Lunch on Sundays is usually a special meal. So easy to pack the family into the car and drive to a restaurant. All you do is sit back and order and let someone else do the cooking and cleaning up. But more often than not, a meal cooked at home can be much more satisfying. Particularly, if a part of the preparation can be done ahead.
Everyone has a favourite way of making pulav.
I made this lamb pulav on Sunday. It took me all of 20 minutes to do it because I had cooked the lamb the previous day.
It has a long list of ingredients, most Indian recipes do!!
Here's how it works:
Ingredients (Serves 3)
Lamb with bone 500gm
Cinnamon 2"
Cloves 4
Cardamom pods 3
Bay leaf 1
Big onions 4, sliced
Ginger garlic paste 4 teaspoons
Tomatoes 2, chopped
Green chillies 4, slit
Chilli powder 1 tsp (or to taste)
Yoghurt 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves 1/3 bunch
Mint leaves 1/3 bunch
Juice of 1 lemon
Ghee 4 tablespoons
Basmati rice 500 gm
Cashewnut halves 1/4 cup
Raisins 1/4 cup
A few strands of saffron
Salt to taste
Oil 4 tablespoons
Water
Method
Get the butcher to cut the lamb into chunks.
Heat oil, chuck in the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and bay leaf. When it all begins to spit and sizzle, put in most of the sliced onions and saute till they turn golden brown. Add in the ginger garlic paste, slit green chillies and chilli powder. A good stir later, add in the tomatoes and the lamb pieces. After a bit of stirring around, add in the yoghurt. Mix in coriander and mint leaves and salt to taste. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes.
At this stage, you can cool the lamb korma and refrigerate it and finish the dish the next day.
If not, wash the rice gently and place it in a colander to drain well.
In the body of a medium sized pressure cooker, heat the ghee, fry the raisins and cashewnuts till golden, then remove onto kitchen towel to drain excess ghee. Add in the remaining onion slices into the ghee and saute till golden, remove and keep aside. Put the rice into the pan and saute it over medium heat till the grains turn translucent.
Pick out the lamb chunks and put them over the rice. Measure the gravy and top up with hot water to measure about 800 ml, pour into the pressure cooker. Add in lemon juice, season to taste with salt and add in saffron strands. As it comes to a boil, place the lid on the pressure cooker. When pressure builds up, put the weight on, lower the flame and cook for exactly 2 minutes. Switch off the flame and leave the pan undisturbed for about 30 minutes.
Open the lid, stir the pulav gently to mix the contents and dish out onto a serving plate.
Garnish with the fried raisins, cashewnuts and golden onions. Serve with raita.
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