Mutton | Aapplemint

Mumbai Style Keema-Pav

All, Featured, Non-Vegetarian 9 Responses »

Mar 202012

“ Pav ” - Its not your fancy posh bread, but its what feeds millions of Mumbai-ites.

Pav is a local basic white bread. But trust me when I say this, there is nothing quite like it out there. Knead to a soft consistency with lots of butter. This dough makes a very light and airy bread that makes so many lip smacking dishes like, Vada Pav, Pav, Bhaji, Kheema Pav, Mutton Pav, Masala Pav, Samosa Pav, Usal/Misal Pav …

I’ve travelled many places and tried many different kinds of bread everywhere, but no one makes Pav. Maybe its the flour here or the water or technique …. I don’t know, but its just different here in Mumbai. I haven’t tried making it cuz it would be insane. Its so very cheap to buy it, why take the trouble. Any which ways Pav was created for fast food, to be had on the go. Available on every nook and corner of the city for just Rs. 1 per piece this bread feeds the masses. And when combined with other street favorites, the results are almost always irresistible.

” Keema ” Is Mutton Mince prepared either in curry or dry style. North Indians have it with parathas and South Indians with rice.

In Mumbai, on the streets its best preferred with Pav. If you like Pav Bhaji , then this is the non vegetarian version for you. Made spicier, tangier and overall yummier, the Mumbai keema pav is very popular, specially after a night out of drinking. A couple of these and guaranteed no hangover the next day.

There was this one night when I was up all night to help a friend make a website. We worked late and got so hungry, we got out to find something to eat. at that hour there were only two options available on the streets – Egg Bhurji and Keema Pav. That night I had the most amazing keema pav I ever had and since then I’m a fan.

If you are in Mumbai here are the places where you can sample some really good Keema Pav.

Gulshan-E-Iran – Near Crawford Market ( Town Side)

Resuatrant Rajasthan and Restaurant Sahil in – Khar ( Suburbs )

Janta in Pali Market – Bandra, for late night snack after a night of drinking and dancing ( Suburbs)

And if you wish to make it at home simply follow the instructions.

Ingredients

250 gms Lamb Mince

1 large onion finely chopped

1 tablesppon ginger and garlic grated

2 green chillies finely chopped

2 large tomatoes finely chopped

1 cinnamon stick

1 whole black Cardamom

2 green cardamoms

1 bay leaf

2 star anise

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp Cumin powder

2 tsp corriander powder

1 tsp chat masala ( optional )

2 tablespoons olive oil

juice of 1 lime

salt to taste

handful of chopped corriander

4 to 6 pieces of Pav

Take a heavy bottom sauce pan or a pressure cooker. Heat the oil and sauté the whole spices – cinnamon, cardamoms, star anise, bay leaf till fragrant. Add the onions, ginger, garlic and chillies and fry till onions begin to brown. Add the mince and fry well together. Fry continuously for about 5 mins till you feel the mince is almost done. Add the tomatoes and the remaining spices except the lime n coriander. Further fry for about 5- 10 mins till the tomatoes begin to break down and the oil begins to separate. Now turn turn off the heat, add the coriander and squeeze the lime juice. To serve, slice up the pay and warm slightly on a tawa/frying pan. Then put in the prepared mince and top with finely slices onions. Serve immediately.

Mutton Rara

Featured, Non-Vegetarian 25 Responses »

May 022011

Mutton Rara … the name makes you think, doesn’t it? Why Ra-ra? Why not Ba-ba? Or Fa-fa? There’s definitely got to be a story behind it. And so the legend goes … The Chhota Nawab of Awadh, and the Rajkumari of Jaipur were madly in love with each other. They wished to be together but life had other plans. They had a clandestine love affair and their families found out. The princess was whisked away to a fortress surrounded by deep waters and guarded by an evil witch. The prince yearned for his ladylove, but was unable to get in. The witch was clever and unforgiving, but she had one weakness: mutton. The prince called down the finest bawarchis of his great empire for one task only: to create a mutton dish so delicious that it would render the witch powerless. And so the dish was prepared near the moat of the bewitched castle … Cooked slowly and patiently in whole spices – spices that had made Hindustan famous all over the world – black cardamom, green cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, whole black peppercorns, star anise, cumin seeds and Kashmiri red chillis. They cooked and they stirred and as the masalas roasted the deep sensuous aromas arose and wafted through to the fortress. The meat simmered and began to tenderize, and the witch could not control herself and magically transported the pot to her chamber. She loved the preparation so much, that she actually gave the Rajkumari away to the Chhota Nawab and blessed them with eternal happiness. The magnanimous prince named the magical preparation after the witch, whose name was Rara … hence Mutton Rara.

Or so I’d like to believe. But the truth is, it’s most probably a concoction some North Indian dhaba-wala created for customers trudging across the Grand Trunk Road. No princely love story! The dish, however, is royal and extravagant in every way. It is a double whammy of meat – chopped up mutton leg and minced mutton, and needs to be made with a lot of love and a little bit of effort.

