil has forced me
to think of its inclusion in the recipe section but if some of you reading the sonzyskitchen blog
are really interested, I will definitely send it across.
With its typical Hyderabadi flavor and mix of four lentils, dal keoti is a complex blend of lentils
where they complement each other rather than standing out. You can chose the lentil as per
your convenience and personal preference but we do outline the followings in the recipe
below.
Ingredients
¼ cup arhar dal (yellow lentil)
¼ cup masoor dal (red lentil)
¼ cup moong lentil (moong lentil without skin)
½ cup chana dal (Bengal gram)
2 medium red onion, sliced
1tsp ginger-garlic paste
¼ tsp turmeric powder
¼ tsp hot spice powder
2 fresh green chili, cut into four
2 tbsp lemon juice (dry mango powder as alternative)
2tbsp refined oil
Tempering
2 tbsp ghee
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
2 dry red chili
10-15 curry leaves
2-3 garlic, crushed
Method:
1. Soak the lentils separately for half an hour, boil chana dal for 10minutes or pressure
cook in enough water for 3-4minutes (2whistles).
2. Add rest of the lentils, add turmeric and salt and cook with enough water until tender.
Mash the lentil lightly.
3. Heat oil in a pan, sauté onions until light brown, 5-8minutes; add ginger-garlic paste and
sauté until raw aroma disappears. Next add lentil and some water if they are too thick.
4. Add hot spice powder and green chili and simmer for another 3-4minutes. Season with
salt and lemon juice and remove from heat.
5. For the tempering, heat ghee in a pan and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, red chili,
curry leaves and garlic. When seeds start splattering and chili & garlic has become
aromatic, pour it onto the lentils and cover the container with a lid to trap the aroma
inside.
6. Serve hot with the Indian bread or rice of your choice.

Tags: chettinad, handi, chana, palak, gosht, idli, curries, roti, balti, dal

Just as the lentil series was threatening to take centre stage in the preceding blogs, I have
decided to change the topic a little just as to make a happy co-incidence with the election of US
president. The mood obviously is cheerful and optimistic and so wines will take the rightful
place during the celebrations centered on food and dining.
While some of the world cuisine goes very well with wine even to the extent of matching each
of the courses with appropriate grape variety and fizz. Same is not true of Indian food which we
are trying to investigate and explore today.
With the surge in economic activity and globalization of market, it is only a matter of time that
foreign businessmen and visitor will push the Indian dining experience towards acquiring a new
dimension in the form of pairing of Indian food with wine. One could very soon see the a bottle
of wine with the slightest excuse to go with popular Indian food like curries, kormas, biryanis
and tikkas. Some of the prominent Indian restaurant under the aegis of well known hotel
brands like Caridges, ITC and Hyatt have already started the initiative with guarded caution and
some other restaurants, within the hotel and standalone, would follow the suit to bring out the
culinary subtleties of food to complement the notes of wine.
Role of Sommelier
The surest way towards a better melody of curry and wine is to trust the knowledgeable
sommelier (the French term for wine waiter) but the overzealous waiter is equally bad. The
final decision is yours and your ability to afford the elixir of life. One should still be prepared to
question the selection of wine by the sommelier if all the notes are pointing to the same
direction without much informed choices. The idea is to develop the mutually complementing
symphony than the one overpowering other.
Most of the better Indian hotels and some of the up market Indian restaurants have tied up
with their foreign counterpart and arrange training and workshop for its staff to develop the
knowledge and skill. This is also a very good exercise in revenue maximization because of the
margin involved in wines and low labour cost implication in the long term. While the pairing is
still in the infancy in India, it is a common practice in western countries to plan the food around
wine, tapas like food being one of the examples.
Challenges of Pairing Indian food and wine
While it is easier to pair food with some of the cuisines of the world notable amongst them are
Italian, French, Mediterranean because it is a part of their day to day culture, it has always been
difficult to do so with most of the Asian cuisine as it was not a part of their culture. For example
drinking Sake is always very popular with Japanese cuisine. Indian food on other hand has never
been on the same side as that of their western counterparts.
The use of spices, the distractions of oil, the pungency, the inconsistency of recipes that one
wine working with the same food in one restaurant may not be the case with other restaurant.
Mushrooming of Indian restaurants all over the world with their own anglicized Indian recipes
has also not helped the cause. Exception to the rule will always be the delicate Indian
preparations the recipes of which are always guarded secrets of some select few in the India
kitchen.
The complementary notes:
While champagne will always be the natural choice to go with almost the endless variety of
food, the selection though will have to made between brut (dry) and sec (sweet).
Italian red wines like Chianti, Amarone, Barolo, or Barbaresco will go very well with chunkier
Indian food like lamb curry, tikkas and kormas. A good Riesling (white grape) from
Germany, France or Austria would do absolute justice to spicy and lemony food.
Some of the smarter people who do not wish to experience the pain of uncertainty of
choosing red or white would go with Rose wine (wine with the reddish tinge which renders a
pink hue to the liquid) to carry them through the entire meal experience.
Surprisingly the new world wines have charted the lesser known territories than their famed
old world counterparts. Young vintages work well with most of the food and if consuming
more than one wine during the meal experience, chose the lighter wines before full bodied
ones, dry wines before sweet one and lower alcohol wines before higher alcohol wines.
Always insist on tasting the wine before approving the entire bottle; for balance of flavour
work well when you know the spices and herbs and the floral notes of your wine.
We will try to explore more of it in the coming blogs with suggestions and alternatives. Unil
then just remember the popular Latin phrase “ In vino veritas” which means there lies the
truth in wine.

