Kerala Mutton Stew

Christmas is a time that brings back so many memories. Some are funny as can be!

Good food comes with any celebration and Good food comes after so many failed attempts too! Christmas is no less.

Our first Christmas together was within a month of moving to Dubai. The cooking range oven and the griller were totally new to me. All that Shibin wanted for Christmas was 'Karangunna Chicken' - loosely translated rotating chicken. Don't whack your brains! He only meant to have those rotisserie grilled chicken :) I had my chicken marinated and for reason best known to no one I decided to place the marinated chicken in the freezer! We went out shopping got back a little late - just in time for dinner which was till in the freezer. I had no time to defrost. I placed it in the oven to melt the stubborn ice. After a while onto the rotisserie. The chicken was big and the marinade was all dripping down which is when I realised that I needed a dripping pan too. After all the trials , we still had an uncooked chicken two hours later and a messy oven. Then we did what we could do best. Cut the chicken and pan fried them. That is how we ended up eating our Christmas dinner at 12 am! Boy, I am glad we did not have any guests.

Moving onto the recipe. Whenever I hear mutton stew I cannot help but suppress a smile. Tell the same to my mother - she will have her volley of justifications. You will know why soon:) We were never very fond of mutton, so mutton was almost never bought at home. Once I happened to taste mutton stew with appam at a friends place for a wedding. I came home with a demand that it be mutton stew for Christmas morning instead of the usual chicken stew. Pappa bought mutton and Mamma set out to make it. The stew turned out fine but it tasted a wee bit different and had a sour taste. We went on to eat a stomach full. On her hunt for the curd she kept in glass mug to marinate the chicken for biriyani  (our Christmas lunch) did my mom realise that she had poured the curd into the stew instead of coconut milk that was in a similar cup! Nevertheless she says the stew turned out good and this how new things are discovered:) She is not going to spare me for this!

Here we go - 

Ingredients

1. Mutton  – 500 gms
2. Potato – 2 medium sliced
3. Onion – 1 big thickly cut lengthwise 
4. Green Chilly – 3-4 slit
5. Ginger – 1 tbsp finely chopped
6. Cardamom – 3 to 4
7. Cinnamon sticks – 2 sticks of 1 inch
8. Cloves – 3 to 4
9. Thin coconut milk – 2 cups
10. Thick coconut milk – ½ cup
11. Salt as needed
12. Water as needed
13. Coconut oil

For Tempering

1. Coconut oil – 2 tbsp
2. Curry leaf – 2 sprigs
3. Onion – 1 small sliced in cubes
4. Peppercorns – 3 to 4

Method

• Heat oil in a thick bottom pan. Add the whole spices and fry until aromatic.
• Next, add onions, ginger and green chilly. Saute until the ginger is cooked.
• Add mutton pieces and cook until the mutton is almost done. Pressure cook if need be.
• Add the potatoes and adjust salt.
• Add thin coconut milk and cook it covered until the mutton is done.
• Add thick milk and switch off the flame as soon as the stew begins to boil.
• For tempering, crush onion and pepper in a mortar and pestle.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the crushed onion and pepper along with curry leaves. Saute till done.
• Temper the stew with this mix. Keep it covered for a while.
• Serve hot with appam!

 

Irachi Petti - Malabar Iftar recipe

I always knew of Ramadan but it is only after moving to UAE, I realised how religiously it is observed and what iftar and suhoor mean! The world of blogging introduced me to a lot of Malabar snacks mostly fried but really mouth watering. I tend to stay away from deep fried stuff, primarily because I have pimples popping on my face as soon as I relish on anything fried. Since it is shorter office timings during Ramadan, my husband one day happened to come home with some snacks that he picked up from the local Kerala cafeteria for our evening tea together (that is a rarity too - happens only during Ramadan). It was all deep fried stuff and I could not resist it - pakoda, samosa, irachi petti, chatti pathiri, mulagu bajji, ulli vada. It was all there. I waited for two days after we had this - Yay! No pimples and that made my resolution to prepare a fried malabar snack stronger.

That is how I ended up making irachi petti with the minced meat I had in the fridge. Irachi means meat and petti means box. So basically this dish has meat filling that is sealed in a box made of crepe!
So here is a recipe to try this Ramadan!

