Feast Time! Hyderabadi Dum Gosht Ki Biryani, Dahi Ki Chutney

Folks! Today I present you with Lamb Biryani, a simpler kind of it, with lesser oil, and lesser spices, the way we prepare it in our house, but equally yummy, moist and appealing as the original.

Hyderabad is known for its Biryani. The traditional Hyderabadi biryani is a dish of Meat and Rice infused with flavors and spices. Its the best of the one dish meals one could have ever. Biryani mostly means cooked layered rice along with meat of Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Shrimp, Deer, Hare or Fish, whatever the speciality of the day..

Lamb Biryani always reminds me of my wedding, when I wore a very beautiful Khada Dupatta. It was the best Biryani I had ever had ! This dish is so authentic that it is served along with Mirchi Ka Salan and Baghare Baingan and Dahi Ki Chutney, as the main dish at almost all weddings. Essentially all weddings in Hyderabad are suposed to have Lamb Biryani and Mirchi Ka Salan in the menu. This dish is so important in the Hyderabadi Muslim community. It is also prepared on gatherings, occasions, parties, all kinds of merry making get togethers..

My lovely sister had prepared this dish on the weekend. We were all in a mood to treat our family and ourselves with something special, and we immediately thought of this dish. What could be a more better meal to delight ourselves than this flavorsome fare?!

There are two methods to prepare this dish, one is with Raw meat, Kaccha Gosht and the Biryani is called as Kacche Gosht Ki Biryani. In this method, the meat is left to marinate for atleast 24 hours for the flavors to properly permeate into the meat, tenderize it and deepen the tastes. But today I am writing about the procedure to prepare a quicker kind of Gosht Ki Biryani, the Pakki Gosht Ki Biryani, where pre-cooked meat is used to prepare the dish. I will be posting the procedure of how I prepare Kacche Gosht Ki Biryani in my house in the coming days.

Gosht Ki Biryani, Dahi Ki Chutney 

Dahi Ki Chutney – Yogurt Chutney 

Makes:One small bowl

Ingredients:

Plain Yogurt (low-fat or full-fat)- 375 ml
Salt – 2/3 tsp or according to taste
Thai Red Chillies – 2, chopped (optional)
Green Chillies – 2, chopped
Yellow Onion – 1, medium, finely chopped
Mint leaves – 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Coriander leaves – 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Firm Red Tomato (fresh) - 1, small, deseeded and chopped finely

Method:

-To the yogurt in a bowl, add salt and half a cup of water and whip it till smooth, and creamy for approx 2-3 minutes.
-Add the remaining ingredients and fold them into the yogurt gently. Adjust salt according to your taste and cover the bowl with a plastic wrap.
-Put it in the refrigerator to serve it later along with Biryani.

You can store Dahi Ki Chutney in the refrigerator in an air tight food storage box for only one more day in a refrigarator, it doesnt last long. It is always better if you have an idea how much your family memebers will have it and you prepare it in only the required amount.

Hyderabadi Dum Gosht Ki Biryani – Fragrant Flavored Meat and Rice Casserole

Serves:5-8

Ingredients:

For the Marinade

Canola/Vegetable/Sunflower Oil (or) Butter/Makhan (or) Clarified Butter/Ghee - 90 ml/6 tbsp
Yellow Onion/Pyaz – 2, large, thinly sliced
Lean Lamb leg meat – 1 kg, washed and cubed into 3 cm pieces approx (with bones preferably if available, I have used only boneless here)  
Plain Yogurt/Dahi – 500 ml, lightly whipped
Red Chilli Powder/Lal mirch powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt/Namak – 1 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice/Nimbu Ras - 4 tbsp
Garam Masala – 1 tbsp
Turmeric/Haldi – 1/2 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste – 2 tbsp
Water/Meat Stock – 1/2 cup

For the Garnish -

Green Chillies/Hari Mirch - 2, each slit into two
Thai Red chillies/Choti Lal Mirch - 2, each slit into two (optional) 
Fried Onion reserved for garnish earlier
Mint Leaves/Pudina – 1/2 cup
Cilantro/Kothmir – 1/2 cup
Toasted sliced Almonds/Bareek Kata Badaam – 2 tbsp
Fried Red Raisins and Cashwnuts/Tala-huwa Kishmish - 3 tbsp
Pinch of Saffron threads/Zaafraan soaked in 1/2 cup warm Milk (or) a pinch of red food colour, and pinch of yellow food colour
A dollop of Butter/Makhan or Clarified Butter/Ghee (optional)

For the Rice -

Basmati Rice/Chawal – 4 cups
Salt/Namak – 4 tsp
Black Cumin seeds/Shah Zeera - 1 tsp

Method:

-Wash and soak the rice in a big bowl for about 30 minutes.
-In a pressure cooker at medium high heat, fry the onions in oil/butter until they are golden brown in colour. Remove with a slotted spoon on a kitchen towel and reserve half for garnish. Blend the other half in 2 tbsp water inoi a paste.
-In the same pressure cooker, with oil/butter in it, add the washed cubed meat pieces, Stir fry till the meat has browned on all sides. Add the fried onions paste and the ginger garlic paste and turmeric. Saute them for 2 minutes. Throw in the red chilli powder, salt, garam masala, half cup water, and yogurt. Mix well and pressure cook for about 15-20 minutes until the meat is tender.
-Meanwhile drain the soaking rice and keep aside. Bring 9 cups of water in a to boil in a large saucepan with Black cumin seeds and salt (do not forget to add salt to the rice!!) in it. As soon as its boiling, add the drained rice and let it cook till the rice grains are just done. Drain and keep aside.
-Now, open the lid of the cooker and cook the meat mixture well without covering the lid on medium high heat until the meat mixture is done and most of the liquid has dried up. It should be a little bit dry mixture.
Add lemon juice to the meat and mix. Remove from heat.
-Preheat the oven to 350°F.
-In a large oven proof baking dish, add half of the rice in a layer at the bottom of the dish. Now add the whole meat mixture in one layer. Then cover it with the remaining rice completely and work gently, try not to break the rice kernels.  
-Garnish the layered rice with the reserved fried onions, mint and coriander leaves, slit red and green chillies, toasted and fried nuts, and sprinkle the milk with saffron threads in it or sprinkle the food colors and a little water. You can also add a dollop of butter if you wish. 
-Cover the dish with a tight lid or aluminium foil and keep it in the preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes, till a nice steam has formed inside.
-Before serving, dig the spoon into the dish till the base and take the rice and meat in a bowl. mix it and serve it hot.

Suggested Accompaniments: Mirchi Ka Salan or Baghare Baingan or Dahi Ki Chutney or Tomato Chutney.

This is my entry for Meeta’s Monthly Mingle-One Dish Dinners

Luv,
Mona

Hyderabadi Mirchi Ka Salan

Talk about Hyderabad’s cuisine, and Hyderbadi Mirchi Ka Salan is sure to become a topic of interest there. Its hot, its spicy, it has gravy, its tangy.. Ah! Yumm!! You will keep on savoring it.

Green Chillies – Hari Mirch

I have used spicy medium thick green chillies for this curry, which are the usual kind preferred. If you do not like this curry too hot and spicy, you can get the chilli according to your taste buds. You can use chillies ranging from the Serrano, Shishito, Jalapenos, Capsicums, Poblano, New Mexican Green, Guero, Chilaca, Anaheim, California Chillies, etc. There are a whole lot of choices depending of the chillies being mild or hot. The chilies preferred for this curry are not very hot, and should have smooth skin, not wrinkly, and should be medium thick, straight and long, and should be fresh. Dried chillies are not used in this curry.

Hyderabadi Mirchi Ka Salan - Green Chillies in Sesame Seeds Sauce

The procedure to prepare Baghare Baingan is also almost the same as this curry. Also, you can also add fish (Red snapper, Haddock, Cod..) fillets to the gravy to make it a fish curry. There is no difference, except for the fact that in Baghare Baingan, brinjals are used., in fish curry, fish fillets are used., and in this curry, the green chillies are used. I will even post the recipe for Baghare Baingan and Fish curry in the coming days sometime. They are all equally yummy too.

Hyderabadi Mirchi Ka Salan - Green Chillies in a Tangy-Sesame Seeds Sauce

Ingredients:

Green chillies (thick and long) - 10, washed, slit, (seeds removed, if you dont want the curry to be too hot)
Khus Khus/Poppy seeds – 1/2 tsp
Till/Sesame Seeds – 2 tsp
Dhania/Corinader seeds – 1 tsp
Zeera/Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Groundnuts/Moong Phalli - 1/8 cup
Tamarind concentrate – 1 tbsp (or as per taste)
Coconut milk – 1/3 cup
Yellow Onions – 5, medium, sliced thick
Canola/Vegetable/Sunflower Oil – 3/4 cup
Salt – 2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder – 1 1/3 tsp
Turmeric – 1/3 tsp
Karyapaak/Curry leaves (fresh) - 8
Cumin seeds/Zeera – 1/3 tsp
Dried Red chilli – 2
Kalaunji/Nigella seeds - 1/3 tsp
Kothmir/Cilantro - chopped, for garnishing

Method:

1.  Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large non stick pan and add the green chillies and a little pinch of salt (to retain the green colour of the chillies). Wear an oven mitt in your hand, step back, and carefully stir fry the chillies for three minutes. With a slotted spoon, drain and remove the green chillies into a plate.
2. In the same pan with some oil in it, add Khus Khus, Sesame Seeds, Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Peanuts, and stir fry it on medium heat for 3-4 minutes again. Remove into a blender container. Let it cool.
3. Now again in the same pan add onions, and stir fry them. Do not add any oil. Let the onions caramelize on themselves. Keep giving them a stir every two minutes. Once the are golden brown, remove them into the same blender container in which the roasted spices were kept. Let it all cool down.
4. Add tamarind paste and coconut milk to the blender container contents. Blend the mixture once cooled adding a few drops of water if needed to aid in the blending, and make it into a smooth paste. It should not be coarse. and do not make the mixture too watery adding more water. It should be thick enough.
5. Now in the same pan at medium heat, add the remaining oil, and throw in the Dried red chillies, Kalaunji, Cumin seeds and Curry leaves. Once they splutter, pour some of the mixture into the pan, and immediately cover the pan with a lid for a minute. Lower the heat. This is done for the mixture to absorb all the flavour from the Baghaar (tempering).
6. Add the remaining mixture and mix it well. Cover the lid again for two to three minutes.
7. Now add the salt, red chilli powder, turmeric, and mix well. Stir fry it for a few minutes till till it leaves oil.
8. Now add the earlier fried green chillies and mix it, so that the mixture goes into the slit of the green chillies. Be gentle in stirring.
9. Pour about two to three cups of water to the mixture until you get the desired consistency. The traditional method is to keep the curry only a little bit watery. Do not add too much water. It should have a pasty, not too thick, not too watery consistency.
10. Let it cook covered for 5 minutes. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and Serve.

Suggested Accompaniments: Basmati Chawal/Plain Long White Rice, Murgh Biryani/Fragrant Rice-Chicken Casserole, Gosht Ki Biryani/Fragrant Mutton-Rice Casserole, Naan/Indian Flat Bread.

Enjoy !

( I am posting this recipe again as due to some problem this post of mine was deleted! )

Luv,
Mona

Tamate ka Kut

Tamate Ka Kut is an another Hyderabadi special dish. I love the rich red colour of this Sauce. Who wouldnt like to have a yummy rich Tomato sauce with Pulaos and Biryanis or as a side dish with almost anything..

Tomatoes, with their juicy subtle sweetness enhance the flavor of most of the dishes. I consider tomatoes as one of the most essential ingredients in Indian cooking, next to onions, dont you agree guys ?!

I like to have Tamate Ka Kut a little bit thick in consistency, not too thick though. I do not add too many spices to this dish, and like to have it only along with cumin and coriander seed powders as the main added spices. So, I suggest everyone also to keep the spices to the minimum. Yet, sometimes i end up adding a little bit more red chilli powder, as i love food when it gives a light kick on my tongue, tear in my eye

Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, Vitamin A, B, C, and in minerals like Phosphorus and Potassium etc,. So they are beneficial for a healthy immune system and proper health.

Tamate Ka Kut is a saucy curry, loved and had mostly by Hyderabadis. Its a yummy Hyderabadi Dish side dish. You can add a dollop or cream to it just before serving as a garnish. Do try it out guys..

serves: 6-8

Tamate ka Kut – Rich Tomato Saucy Curry

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes – 10, large, red and ripe, washed and quartered (or) Canned ground/crushed tomatoes – 596 ml
• Besan/Gram Flour – 1/3 cup
• Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder – 1 1/2 tsp
• Dry Roasted Cumin Seed Powder – 1 tsp
• Dry Roasted Coriander Seed Powder – 1 tsp
• Oil – 2 tbsp
• Cumin Seeds/Zeera – 1 tsp
• Curry Leaves/Karyapaak – 8
• Garlic pod/Lahsun -  2, whole, crushed
• Dried Red Chillies – 2, each split into two
• Fresh Cilantro/Kothmir – 1 cup, finely chopped
• Fresh Mint/Pudina
• Heavy Cream – a dollop(optional)
• Hard boiled Eggs – 4

Tamate Ka Kut – Rich Tomato Saucy Curry

Method:

• Put the quartered tomato pieces in a large non-stick sauce pan on medium low heat. Add a cup of water to it, mix, and cover with the lid. Let it cook till the tomatoes are mushy and soft. Keep giving it a stir every once in a while. Let it cool. Once cooled, pour into a blender container and add the gram flour. Blend till pureed. If you are using canned crushed tomato, add the gram flour to it and mix well.
• Strain this mixture through a wire mesh strainer back into the saucepan. Throw away the left over seeds and skin in the strainer. Add 2 cups water to it and let it cook on simmer.
• Pour oil into a small frying pan at medium heat and throw in the cumin seeds, whole red chillies, garlic pod and curry leaves when the oil heats up. As they start to splutter, remove from heat and add this to the tomato sauce being cooked in the saucepan.
• Add the cumin and coriander seed powder, red chilli powder and salt to the sauce and mix well. Bring it to a boil, and let it cook at medium low heat until the raw aroma of gram flour is gone. You can add a little water to it if required. Taste and adjust the salt and chilli powder according your likes.
• Take the eggs and make light slits on the egg on all 4 sides of it making sure the slits are not deep into the yolk, just on the surface. Add these to the simmering tomato sauce. Cook the tomato sauce until the raw smell of the gram flor is gone, about 30 minutes. Keep stirring it occasionally.
• Once it is cooked, just before you serve, stir in the chopped cilantro and mint. Pour it into a warm bowl. Drop in a dollop of heavy cream and serve it warm.

