Mint or Pudina is my most preferred herb only next to Cilantro/Kothmir. They are so gorgeous to look at! I would have loved to dedicate a part of my garden to this herb if only there was no threat of the plants being destroyed by the rabbits or raccoons or the groundhog which I consider a menace! I have them planted indoors in front of the windows in small pots and they grow very well and quite rapidly. Mint has a very pleasant, fresh and strong aroma with innumerable benefits. I add this herb, fresh and chopped mostly to all of my meat preperations as the last step just before I turn off the heat source for a refreshing aroma to the dish.
Spearmint growing in pot indoors in my kitchen
One such meat preperation in which I love to add lots of fresh chopped mint leaves is the dish I writing about today. The mint leaves enhance the flavor of the dish diffusing their minty and fresh aroma to the meat preparation and brightens it.
Masaaledaar Pudine wala Kheema – Minced Lamb/Veal meat with Mint and Spices
Kheema is one of the most loved dish in my house. It can be devoured upon as a side-dish along with a number of main dishes for a meal, or the leftovers, if any, can even be used as a filling for parathas or samosas, or between toasted bread with cheese slices as evening snacks with a warm cup of tea. I usually prepare Kheema in large amounts and portion and store them in plastic microwavable and freezable food storage boxes for very long time, so that I can use this during the days I dont feel like cooking.
Masaaledaar Pudine wala Kheema – Minced Lamb/Veal meat with Mint and Spices
Ingredients:
Minced Lamb/Veal meat – 550 gms
Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
Salt - 2 1/2 tsp
Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 heaped tbsp
Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
Hung Yogurt – 1/2 cup
Garam masala – 1 tbsp
Canola oil – 1/4 cup
Cloves - 3
Green Cardamom – 2
Cinnamon stick – 2 inch piece
Dried Bay leaf/Tej patta - 1
Yellow Onions – 2, finely sliced
Tomato paste – 3/4 cup
Small Green chillies – 4, chopped
Chopped Mint leaves – 1/2 cup
Method:
1. In a large mixing bowl, add the minced meat, red chilli powder, 2 tsp salt, ginger garlic paste, turmeric, hung yogurt and garam masala. Mix it all well with a wooden spoon and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan at medium heat and as soon as it warms up, add the cloves, cinnamon stick and green cardamoms. Saute them for about a minute. Add the sliced onions and remaining salt and stir fry them till they are golden brown in colour.
3. Add the marinated minced meat and mix well using a wooden spoon. Cover with a lid and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Later, open the lid and break up the lumps of meat using a wooden spoon and add the tomato paste and stir well to mix. Cover the lid and let it cook for 20 -30 minutes, stirring it occasionally.
4. Later, once the water has completely dried, add the sliced green chillies and chopped mint leaves. Let it cook covered for a minute more. Serve warm.
Suggested Accompaniments: Warm Rotis or Parathas or Naan, or along with Basmato Chawal and a Vegetable side dish or just Khatti dal, or along with Khichdi and Khatta for a delicious and felling meal.
I am sending this as an entry to Grow Your Own event hosted by Andreas Recipes.
And before I take my leave for today, here’s a very famous and touching song that I love, ‘Ye Galiyaan, Ye Chowbaara..’ from an excellent Bollywood movie Prem Rog. It never fails to bring tears in my eyes..
The weather has been too hot and humid during the past few weeks and the weather forecast says its still going to stay so for the next few days as well. And during this type of weather, its quite unbearable to spend time in the kitchen in front of the stove preparing long and laborious meals. Speedy and quick recipes like this one come for my rescue here.
Khatti Moongphalli wali Murgh – Hot and Sour Chicken with powdered Groundnut
The nutty taste of groundnut, a little hotness from the small green chillies and a slight acidic flavor of the amchur go very well along with the mild chicken here. This delicious dish gets prepared in less than 30 minutes.
Khatti Moongphalli wali Murgh – Hot and Sour Chicken with powdered Groundnut
Serves – 4
Ingredients:
Canola Oil – 2 tsp
Chicken Breast – 250 gms, cut into bite size piece
Ginger-Garlic paste – 2 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Amchur powder/Dry Mango powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Dry Roasted Groundnut powder – 1 tbsp
Green chilli - 4, chopped
Method:
Pour oil into a large non-stick frying pan at medium heat and as soon as it warms up pour oil into it and add the chicken pieces. Stir fry them lightly till they turn from pink from white.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour in about half cup water and close the lid. Let it cook for about 20 minutes till the mixture is dry. Serve warm.
