Mutton Biryani

Last week I spent a lot of time fantasizing about a nice mutton biryani. I know the easiest way one would resort to would probably be picking up the phone and dialing Kareem's. But the last time I had it from there, it had jeera (cumin seeds) in it, not a very nice feeling really. Also, most of them shops use vegetable fat instead of ghee, no point having doubtful food and feeling guilty about it the entire week. So I, with my sparse kitchen enforcements, decided to brave a biryani for myself.  With one induction cooktop (no gas stove) and a microwave, it was a hilariously tiresome proposition.  But what the heck? I would have it myself anyways, so no fear of possible criticism. So, the mutton was ordered. The guy on the line asked 'any specific cuts madam?' I wasn't prepared for that question, took a while to gather my memories from what I had heard mom mention dad on Sunday mornings back home. "Agli raan" I muttered. Cuts from the front leg. Had heard dad say that the hind leg isn't as preferred since those are used for running and hence the muscles are chewy. When the meat arrived, I quickly washed, marinated it and stuck it in the fridge. Would only prepare the biryani the next day. Also, went to the store and fetched some Basmati rice.

:

Ingredients:
1/2 kg mutton (cuts from the leg)
1/3rd kg basmati rice (usually people use equal amounts of rice and meat. I used less rice more meat)
2 large onions
1 inch ginger (grated)
5-6 cloves garlic (crushed)
2 medium or 1 large tomato
2 cups yoghurt
1 stick whole cinnamon
3 cloves
3 cardamom
1 bay leaf 
Ghee (clarified butter)
Saffron strands (dissolved in warm milk)
Salt, sugar

The meat was marinated a day in advance in 1 cup yoghurt, turmeric powder, grated ginger and crushed garlic. I soaked the basmati rice in water (usually for 20 mins). 

Next I chopped the onions into slices, heated some ghee in a heavy bottom non-stick deep pan, added the whole spices and the chopped onions and fried them on low heat until they were soft and light brown, lightly caramelised. Took half the onions out of the pan and kept it aside.

Added some more ghee and the marinated meat, salt and sugar and seared it, continually stirring on medium heat for about 15 mins (until the meat and the masala stopped sticking to the pan). Added tomatoes and the remaining 1 cup yoghurt, covered and left to simmer on very low heat for about 1hr 15 mins, checking and stirring occasionally, adding a little water from time to time to prevent drying up. 

15 mins before the meat was done, I shoved the basmati into the microwave with equal volume of water for 8-9 mins. I left the rice covered for a standing time of 5 more minutes, strained it through a colander and washed it once under the tap to remove any additional surface starch (to avoid lumping).

Next, I took the lid off the mutton which now looks like a thick curry, and add the rice until it covered the mutton entirely. 

I topped the rice with the remaining fried onions, saffron strands, dollops of ghee, put the lid back and cooked it on the lowest heat for another 20 mins. (Keep checking in between to see it doesn't stick to the bottom or burn).

You'll know you have a good biryani if the rice grains are separate and not clumping together, and the meat has infused with the gravy and breaks into a sticky gooey consistency when pressed between the thumbs.

Admit my biryani tasted pretty nice, but I had to have it for 3 consecutive days to finish it off. The first day I wanted to have it all by myself, the second day I was offering it to a lucky few at office lunch, and on the 3rd day I was doling it out even to my enemies! No the taste hadn't been affected with time, it was just my eagerness to finish it off and cook something different to eat. But this jugaad* biryani is something I'm quite proud of. Its one of those dishes you would love to show off when you have guests over, and they marvel at the complex looking dish completely oblivious of your shortcut jugaad. In this case of course, I have only reduced the cooking time to some extent, although I must say cooking biryani rice is the microwave is a high risk proposition. But in case of the meat, I am a bit paranoid. A lot of people optimise on the time to cook the meat by pressure cooking it, which in my opinion is high risk, because overcooking could affect the texture of the meat. Slow cooking it, on the other hand, allows one to check the desired level of tenderness before allowing the dum-cooking with rice. And of course, in the end, the more ghee you dab on the rice during the dum-cooking, the better your biryani smells and tastes.

*Jugaad - hindi slang for the art of optimising resources towards a certain desired outcome. Jugaadu is a resourceful person who gets things done without much effort

Meghalaya - pork lovers' delight

Strawberry Eclair at Bread Cafe

(Reposting from my personal blog- originally posted on December 9, 2010)

It has been a while since I have written about my gustatory adventures, partly because I feel guilty to be pigging out all alone on most of my trips. Alone, sometimes by default, at other times by choice. It is better to have no company at all than have the non-adventurous kinds looking for fish-rice in all terrains. I abhor eating out with my boss, a non-bong who loves bong food and expects me to hunt down bengali food joints for him. Except for Mondays, Mondays we hunt down Shiv temples and he eats veg food. Moving on..