Tags: chana, handi, kebab, desi, roti, tikka masala, bhatura, curries, paneer, kulfi

One of the most prominent lentil preparations which one can come across in any restaurant in India and abroad. Tadka is a generic term meaning tempering the lentil with the spices and herbs cooked in ghee or oil. The tempering also differ from place to place but the purpose remains the same, to impart the interesting twist to the otherwise mundane lentil stew. Some of the popular tempering ingredients are onion, garlic, tomato, green chili, red chili, spices like turmeric, coriander, kasoori methi, cumin etc. The rule of the thumb is to drop the ingredients in hot oil to allow the smoke to surface for a while and then the ingredient is stirred into the lentil which then covered with a lid immediately to prevent the aroma from escaping. If using fresh herbs, add it at the last moment just before serving.

The lentils used for this recipe also vary as some of them would prefer arhar (yellow lentil) or some would prefer massor (red lentil) and moong dal (split skinned moong).

Ingredients
1 cup arhar dal
2 ½ Water
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - to taste

Tadka (tempering)
2 tsps Ghee
Hing - a pinch
1 tsp Jeera seeds (Cumin seeds) -
1 medium sized onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp Garlic paste
1 tsp Ginger Paste
1 medium tomato, chopped evenly
½ tsp Garam Masala
3 or 4 Green chilies (optional)
Fresh Coriander chopped

If using pressure cooker, cook the dal with water and turmeric for 5 minutes (2-3 whistles), allow the pressure to escape completely before opening the lid, and remove the dal from cooker and place in a serving container. If using a vessel to cook the dal, cook in a suitably large container on medium heat for 10-12minutes, checking in between to ensure that they have cooked well.

In a pan heat ghee, add hing (asafoetida) diluted with 1 tsp of water. At the stroke of the first aroma from hing, add cumin and allow crackling. Next add onion and fry until it starts to colour, 3-4minutes. Stir in ginger-garlic paste and cook for another 2-3minutes until raw aroma of the paste has disappeared.
Add the diced tomatoes and cook until oil start to separate and appear on the sides. Add green chilli, garam masala and the dal. Bring to simmer and cook on a low heat for another 5minutes. Check seasoning. Serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander, with your favourite Indian bread or rice

Kuntal.