Upma is an another Indian dish which can be had as a snack or can even be had as a filling breakfast.
Tip: Indian cuisine is versatile. Simple techniques and and a marriage of various kinds of spices and flavors makes the Indian cuisine flexible and sapid. Indian women know very well to use the left overs and whip up delicious meals using them. One such dish where I usually use the leftover curries is Upma. If the left over curry is a dry dish, I often mix it in the preperation of the Upma which makes it even more delicious and healthier. And if the left over curry is thin (soupy) in consistency, then I use it to serve along with Upma.
Upma is comfort food for me. It is a filling healthy breakfast to start a new day, quite easy to prepare and gets prepared swiftly. Upma Rawa or Semolina or Sooji is available at many Indian stores very easily.
Serves – 4
Upma – Semolina cake
Ingredients:
Semolina/Sooji/Upma Rawa - 1 1/2 cups
Canola oil - 3 tbsp
Black Mustard seeds – 2 tsp
Whole dried red chilli – 1
Small Green chillies – 4, finely chopped
Fresh grated ginger – 1 tbsp
Fresh or dried Curry leaves – 10
Urad Dal – 1 tsp
Moong Dal – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
Yellow Onion – 2, large, finely chopped
Salt – 2 tsp or to taste
Water/Chicken or Lamb Stock - 3 1/2 cups
Lemon juice – 3 tbsp
Cilantro – 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Fried Cashewnuts – 1/2 cup, chopped
Method:
In a non-stick saucepan at medium heat, pour oil and as soon as it gets warm, throw in the mustard seeds. Cover the saucepan with a splatter screen and as soon as the seeds begin to pop, add in the green and red chillies, dals, ginger, turmeric and curry leaves. Saute them for 3 minutes and later add the chopped onion and salt to it. Let the onions sweat out a little. Fry them all for about 5 minutes stirring it continually. Add the Upma Rawa and fry the whole mixture for 5-8 minutes more again stirring frequently (if you have any dry curry left-overs, you can add it too at this stage, read the notes above)
Now pour the water/stock and mix throughly to that no lumps form. Reduce the heat to low and cover the saucepan. Let it cook for 3 minutes more.
Remove from heat and add lemon juice, cashewnuts and cilantro. Fluff and mix it all using a fork and spoon the mixture into whatever molds you like, press the mixture well. Invert them onto warm serving plates and serve them for a yummy breakfast.
Suggested Accompaniments: I and my family enjoy it along with Lemon/Lime or Mango pickle prepared Indian style, or with any thin (soupy) leftover Curry/Saalan. I also love to savor it along with Khatti Dal. My Mother used to serve it us when I was a kid along with a handful of shallow fried groundnuts.
Khatti Dal is a lentil suop/stew that has a slight tangy flovor due to the addition of either tamarind concentrate or lemon concentrate. This lentil soup is usually a side dish in most Hyderabadi households to wet their rice and is had with an another vegetarian or a non-vegetarian side dish.
Khatti Dal – Sweet and Sour Lentils
Adding garlic to it in the baghaar or tempering process gives it a unique flavor and makes it even more delicious. You add either Lemon concentrate or Tamarind concentrate to prepare the Khatti Dal. I prepare this dal with whatever Dal, like Toor dal/Split Pegion peas or Masoor Dal/Red Lentils or Moong Dal/Green gram, I have on hand the day I am preparing it. But I especially love it when it is prepared by Toor Dal.
Khatti Dal – Tangy Lentil soup
Ingredients:
For the Dal
Toor dal/Split Pegion peas or Masoor Dal/Red Lentils or Moong Dal/Green gram- 1 cup
Salt – to taste
Red chilli powder – 1 1/2 tsp
Haldi/Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Lemon/Tamarind concentrate – 3 tbsp or according to taste
For the Baghaar/Tempering
Canola Oil – 2 tsp
Garlic Cloves – 2, large, each cut lenghwise into two
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
Dred Red chilliies – 2, each broken into two
Fresh/Dried Curry Leaves – 8
Method:
-Wash and soak the dal overnight in surplus water. The next day, drain the dal and wash them. Keep aside.
-Take a presuure cooker and throw in the dal. Add about 3 cups of water and pressure cook it till the dal is very soft. Add turmeric, red chilli powder and salt.
-Pour the contents of the pressure cooker into a blender container and blend it till pureed. Or you can even simply puree it using an Immersion blender.