Ingredients

1 cinnamon stick
2 whole black cardamom
4 green cardamoms
4-5 whole black peppercorns
2-3 cloves
1 star anise
1-2 bay leaves
7-8 dry whole red kashmiri chillis – deseeded, soaked in hot water and ground to a paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
250 gms Mutton mince
500 gms leg of lamb cut into cubes (with bone n all)
2 onions finely chopped
3-4 tomatos finely chopped
2 tbps thick curd
1?2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp corriander powder
1?2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
3 tbs olive oil
corriander to garnish

Take a kadai with a heavy base, pour in the olive oil. As the oil begins to smoke, fry all the whole spices till fragrant, and add the onion, ginger and garlic. Sautee till soft and add in the mince, frying it well and continuously, till you can see each grain of the mince. Add the tomatoes and keep frying the mixture. You can very lightly beat the mutton pieces with a kitchen hammer if they are too big and the meat tough. Since a little mini kitchen makeover I did using kitchen ideas from My Hammer, I have all these wonderful new tools for tenderizing. Now add the mutton pieces as well as the remaining spices, and give it a good stir. Keep stirring till you see the tomatoes break in, absorb the spices, and start to form the gravy. Cover with a lid and let it simmer slowly for about 40 minutes, adding water when necessary. When the meat is tender and you begin to see the oil separating from the gravy, add the thick curd, stir, and turn off the heat after 5 minutes. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with Tandoori Rotis.

Qeema Paratha

All, Non-Vegetarian 28 Responses »

Apr 262007

Qeema in Hindi means mince. Paratha i guess all of you are familiar with. A paratha can be stuffed with just about anything thats dry. What i have made here is lamb mince parathas. Very traditionally Indian this one is a household favourite. Can be eaten for breakfast , lunch or dinner …. depends all on the stuffing.There are versions with mashed potatoes, carrot and cabbage, horseradish , lentils , paneer (cottage cheese) … just about anything. Just make sure the mixture has to be dry or else the dough will get soggy.

Started off with making the lamb mince first.In pot heat some oil and fry 2 tsps grated ginger /garlic and some chopped green chilli. Add to this chopped onion and sautée for a min and the n add the mince(about 250gms).Fry this on a medium flame till half cooked and the start adding the spices – 1 tbsp of jeera pd, 1/2 tsp turmeric pd, 1 tsp corriander pd (dhanya pd) , 1 tsp garam masala , salt to taste. Adjust the spices to your taste.Continue frying till the mince is totally cooked.Make sure this mix is dry or else u will not be able to stuff the paratha.I love the strong fragrance of jeera in this. Add lots of chopped corriander and mint.Turn off the gas and let it cool.

For the dough u’ll need about 300 gms whole wheat flour , 2 tbsps oil , salt .Mix all this together and add a little water and start kneading with your hand.Keep adding water as you go to bring it all together.The dough should be soft and not sticky.Knead for further 5 mins and set aside.

Both these can be prepared well in advance and kept aside until needed.When ready, take some dough and roll out in a big circle(dust it with flour to prevent from sticking) like shown in the picture above and place some of the qeema in the center. Bring in the corners till they meet and make a parcel.Now gently pat it down and start rolling again.Dust flour all over to prevent it from sticking and breaking.Be very gentle at this point as it might just all fall apart.

Gently transfer it to the pan , on medium heat.Dry fry on both sides till u see a light brown design on it.Then the on the 3rd flip add some oil and let it fry for 3-4 mins, repeating the same for the other side.Your paratha is ready.Nice hot n crisp.

Best served with some yogurt and traditional Indian mango pickle.

Parathas are usually thicker than rotis and are made with oil.The Roti is usually very thin very similar to tortilla , just made of wheat flour.

And the perfect way to eat this would be a bite of paratha with some yogurt and my mums homemade mango pickle….heaven !

Ghanian Palm Nut Soup

All, Non-Vegetarian 5 Responses »

Feb 022007

This is actually the first time i saw what a palm nut looks like …My house maid was making some for her husband (Our guard) and i just happened to be there at the right time with my camera ofcourse.She was quite amused that i took pictures of her pounding the hell outta those nuts. And then later of the soup….she probably thinks i’m nuts or somethin with the look she gave me…”Why would anyone want to take pictures of food. Food is for eating !” was her argument.

So here she is pounding the palm nuts and that is one tough job as she was at it almost for 30mins.The nuts are surprisingly greasy.She kept adding water and crushing it which released the juices and she collected that in another pot,and kept repeating it till the nuts were absolutely squished out of their goodness.

I’ve kept a palm nut on the rim of that bowl for you to see, as that was the only one left for me to click.

Now this is just the palm nut pulp with water.It has quite a rich colour and has quite a lot of natural oil floating on top.What happened after this i did’nt really get to see but i was told that u have to add whole onions and tomatoes, ginger, garlic ,red pepe(the local super hot red chilli). The choice of meat is yours…anything goes…lamb,chicken…she used fish head.Boil it for a while and once the tomatoes and onions are soft ,get them out and puree them and add it back.Let it simmer on slow fire and Voila’…

The soup tasted wonderful….spicy, fishy, had a very rich texture…full of body and lovely flavours,just needed a squeese of lime and i thought some thyme would go well too. It was pretty heavy though. But hey , who doesnt love a free bowl of soup !