Tavas - Cypriotic Lamb Stew

There is lot in common between Shibin and I.We love to travel and we love to try out new cuisines. The traditional gastronomy of the places enthuse us and we make sure we study it before we head out there. Our travel to Cyprus was no less. We came across an exciting array of cuisines primarily comprising of meat and potato.

If you go to Cyprus and you are not sure what to eat,head into a traditional Taverna and order the Meze. The Meze like the Kashmiri Wazwan consists of several small dishes starting with the salad and course by course servings of pita bread and Tahina, Pastitsio, Souvla, Sheftalia, Kleftiko, Aflia, Tavas and may be even grilled Halloumi cheese. If you are baffled by the number of dishes in Meze, you will be even more baffled by the huge portions they serve.

I definitely had to try out one of the dishes and I chose Tavas. The original recipe is from Mr.Xenios' wife-the owner of the cottage where we were staying. She had prepared this for us on our last night in Cyprus and it was simply adorable.

Tavas is more like a cypriotic version of the Indian curry with cumin seeds and pepper as the spices slow cooked in the oven.  The traditional preparation uses Oregano, however I have not used it here. To give it an Indian touch , I have added 1 tbsp of chilly powder.

Ingredients

1. Lamb - 1 kg
2. Baby Potato - 1 kg
3. Tomato - 1/2 kg
4. Onion - 2 big
5. Parsley - 1 bunch
6. Cumin seeds - 4 tsp
7. Pepper powder - 4 tsp
8. Herbs - 2 tsp(optional)
9. Olive oil - 2 tbsp
10. Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
11. Water - 1 cup
12. Salt

Method

In a deep baking dish, bring together the lamb, potatoes and onions. All of these need to be chopped in big chunks. To this, add crushed cumin seeds, pepper powder, chilly powder, herbs and salt. Drizzle olive oil and toss it well.

Pour in 1 cup water into this (add more water if you need more gravy).Then, layer the dish with chopped parsley and  top it with tomatoes cut in rounds. Pre-heat the oven for 20 minutes and cover this cooked at 200 degrees for 2 hours .Uncover it after two hour, stir it and cover uncooked for another 1 hour at 180 degrees.

Once done, let it rest for a while covered. Then serve it with Pita bread/ Roti or bread.

Enjoy every bite as you dig into the succulent lamb and potatoes.

Omelette Curry - Mom's Special

Egg curry ,egg roast and egg burji is a common dinner recipe for us. It was time to try something new. And that is how the idea of omelette curry struck! I remember my mom making this a long time ago and I think it is quite unique. Having a boiled egg in the curry is usual but having an omelette in there is fun:)

Trust me when I say this!

We were to have guests over for dinner on Friday night and when I suggested omelette curry, my husband was a little skeptical. He presumed that it would be like normal egg curry just that the boiled egg was replaced by omelette. What if it looked a little too common? 

Despite this, he let me have my way. Lo and behold, I made my omelette curry!

I have tried this one another time, but did not succeed in wrapping up the omelette in such a way that it held its shape together. And this time I got it right.

So here goes the recipe relished by everyone who had it. The trick here is getting your omelette cooked and wrapped the right way.

Ingredients

For Omelette

1. Egg - 5
2. Onions - 2 medium finely chopped
3. Coriander leaves - a handful chopped
4. Green Chilly - 1 tsp chopped
5. Salt - to taste

For the gravy

1. Onions - 2 big ones chopped lengthwise
2. Tomato - 1 big chopped lengthwise
3. Ginger - 2 tbsp finely grated
4. Green Peas - a handful
5. Curry leaf - 1 sprig
6. Coconut - 1 grated ( Grind in the mixer to get thin and thick milk)
7. Chilly powder - 1 tsp heaped
8. Coriander powder - 2 tsp heaped
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
10. Crushed pepper - 1/2 tsp
11. Green cardamom - 4 
12. Cloves - 4
13. Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
14. Bay leaves - 2
15. Black cardamom - 2
16. Cashew nut paste - 3 tbsp
17. Oil
18. Salt

Preparation

Making the omelette 

Break open the eggs and whisk it. Add the onions, coriander leaves,green chilly and salt. Mix it well.

Heat a pan and smear oil over it. Do not over heat the pan - keep it on medium flame. 

Pour the mixture on to the pan spreading it evenly. Let it cook for about 2 - 3 minutes on low flame. The omelette should not be flipped over instead fold it over four times.  You may notice that the surface of the omelette may not be cooked perfectly and it would still be moist. You need not worry about that. It needs to be moist to hold it together perfectly and whatever is left uncooked would be cooked once this goes into the gravy.

This mixture would ideally give you about three omelettes.  Slice the folded omelettes into 4- 5 pieces of equal length and keep aside.

Making the gravy

Pour oil into a skillet and toss in the spices - ingredients 11 to 15 mentioned above. Saute it for a minute before you add the sliced onions.

Once the onions are translucent, add the grated ginger and saute till the raw smell goes off.  Now, you can add the chilly powder, turmeric powder and the coriander powder. Saute it for another 2 minutes on low flame. 

Add the green peas. I have used frozen peas, you may use fresh or dried ones as per your choice. Saute it for around 3 minutes. Add the thin milk of the coconut. Bring it to boil and reduce the flame. Add salt and let it simmer covered for 10 - 15 minutes. 

Add the tomatoes and the thick milk of coconut. Have it simmer for another 3-4 minutes. Add the cashew paste. Stir it well and add the omelette slices. Refrain from stirring once you have done this. Simmer it for another 2 minutes before you switch off the flame and let it rest covered.

You can garnish your curry with crushed onion, crushed pepper and curry leaves fried separately. Let your curry rest for at least 20 minutes before you serve it to let the omelette absorb a little of the flavors.

This curry is an excellent accompaniment for chapati, roti, appam and bread.

You may also note - 

1. Do not overcook the omelette. If you do, it will not stick together when you fold it and may break.
2. Refrain from stirring the curry once you have added the omelette slices. Stirring may result in the folded omelettes opening up and separated.
3. You can try adding potato as well to the gravy along with green peas. Same goes with the omelette, you can try adding other veggies of you choice. However ensure that they are sliced finely else you may be unable to fold it over.