I happened to visit the Autumn Fest last month, held near the Umiam Lake, complete with wine stalls and tribal food stalls and a barbecue counter, in addition to fashion shows and live rock shows. I had left my fish-rice eating 
colleague behind and come out alone for the fest, slightly apprehensive if it was a good idea taking the 2 hour ride alone. Apprehensions were quickly put to rest as I reached the lake to find throngs of people, not rowdy metalheads but people with families. As far as the wine tasting goes, I could not muster enough muscle to push my way to the counters. The Khasis certainly take their drink very seriously. Defeated, I sniffed my way to the barbecue counter and ordered for spare ribs, which was served with toasted bread roll and salsa. I noticed the Mizo stall and dared to try the Mizo black pudding (a variety of of blood sausage) just for the heck of it. Diced maroonish coins served with chopped onions, lime juice and green chillies, tasted somewhat like bone marrow, nothing spectacular but not offensive either. And I got some Putharo with Doh Jem, basically meant rice cakes with chopped and fried spicy pork liver. Eventually I felt guilty of ignoring the cultural side of the fest, so I hung around to click some pictures at the fashion shows, there was one for kids, another one for traditional khasi fashion and then one with clothes made from eco-friendly fabric. I was there for about an hour, guess that was a lot of eating I did in an hour’s time.

Putharo and other snacks 

Back in Shillong, I got tired of making my own coffee in the guest house (the caretaker apparently fled few months back). So I discovered this place called Bread Cafe at Police Bazar, the city’s shopping hub. The ten minute walk in the sun for my black coffee and eclair soon became a pleasurable routine activity. I often carried a book to my favorite table next to the window, and sometimes ordered a hot dog as brunch.

Jadoh and Dohneiiong

One morning I reached bread cafe too early, they had not opened yet and I was hungry. I walked into the cosy chinese eatery I had noticed bang opposite the cafe, Wong Garden. At 9:30 in the morning, they served me a main course meal of pork with bamboo shoots and vegetables with rice. Simple yet extremely flavourful. They use a certain variety of rice called Jowai rice, which is short grained and very aromatic. Tastes great with those bland Chinese gravies. Unfortunately it is sparingly available commercially because the farmers produce just enough rice to feed themselves and only the meager surplus is sold outside. 

Pumaloi

In my subsequent days that I spent in Shillong, I discovered several places to find good Khasi food. One outlet simply called Jadoh (which literally means rice cooked in pork fat) opened up in Laitumkhrah just near the Don Bosco School. It is the only seemingly clean decent place in the town that serves Khasi food, I often picked up Jadoh and smoked pork with fermented fish and fermented soy chutney, and a couple of my favorite Putharos. However, I was still hunting for something called Pumaloi , a snack I had had at one of my meetings at one of the government offices. It was a mild tasting rice cake that looked like idli and was topped with grated coconut, tasted simple and delicious. Somehow my hunt for Pumaloi was the longest. Eventually it ended at one of the Jadoh stalls in Lower Lauchemiere in the vicinity of the PHED, tourism and other departmental offices. 

Of course, there were days when I had to comply to public demand and be non-adventurous. Those were days we headed to Cafe Shillong in Laitkhumrah again. Its a regular cool musicians cafe with good continental food, steaks and mash and the likes, and most importantly, free wifi. They serve good mountain tea in really fancy teapots. Apart from Shillong, Meghalaya offers picturesque places like Cherrapunji, Mawphlang (sacred groves) and Mawlynnong, dubbed Asia's cleanest village by National Geographic. I took a beautiful 5 hour trek called the David Scott trail which was by far my most scenic experience in Meghalaya. 

Please note the pictures of Khasi food were not taken by me. They have been drawn from the internet because I felt it would be silly to just write about them without any reference photographs. In fact it never occurred to me that I would be writing so passionately about the regional cuisine someday and hence, in all those days I spent hogging, I never bothered to take food pictures.   

The David Scott Trail

I also found this link useful: https://www.facebook.com/notes/shillong-backpacker/khasi-cuisine/179294068750732

Integral Components of Khasi cuisine:

'Jadoh' which is red hill rice cooked with pork /chicken liver and is something similar to biryani.

 'Jastem' is plain hill rice cooked with pork gravy, onions, ginger and turmeric thus giving it a characteristic yellow colour.

 'Mylliem chicken' is famous in these parts and gets its name from the vil1age where it was first prepared The chicken is cooked with different condiments, most notably, the small round Khasi peppers which gives distinctive taste and flavour.

 'Dohkhlieh' is a type of pork salad made with boiled pork and onions with a sprinkling of chillies as desired.

Doh Jem : is a pork dish made out of Black sesame seeds and Pork belly fat. It is cooked with onions, bay leaves, fresh ginger & garlic paste. 

'Dohneiiong' is another pork dish. This dish has gravy and is made with black sesame seeds to give it its dark texture.

"Syrwa doh sniang" is pork stew prepared with mustard leaves and/or potatoes. Pepper, garlic, onions and ginger is used for flavour.

"Syrwa doh masi" is beef stew cooked along with vegetables like potatoes, cabbage, turnip, carrots  etc. Black  pepper, garlic, onions and ginger is used for flavour.

 The fermented soyabean in this region is 'Tungrymbai'. It has a strong odour and is very popular especially during the winter season as an integral part of Khasi food.