-Meanwhile in a small non stick frying pan at medium heat, pour oil and as soon as it gets warm, add the cumin seeds. As they begin to splutter, cover with a splatter screen and reduce heat to medium low, and throw in the remaining ingredients for baghaar/tempering and remove from heat.
-Pour the contents of the blender container back into the pressure cooker and bring it to a boil. Add the lemon/tamarind concentrate and also the contents of the pan and stir to mix. You can add more water if you want to achieve the consistency you desire. Some people like a thin consistency and some like it slightly thick in consistency. Adjust salt and serve warm.
Suggested Accompaniments: It is a side dish to mealsto wet rice and had along with a vegetarian or non-vegetarian side dish.
This is one of the dishes that I prepare when I do not have much time to spend in my kitchen. These creamy prawns with scallions get prepared quite quickly and contain all the goodness.
Hari Pyaz aur Malai wale Jhinge – Shrimp with Scallions and Cream
Prawns are my favorite among the Seafood. These little crustaceans are devouring. In this dish I have used hari-pyaz/scallions and light cream along with some other ingredients as well, each one of them imparting their own special flavor to the dish, but keeping the flavor of the prawns the dominant.
I have also used the Salan Masala which I learnt from the cookbook Regional Indian Cooking by Ajay Joshi and Alison Roberts. This masala has now become a very important ingredient in many of my daily recipes and I find it very flavorful. I’m sharing the recipe of the masala with you all which I found in the cookbook.
Salan Masala
Makes about 2/3 cup
Ingredients:
Dry Dessicated Coconut – 1/3 cup
Sesame seeds – 1 1/2 tbsp
Coriander seeds – 1 tbsp
Cinnamon stick – 1 insh piece
Whole cloves – 4
Green Cardamom pods – 6 green
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Method:
Dry roast the coconut and sesame seeds at medium heat until golden forn 3-4 minutes. Set aside to cool, then in a spice grinder, grind it to a fine powder. Transfer to a bowl.
Add coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and cumin to the same pan. Dry roast at medium heat, stirring, until fragrant, 4-5 minutes. Set aside, cool and gring to a fine powder. Add to the coconut mixture along with chilli powder and turmeric. Stir well to combine.
Transfer to an airtight container. Store in refrigerator forupto 6 months. Use a clean dry spoon each time to us ethe masala to prevent mold from forming.
I usually get frozen prawns as they are easy to keep and are available for me to prepare and have them whenever I want. You can even use fresh prawns if available. I miss all the freshly available food in abumdance in India so much. Here, I do not get most of my Indian ingredients, and miss many of the Indian delicacies.
Tip: I have been practising a new way of storing food. I wash, dry and chop them up in the required shapes and freeze them in zip-lock freezer bags for weeks together. Foods that I usually store frozen are chopped green beans, chopped scallions, chopped bottle guard, choped okra, thickly chopped bananas and so on..
Hari Pyaz aur Malai wale Jhinge – Shrimp with Scallions and Cream
Ingredients:
Fresh or Frozen Prawns – 400 gms, deshelled; tails, legs and veins removed
Canola Oil – 2 tsp
Scallions – 3 cups, chopped with both the green and white parts
Tomato Paste – 2 tsp
Red Chilli Flakes – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Salt – to taste
Light Cream – 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice – 2 tbsp
Grated Ginger – 1 tsp
Salan Masala - 2 tsp
Method:
Pour oil into a large frying pan with lid at medium heat and as soon as it warms up, add the scallions and saute them for 3-5 minutes. Add tomato paste, red chilli flakes, turmeric, salt and shrimp. Mix, cover with lid and let it cook for 3 minutes.
Later, add light cream, lemon juice, grated ginger and salan masala. Gently mix well and cover and let it cook for 5 more minutes. Serve warm.
Suggested Accompaniments: It tastes wonderful along with warm Rotis, or Basmati Chawal and any Vegetable side dish.
The Rice shortage had severly affected my family’s dietary lifestyle. Rice is a staple food for me and my family. Nowadays, we rely on other sources as rice has become too costly here in Canada too and because of its unavailibility. I hope and pray that Rice will be available very soon again in the markets in surplus amounts.
A few days back I got my hands on the cookbook Regional Indian Cooking by Ajay Joshi and Alison Roberts. After a moments of spending my time browsing through the recipes of the book, I knew I will be trying out some dishes as the recipes and presentation pleased me a lot. The recipes were easy to follow and described and divided the different Regional Indian Cuisines very well.