Ingredients

For the filling

1. Minced meat - 400 gms (beef, mutton or chicken)
2. Onion - 3 medium finely chopped
3. Ginger - 2 tbsp
4. Garlic - 2 tsp
5. Green Chilli - 3 finely chopped
6. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
7. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
9. Garam masala - 1 tsp
10. Lime juice - 1 tbsp
11. Salt to taste
12. Oil

For the crepe

1. All purpose flour - 1 cup
2. Egg - 1 beaten
3. Salt to taste
4. Water as needed

For coating

1. Egg - 1 beaten
2. Bread crumbs
3. Oil

Method

• Heat oil in a pan. Fry the onions until it softens and add the ginger, garlic and green chilly. Saute till the raw smell disappears.
• Add the turmeric powder, corriander powder and pepper powder. Cook the masala and add the minced meat. Mix it well to coat.
• Add salt and keep it covered until it is cooked. Adjust salt if need be and add lime juice. Turn off the flame.
• Prepare the crepe batter by mixing together the flour, egg, water and salt in a bowl. Add water as needed to form a runny batter.
• Heat a tawa and pour a laddle full of batter onto the hot tawa. Ensure that the flame is on medium and prepare the round crepe by running the laddle in a circular pattern on the batter.
• Flip over once and cooked gently. Do not let it get crisp as it might break open while placing the filling.
• This batter makes around 8 crepes.

How to fill the crepe and fry

• Take one of the crepe and place two spoonful of filling on the center of the round crepe. Using the same spoon adjust the filling to form either a square shape or a rectangle shape. This is done just to make the irachi petti hold the shape.
• In order to cover the filling, first fold over one side towards the top of the filling, such that the bend in the fold is at the point where the filling ends.Repeat the same with the opposite side.
•  Now fold the other two ends one at a time thereby sealing the filling in ( may form a square or a rectangle shape). It is always better to have larger crepes made so that the folding is easy and it stays. Smaller folded flaps tend to open up while cooking.
• Place this on a plate with the folded flaps facing down. Repeat the same with other crepes.
• Heat oil in a pan,  Dip each of the petti in the beaten egg and coat it with bread crumbs. Then place the petti in the pan with the flap side facing down. Cook till it browns well on one side and then flip over.
• Serve hot !!

You may also note

• You may add corriander leaves to the meat filling.
• Once the crepe has been folded always place it with the flap facing downward so that the weight tends to hold the flap in place.
• I prefer shallow frying but you may also deep fry it.

Karahi Gosht/ Mutton Karahi

A perfect thriller makes my day and night too! A good book in hand and the literature within the levels of my understanding, then I have the potential of forgetting just about every thing around me - you will see me in the company of the book in the kitchen too. I may burn a chapatti or two in the go. I spent a major chunk of my single days immersed in such books and I had a perfect roommate for company. Our love for thrillers and mystery extended to television shows as well - Savdhaan India on Life Ok and Crime Patrol on Sony TV were hot favorites.  Both these shows end with the charming hosts signing off  saying - Be Cautious!! Our cautiousness extended to a level were both of us doubted everything we saw and heard. So negative was the impact that we decided to stop watching these series and stick to books which were more of fictitious work than reality.

My married days are no better - both of us love the same kind of book and we had membership in the same chain of library - Just Books in Bangalore. Post marriage we cancelled my membership and upgrading his and the reason for cancelling mine on the form was - 'Got Married'! Archies Library in Karama is our favorite haunt for books. A good thriller could see us through a bad day and once you have reached the last few pages of the book - you have those moments when you somehow wanna get hold of the book and find out the culprit. I am now an expert at guessing the culprit too - yeah atleast 70% of the times I do - so beware if you wanna watch a thriller with me - I may spoil the fun!

If you are wondering why I am rambling on about thrillers - I have a book in hand now that I started reading yesterday and can't wait to get back to it !

So let me go and have my hot cup of chai with my book while you guys take a look at this recipe. It is simple - because you cook most of the ingredients together and you have your time to grab a book if you need between cooking!

Ingredients

1. Mutton/Lamb - 1 kg
2. Ginger garlic paste - 3 tsp
3. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
4. Butter - 50 grams
5. Onions - 4 medium sliced
6. Tomato - 2 medium sliced
7. Kalonji/Nigella seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. Jeera powder/cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Coriander powder - 3 tsp
10. Kashmiri chilli powder - 2 tsp
11. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
12. Coriander leaf - 1 cup tightly packed
13. Kasoori methi - 4 tbsp
14. Water - 1 cup
15. Yogurt - 1/4 cup
16. Salt

Method

• Marinate the mutton pieces in turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste for 30 minutes.
• Heat butter in a deep bottomed pan, Add the marinated mutton slices to this and let it fry until the mutton pieces just begin to change color.
• Add the onions, tomatoes,kalonji,cumin powder, coriander powder, kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric powder along with salt. Coat the meat in the masala and let the meat cook covered on medium low. This may take 45 minutes to an hour depending on the mutton you use.
• Crush the kasoori methi between your palms and add it to the gravy. Sprinkle the coriander leaves.
• Finally add the yogurt and adjust salt.
• Serve hot!

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.