Tags: balti, desi, karahi, roti, idli, sambhar, bhatura, murgh, dosa, naan

CHANA DAL (CHOLAR DAL IN BENGAL)

Made from split black/ horse gram, this dal will, more often than not, will be found on special occasions and festivals in West Bengal. In Bengal sugar is added to this recipe contrary to the natives of Bangladesh where it is equally famous. As this dal is heavy, asafetida is added to counter flatulence and heaviness.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup chana dal
1tbsp ghee/ clarified butter
1 tbsp golden raisin
Salt to taste
Small cinnamon
1 bay leaf
½ tsp cumin seed
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small knob ginger, scraped and chopped
2 green chili (optional), chopped
2 red chili dry
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tomato (optional), chopped
½ tsp sugar (optional)
Pinch asafetida
½ cup chopped coriander leaves
Coconut slivers for garnish

Method:

Wash the dal until water runs almost clear. Soak for about 30minutes.
In a suitably large ladle heat ghee and fry raisins until puffed, drain on kitchen towel reserving the ghee.

If using pressure cooker, cook the dal with water and turmeric for 5 minutes (3-4 whistles), allow the pressure to escape completely before opening the lid, and remove the dal from cooker and place in a serving container. If using a vessel to cook the dal, cook in a suitably large container on medium heat for 20-25minutes until soft, checking in between to ensure that they have cooked well.

Heat the reserved ghee in a pan and sauté asafetida diluted with 1tsp water, cinnamon and bayleaf (they leave their aroma very well to the hot oil), cumin, garlic, ginger and green chili. After a couple of minutes add red chili and turmeric powder and cook for a minute. Next add tomato and cook for 2-3minutes.

Add this mixture to the boiled dal with sugar and bring to boil. Simmer for another 5-8minutes until dal is completely cooked and thickened. Serve hot garnished with chopped coriander, fried raisin and coconut sliver.

Regards, Kuntal

Tags: bhatura, curries, kebab, indian curry, paneer, naan, desi, handi, balti, idli

Leaves of the curry tree have got nothing in common with the curry powder which is a blend of spices. It is also known as karipatta in common parlance or otherwise as sweet neem leaf. Even though resemble neem leaf; the curry tree is just about 3-4meter high with slightly pointed leaves.

Curry leaf is extensively used in Southern and western Indian cuisine though conspicuously absent in Goa. The leaves releases its fragrance after being fried for a while which makes it aromatic. If it is added to the curries, it requires a couple of minute of cooking to release its flavor to the curry.  They should be used fresh as far as possible as they do not keep well for a long time. Alternatively they can be fried and kept in airtight container for a few days but make sure to use them soon or else they will turn rancid because of the presence of oil. Some people also use it dry but the dried version has got very little flavor as most of the fragrant volatile compound have already vanished by then.

As it comes from the same family as neem, they almost exhibit the same medicinal properties like anti- bacterial properties. The dried leaves are also used as organic pesticide for plants.
Most of the recipe calling for curry leaves use it as one of the flavouring ingredient but not just on its own. Here we share peanut chutney flavoured with curry leaves which can be eaten during any meal.

Peanut Chutney
1 cup peanut with skin
1 tbsp tamarind pulp
2 green chilies (optional)
1 tsp rock salt
10 curry leaves
1 tsp peanut/ groundnut oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
½ tsp split urad dal
½ cup grated fresh coconut

Method:
Roast the peanut on a griddle until lightly blistered, approximately 5-8minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cooled, loosen skin from peanut. Heat oil in a pan and fry the curry leaves briefly until fragrant, add urad lentil and fry for another minute until the lentil is lightly colored. Remove from heat and cool. Put all the ingredients in a blender and grind to a paste. If you require to add water, add a little to facilitate the blending.

Tags: kulfi, curries, bhatura, tandoor, palak, chettinad, murgh, vindaloo, indian food, tikka masala