Kashmiri Lamb Qorma
I tried the following recipe from the this cookbook and modified it here and there according to my tastes. I and my family enjoyed it, as it was very delicious and I mostly liked it because I found it very simple to prepare. I put the meat to cook for about an hour and then went on with my other house chores and activities and later came back to finish the dish which took me not more than 30 minutes and did not require any laborius techniques or ingredients for the preparation.
Kashmiri Lamb Qorma
Ingredients:
Boneless Lamb Meat – 650 gms, cut into 2 cm approx cubes
Tumeric/Haldi – 1/2 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Water – 3 cups
Unsalted Butter – 3 tbsp
Green Cardamom pods/Sabut Elaichi – 4
Cloves/Laung – 6
Whole Cinnamon Stick/Dalchini Sabut- 2 inch piece
Aniseed/Saunf – 3/4 tsp, powdered
Red Chilli powder – 2 tsp
Fresh grated Ginger – 1/2 tsp
Tamarind concentrate – 2 tsp
Method:
In a saucepan, combine lamb, turmeric, salt and water. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, until meat is very tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Drain meat, reserving cooking liquid. Set meat aside.
In a heavy-bottomed frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, aniseed, chilli powder, ginger and tamarind. Reduce heat to low and stir until oil seperates, 2-4 minutes.
Raise heat to high, add meat and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes to coat meat with seasonings. Stir in 1 cup reserved stock, reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes to blend flavors. Serve immediately.
There’s colour everywhere finally after a long peroid of snow when you only get to see endless sheets of white everywhere. That is a beauty in itself too. I love the seasons in Canada. Each has its own splendour and gorgeousness. Its spring here, with frequent showers of rain and colorful blooms on almost every tree. The markets are also full of fresh produce and lots and lots of fruits and vegetables. I happened to find some Blueberries a few days back and thought of preparing some muffins.
Blue Berry Muffins and a mup of Warm Coffee
Any kind of blueberry-frozen or unfrozen, is good for you. The fruit is filled with immune-boosting Vitamin C and antioxidants said to improve brain function. Research shows that blueberries can help to increase the number of cells in the area of the brain responsible for memory.
Blue Berry muffins are my favorite breakfast for a change. These muffins were soft and delicious. I had them along with a mup of warm coffee. And as the author of New Baking Book from which I have adapted this recipe says:
There’s nothing better than a fresh-baked blueberry muffin with your favorite cup of coffee or tea.
I totally agree!
Ingredients:
All-Purpose Flour – 2 cups
Granulated Sugar – 1 cup
Baking Powder – 2 1/2 tsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Eggs – 2, beaten
Milk – 3/4 cup
Melted Unsalated Butter or Cooking Oil – 1/2 cup
Orange Zest – 1 tbsp
Fresh or Frozen blueberries – 1 cup, thawad
Coarse Sugar (optional)
Method:
Grease twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin cups for medium size muffins or you can grease six 3 1/2 inch muffin cups for giant size muffins. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the centre of the dry mixture; set aside.
In an another medium mixing bowl combine eggs, milk, butter or oil, orange zest. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lunpy). Fold in buleberries.
Spoon batter into the prepared muffins cups, filling each almost full. If desired sprinkle tops with coarse sugar. Bake in 350 oven for about 35 minutes or until golden. Cool muffin cups; serve warm.
Suggested Accompaniments: Along with a cup of warm Tea or Coffee for a filling breakfast.
I am sending this as an entry to Mansi who is hosting the Monthly Mingle:Appetizers & Hors’Doeuvres as she requested me to,. So here it is Mansi, all the way to you!
Also, I had been awarded the Yummy Blog Award by Meeso recently and I am delighted to recieve it.
“Yummy Blog Award is the award given to a blog with the most yummy recipes/photos”
And now according to the rules of this Award, I have to quote here my favorite dessert which I have prepared/eaten. My favorite desserts would be:
This is one the dish I love a lot, and have so many memories associated with it. When I would hear that my Lovely Mom has prepared Kaddu Ke Chilke Ka Salan for the meal tonight, I used to look forward for the meal so earnestly.
Two Bottle Gourds
Bottle Gourd is a very humble vegetable. Not many people like it, and it is not a favorite of many people. But it is quite nutritious, delicious, healthy, and perfect for weight watchers! Its delicate nutty flavor provides a great taste to dishes. This particular recipe uses the peels of bottle gourd and it is one no-fuss yummy curry which you will all love.
