Tuesday 9 September 2014

Mutton

1 kg mutton
5 big onions, fried, divided into 2
(2 black elaichi, 4 chhoti, 6 long, 15 Kali mirich, 1.5 by 2 inch darchini, 3 tezpath, 6-8 hot green chillies) fried until aromatic and ground with one part onions
1 tbsp Adrak lesan paste
2 flat tsp red chilli powder
2 heaped tsp salt
(Optional)A 1.5 by 1 inch cube of raw papaya, ground to a paste or just cut into smaller cubes
4 tomatoes peeled and ground
1 cup yoghurt, whisked well
The rice
One kg good quality rice
2 black elaichi, 4 chhoti, 6 long, 15 Kali mirich, 1.5 by 2 inch darchini, 3 tezpath in a Ball strainer
1 tsp zeera, 1 tsp saunf

(Optional) Salt, 1 tsp
a gram saffron,
2 caps of kewra water, plus more
2 big onions, chopped, fried and strained
6 slit hot green chillies
(Optional) Asli ghee, 4 tbsp if you haven't used much oil in the cooking and have strained the fried onions before use, 2 otherwise
(Optional) Milk, half a cup or more, depending on the stage you strained the rice and how uncooked it is
(Optional) Ghee/butter sticks, 1 or 2
Kitchen cloth, wet but not dripping

Method:
On high heat: In a pressure cooker heat oil and add the meat pieces in descending order of size. If the meat sticks, don't try to scrape the bottom. First either turn the flame down or/and put a lid on it, after about two minutes attempt stirring it. Add the 1 tbsp adrak lesan, red chilli powder, salt. Add the  Stir. After a while add the tomato and dahi. As long as the dahi is whisked well it doesn't matter if you add it while the meat is still on high flame.
Stir and seal the pressurecooker lid.
Put a large utensil on boil with 4.5 liters of water. Put the ball strainer masala and the saunf zeera, salt in the water. Bring to a boil. Alternatively, you can put two smaller utensils and divide the water.
After 1 whistle put it on low heat for about 10 minutes. This should be enough for tender meat. If you haven't added the papaya, 2 whistles and 20 minutes is enough for other meats. Turn off the stove and don't pull the whistle.
Soak the rice in 2 liters of water. There should be enough water for the rice to puff up and still have water around it.
Either wait for the cooker to cool down enough that fresh steam doesn't come out when you pull the whistle or put the cooker under cold running water till it cools down.
If you're in hot climes, beware of the steam around the handle when you open the lid at first.
In a utensil that can hold 300 grams of cooked rice, add a gram of saffron, the fried chopped onion and asli ghee.
Check the tenderness of the meat, if its done then cook and stir on high flame till there's not much gravy left. Add the ground onion, garam masala and green chilli paste to this. Add the other part onion, 2 caps kewra. Set aside.
Add the rice to the boiling water. Cook for roughly 7 minutes or till the rice is cooked al dente. Strain all of it. 
You can leave some rice at the bottom of the biggest utensil and make that your first layer. Put it on the lowest flame on a medium burner if the utensil is big.
It will cook more in its own steam till you sort things for layering, so if it is still noticably uncooked, there is no need to worry. Put roughly 300 grams of the rice in the saffron utensil and stir with a slotted turner or spatula, taking care that the rice doesnt break and the saffron and the fried onions are evenly distributed.
Add the set aside meat gravy to the rice layer, add proportional saffron rice and then plain rice again. Make sure some of the saffron rice in each layer is not in contact with the meat gravy so the fried onion in it can retain its flavor.
Repeat till there is an inch of space left in the utensil and then use another. Pour 2 caps of kewra water evenly over the rice. 
Add boiling milk evenly. Stick in ghee sticks at even distances or evenly put a tbsp or two of asli ghee.
 Cover the utensils with a kitchen cloth each and cover a flat steel lid.
 Keep it on the lowest flame for an hour or half. 
If you feel youve added too much milk or the rice was done before you put it on dum, move the steel lid a little to allow some steam to escape or don't wet the kitchen towel at all
Open the lid and beware of the steam when you remove the kitchen cloth, check if the rice is done. 

Serve with raita or salad.







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