Note: For a good dark red colour, add a few tablespoons of canned Tomato paste.

Suggested Accompaniments: It is uaually devoured along with Chinese Fried Rice, Vegetable Biryani or Pulaos as a side dish. WE use this sauce to wet rice when we have it.

Luv,
Mona

Hyderabadi Mahekhalya

Mahekhalya, is an authentic Hyderabadi meat curry with onions, tomatoes, and tamarind. It is a delicious dish and I thought of sharing my recipe which I learned from my mother with you all. Its not difficult, and gets prepared in less than an hour time. In this recipe you need to slightly brown the spices till golden brown so that the flavour and aroma of the individual spices enhances. And you can also always vary the amount of salt and red chilli powder according to your tastes. The spices I have used in this recipe can be bought from any Indian store that sells spices. Go ahead and try it out. Enjoy.

Hyderabadi Mahekhalya - Tangy Meat Curry

Ingredients:

• Lamb Meat – 500 gms, cubed-1.5 cm or sliced, boneless or with bone 
• Yellow Onions – 5, sliced
• Tomatoes – 3, Ripe and red, chopped
• Dry Desiccated Coconut – 2 tsp
• Dry roasted Coriander seeds – 2 tsp
• Dry roasted Groundnut powder - 2 tsp
• Dry roasted Sesame seeds/Till – 2 tsp (optional)
• Vegetable/Sunflower/Canola Oil – 6-7 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
• Curry leaves (fresh) - 8
• Dried red clillies/Baghaar Mirch – 3-4
• Methi/Fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
• Red chilli powder – 1 1/2 tsp
• Salt – 2 tsp
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
• Tamarind paste – 2 tbsp
• Slit green chillies – 4
• Cilantro/Kothmir – 1 tbsp, chopped finely
• Mint leaves/Pudina – 1 tbsp, chopped finely

 

Hyderabadi Mahekhalya - Tangy Meat Curry

Method:

• Take a large heavy bottom non-stick frying pan or skillet on medium heat, and pour a tablespoon of oil into it. As it gets warm, add the sliced onions and a teaspoon of salt. Mix well and cover with the lid. After 3 minutes, give a good stir to the onions, add 1/4 cup of water, and again cover it with lid. Keep repeating this until the onions are all soft and browned and caramelized evenly. Remove the pan from heat, and let them cool down.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and the caramelized onions into a blender container or food processor and blend till pureed smooth adding a few drops of water if necessary, just to aid in the process. Keep aside.
• Put a small non-stick frying pan on medium heat and dry-roast the groundnuts, sesame seeds (optional), coriander seeds, shredded coconut each individually without oil till they are golden brown in colour. Do not burn them. Remove them into a cup (you can dry roast a handful of almonds and cashewnuts and grind them together along if you want it more rich). Once cool, grind them all together very finely. Make sure the obtained spice powder is very fine.
• Take a pressure cooker and add a tablespoon of oil to it and put it on medium heat, add oil and keep it on medium high heat. Add cumin, dried red chillies, and fenugreek seeds to the oil and let them splutter. Now add the onion and tomato paste to it and cover the lid immediately for 3-5 minutes and remove the cooker from heat, so that the aroma of the tempered oil with spices gets absorbed by the onion mixture.
• Remove the lid, put the cooker back on stove and add the ginger-garlic pastes to it and stir to mix it all completely. Add the spice powder which we prepared earlier, the red chilli powder, salt and turmeric and stir it well. Add the washed cubed meat pieces and mix well. Cover with a sllatter screen and let it cook it for 5-8 minutes. Pour in half a cup of water and close the lid. Pressure cook it on medium heat for 15 minutes until the meat is tender. If the meat doesnt look soft and tender, pressure cook it for a while more adding a little more water if needed.
• Then open the lid and cook it till the oil has seperated out from the mixture and starts appearing on the surface. Add the tamarind paste and give it a stir. Add water till you get the consistency you desire. You can keep the gravy thick or dilute. (I add 2 cups of water) Let it cook on medium high for about 5 more minutes.
• Simmer and let it cook for 8 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander and mint leaves and slit green chillies. Serve Hot.

Suggested Accompaniments: Basmati Chawal or Parathas.