Kaddu Ke Chilke Ka Saalan – Bottle Gourd Peels with Lentils Curry
Tip : While I the peel the bottle gourd, I take care not to peel it too thin if I plan to prepare this curry out of the Peels. I peel them about half a centimetre thick (about 5 millimeters). This is because a little bit of the flesh (magz) along with the peel gives a great taste to this curry. Usually I prepare this curry with Split Bengal Gram/Chana Dal but you can prepare it even along with Yellow Split Peas/Toor Dal. It truns out equally delicious.
Kaddu Ke Chilke Ka Saalan – Bottle Gourd Peels with Lentils Curry
Ingredients:
Bottle Gourd Peels/Kaddu Ke Chilke – 400 gms, cut into small bite size strips
Yellow Split Peas/Toor Dal or Split Bengal Gram/Chana Dal – 1/2 cup
Tomato paste/Pasta Sauce - 2 tbsp or Fresh diced Tomato – 1 small
Red Chilli Powder – 1 1/2 tsp
Salt – 2 tsp or to taste
Canola Oil/Sunflower Oil – 1 tsp
Fried Yellow Onions paste - 1 cup
Method:
Soak the dal in two cups water overnight(optional). Drain and Cook the dal in two cups water till they are soft but still can hold their shape well. Drain and reserve.
In an another saucepan, put the cut Bottle gourd peel strips with around 3 cups water and a pinch of salt and let it boil once, then simmer it with closed lid until the peels are tender. This can take about 30 minutes. Or you can simply pressure cook for a little while.
Later add your favorite pasta sauce or tomato paste or fresh diced tomatoes, red chilli powder, salt, oil and fried onions to it. Give a good stir.
Gently add the cooked Dal and mix it well. Cover the lid and let it cook for 3-5 minutes. Keep checking it in between if it is sticking to the bottom of the pan. You can add a little water if it becomes too dry. Serve it hot.
Suggested Accompaniments:It tastes heavenly along with a warm Roti or a Paratha. I usually devour upon it just plain along with nothing!
I will never forget what I went through on April 30, 2008, those moments of acute angst!
It was one of the most dreadful days I had ever faced. Like everyday when I had logged into my wordpress account (I was posting an entry to Click-Au Naturel!) I noticed there were so many error messages saying that my ‘wp-posts’ and ‘wp-categories’ table has somehow suddenly crashed and they were all nothing but Greek and Latin to me. That gave me moments of panic and fearfulness, I was not able to post anything, my ‘entire blog’ had crashed and I had no idea how I would rectify the mess. It was all horrible. I quickly mailed some of my contacts including couple of bloggers and the company which hosts my blog and WordPress for help. Everyone was with me supporting me and asked me to have faith. I had given up my hopes and thought I had lost it all, my blog, which I had built with deep and ardent affection.. all my love..
My hubby too was upset for me and he tried to help me by every possible way. At around evening, he opened my blog on a browser window and voila! my blog was all alive, and everything was working. When I saw that, my happiness knew no bounds and I was so happy, thrilled and relieved. I was all in tears and very gratuful to those who quickly worked on my blog. I pray and hope that no blogger has to face this ever in their life!
Right now I am so much more in love with my blog. I have put in so much effort to build up this website, which sort of defines me and is a medium to express my love for cooking with the world I live in. This is when I was thinking of the precautionary methods we all bloggers should be ready with every moment for situations like these and I found some very informative posts here, here and here. I request all the bloggers to always maintain a backup of their entire blog, a database backup and a backup of their actual blog on a very rugular basis, may that be daily, weekly, or monthly or after every new post they publish.
Anyways, Life is back to normal again, and I thank my God immensely. I had been to the grocery mart a few days back and saw these very beautiful looking Bottle Gourds and I quickly bought them home. I had not ever before seen such cute little brightly colored bottle gourds in my life. I was sending these to the Click – Au Natural Event yesterday when it all happened!
Two Kaddu or Bottle Gourds
I was in the mood of experimenting in my kitchen and I searched my refrigerator for ingredients. I found some Halal Chicken Sausages, Frozen peas .. and I quicky came up with this idea and it was one brightly colored and appealingly delicious curry. We had it along with Roti.