 Tungtap: A chutney made out of dry fish (indian anchovy), onion, garlic,turmeric, red round chillies, tomatoes fried in mustard oil. It has a sharp pungent smell. This chutney goes well with  Syrwa (either pork or beef stew)

 Different types of rice 'pancakes' are also popular.

 'Pumaloi' is powdered rice which is steamed in earthern pots called 'Khiew Ranei'. '

' Pukhlein' is powdered rice mixed with jaggery which is then deep fried.

 'Pudoh' is plain powdered rice stuffed with small pieces of pork and steamed. 'Putharo' is again plain powdered rice steamed

Mawphlang Sacred Groves 

This blog has moved on to http://antypasti.com. So in case you find no updates, it because all the action's happening elsewhere!  In fact, there is another follow up post on Meghalaya out there which you may like to read. http://antypasti.com/2012/07/15/meghalaya-revisited/  Drop me a line if you liked it! :)                           

The Mash

Hostel life can be an interesting experience. I have spent a few years of my initial working life in a hostel and I made some really good friends. It was a mixed bag of women from all walks of life, living in perfect harmony – well, almost. I benefitted a lot from the mix, getting my saree draped like swank airline cabin crew, gorging on occasional cakes from a five-star bakery, getting my documents attested, and getting fake medical certificates for those sudden French leaves, courtesy my resourceful roommates – ah the pleasures of outsourcing.

The canteen food was a usual mess. We often wondered and asked the cooks how did they manage to dish out such faeces-equivalents despite all the spice and oil that went into it. We always devised ways to escape it. Easiest of course was eating out, or ordering Pizza. But eventually we got tired of it and craved for home food. Somebody discovered that the Nirula’s chicken curry tasted very close to how moms of the world would make it – simple and non-greasy. But we soon outgrew that too. And eating out outgrew our pockets – we were all in our initial phases of employed lives when savings were part of a luxurious demi-utopian concept. 


Eventually, on one of their visits, my folks gifted me a tiny 1.5 litre pressure cooker. Inspired by this, I bought a couple of other kitchen items, including a frying pan. We had crude heating coils to keep us warm in winters. They now doubled up as my stove. And so it started with stir fried chicken and porridge (khichdi). Sometimes I would boil vegetables like okra or potatoes and mash them Bengali style with mustard oil, green chilly and a pinch of salt. I always kept a jar of ghee (clarified butter), add it to some rice and voila, you have a meal. My minimalistic cooking created quite a stir because it clearly tasted a lot better than the canteen turds, and more importantly, it tasted like home. Especially on days when they would cook tinde or lauki, people would be seen flocking to our room for leftover stew. It was then that I learnt the joys of feeding someone a nice meal. And of course, compared to the canteen dud of a cook, I was a star.

My first and easiest option was the ‘Sheddho Bhaat’. It translates to a mere ‘boiled rice’ but in fact implies vegetables boiled along with rice.

Just take any vegetable, a potato or a couple of ridge gourds (tori)/pumpkin diced into cubes/okra/any vegetable that does not take an eternity to cook. And drop it in boiling water, preferably boil it while you are boiling rice in the same pan. I think rice takes about 8-10 mins to cook in a microwave, and about 15 mins on fire. Once done, remove the veggies, add a few drops of mustard oil, salt and green chillies and mash it all up. In case of boiled potatoes, one would add chopped onions and fried red chillies to the mash.

We often make ‘sheddho daal’ with this. The daal, usually masur, is soaked for about twenty minutes, and then tied into a thin cotton/muslin cloth bundle which is dropped into the rice and left to boil alongside. The bundle is removed and left to cool. The daal doesn’t cook into a pulp, it usually has a bit of a bite. It is mashed with chopped onions, salt, green chillies and the quintessential pungent mustard oil which is the star of every Bengali kitchen.

To be served with ghee and rice. Fry or boil an egg if you feel like it. I prefer a sunny side up. Also, since it is a relatively bland combination, it is nice to use an aromatic variety of rice. We bongs use a small-grained variety called ‘Gobindo bhog’.

Aloha

Life is too short to accomplish everything we want. But it is good to have a list and get started. My last few single years have opened up my senses and exposed me to my latent innermost passions that I never knew existed. Travel and food are the two things that topped the chart, and I was lucky to have a traveling job that allowed me explore these interests. When I visit a new place, I am always overwhelmed with the vast amount of information there is to absorb. Every place has something to offer, mountains, beaches, forests, old buildings, historical ruins that come with intriguing tales, colourful markets, interesting people, curious customs and traditions, and of course, the local food. Usually I like it, sometimes I don’t. But I make no apologies to myself. The regret of not having tried a certain thing while I had access to it is far too big to give anything a miss. Short life, like I said.

In the last few years I realised that single living could actually be fun. One needn’t go out or depend on friends and parties to have a nice time. And cooking for one need not be a pain; fixing leftovers could be an everyday affair for singles. Then there are times when we decide to cook something but half the ingredients are missing. I mean we all know the 'right' way of doing it, but I like to devise shortcuts for everything. If nothing else, I just intend to document my survival strategies on this blog.