Khush-Rang Kaddu Ka Saalan – Bright Colored Bottle Gourd Curry
Ingredients:
Bottle Gourd – 1, approx 400 gms, peeled and cut into quarters
Chicken Sausages – 4
Frozen peas – 2 cups
Canola Oil – 2 tbsp
Dried or Fresh Curry leaves – 4-5
Ginger – 1 inch, finely chopped
Yellow Onion – 1, large, sliced thin
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric – 1/3 tsp
Khush-Rang Kaddu Ka Saalan – Bright Colored Bottle Gourd Curry
Method:
Pour oil into a saucepan at medium high heat and as soon as it warms up, throw in the sliced onion, as they begin to brown up, add the chopped garlic and chopped chicken sausage and curry leaves and stir fry it for a minute more.
Add the quartered bottle gourd, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric and pour in some water and cover the lid. Let it cook until the bottle gourd is tender (You can add more water if needed, but do not add too much water, the curry should be pretty dry when done).
Open the lid and add the frozen peas and let it cook for 5 minutes more. Taste and check it if the spices are adequate for your taste and add more if needed. Remove it from heat and Serve it warm.
Suggested Accompaniments: You can have these with any kind Rotis for a filling meal and a cup of flavored yoghurt.
I’m glad I got my entire blog back and am very very thankful to my hosting company who worked on retrieving my blog and bringing it back to life and in action again! I’m thrilled!!
The weather has not been good at all. Been playing games with us since the temperatures actually started to be in the two digits. Its has suddenly become so very hot, this being just the Spring in Canada and not Summer yet. Weather has been too topsy-turvy for the past two to three weeks, resulting in me catching Flu. It was terrible. Now I feel alright and thank my God for the good health again. It sure is a precious bounty-Good health.
I have not even been cooking since the past few days, but yesterday as I began to feel alright, I prepared Qaeema Matar Aloo and had it with some warm Phulkas. It was so good. Good home cooked food is always very comforting and gives solace.
Qaeema Aloo Matar – Ground meat with Peas and Potatoes Curry
For this recipe, you can use the ground meat of Veal, Lamb or Goat, whatever is available. It turns out equally delicious and I have tried this recipe with all the above mentioned meats.
Qaeema Aloo Matar – Ground meat with Peas and Potatoes Curry
Ingredients:
For Gravy:
Canola/Sunflower Oil – 4 tbsp
Yellow Onion/Pyaz – 3 medium, finely chopped
Tomato – 1, large, chopped
Red Chilli Powder/Lalmirch Powder - 1 tbsp
Salt – 2 tsp
Potato – 2, medium, peeled and quartered
Tomato Ketchup – 2-3 tbsp (I use Heinz) OR Tomato Chilli Sauce – 2-3 tbsp
To Cook Qaeema/Ground Meat:
Canola Oil/Sunflower Oil – 2 tbsp
Qaeema/Ground Lamb/Veal/Goat meat – 700 gms, washed and drained
Turmeric Powder/Haldi – 1 tsp
Garam Masala – 2 tsp
Soya Sauce – 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice – 4 tbsp
Matar/Frozen peas – 1/2 to 1/4 cup
Shredded Cheddar Cheese - 4 tbsp (optional)
Method:
Pour 2 tbsp oil into a non-stick heavy bottomed sauce pan at medium high heat and throw in the finely chopped onions as soon as the oil warms up. Keep stirring them until they are lightly browned.
Add the chopped tomato, red chilli powder and salt and mix well. Let it cook until its mushy.
Add the quarted potatoes and a little water and close lid for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and keep aside.
In an another saucepan, pour the rest of the oil, and add the freshly washed ground meat and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir to break lumps and add turmeric powder, garam masala, soya sauce, lemonjuice amd keep stirring until the water starts evaporating and the raw smell of the meat wards off.
Pour in the reserved gravy of tomato onions and potato and mix the whole thing together. Let cook on low heat and when the water has almost evaporated, add frozen peas and give it a stir.
Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese, and serve hot.
Suggested Accompaniments:Serve it hot with Basmati Chawal / Naan/ Afghani Roti, along with a dollop of butter.
Tip: Leftovers? Use up this left over curry as the filling for Samosa for some very delicious Snacks.
Mint or Pudina is my most preferred herb only next to Cilantro/Kothmir. They are so gorgeous to look at! I would have loved to dedicate a part of my garden to this herb if only there was no threat of the plants being destroyed by the rabbits or raccoons or the groundhog which I consider a menace! I have them planted indoors in front of the windows in small pots and they grow very well and quite rapidly. Mint has a very pleasant, fresh and strong aroma with innumerable benefits. I add this herb, fresh and chopped mostly to all of my meat preperations as the last step just before I turn off the heat source for a refreshing aroma to the dish.
Thanks Meeso.
