by Sadia Dehlvi
However, nihari is best when left for a few hours to mature before serving. I usually take a fistful of golden fried onions and add these to a little piping hot desi ghee and pour it directly on the serving plate so it looks sizzling and inviting. The right garnish for nihari is very important. The traditional way is to keep fresh chopped coriander leaves, finely shredded ginger strips, chopped green chillies and lemons cut into quarters all together in a plate. This allows everyone to choose their garnish.
Gajarbhatta – Carrot Porridge
½ kg carrots, grated
4 cloves
3-4 tbsp desi ghee
½ cup boiled rice (optional)
Sugar to taste
Dilliwalas relish gajarbhatta as a breakfast or pre-breakfast winter dish. The carrot porridge is traditionally had with baasi, stale, milk. The milk sellers were told to keep some leftover milk because matured milk is creamier. In our home, we had gajarbhatta with dollops of malai.
Heat oil and add cloves. After a minute or two, add grated carrots and sugar. Leave on low flame for 15 to 20 minutes and then add boiled rice. Mix it with the carrots and cook for a few more minutes and your carrot porridge is ready. If you add rice, it will not store well and must be consumed within a day or two. Rice is added to soften the texture, but without the rice, it stays well in the fridge for about a week. Gajarbhatta does not take very long to prepare. It is best served with cold milk and fresh cream.
Haleem
1 kg mutton qorma
Mutton qorma is the basic requirement for haleem. Use the recipe for qorma to prepare it. Do not add the kewra and almonds. The meat needs to be cooked till it becomes tender and easy to debone. It is best to use a pressure cooker for two to three whistles, for we need the meat to shed the bone. Allow the meat to cool down.
Debone the meat with your hands. This becomes somewhat messy but it’s the only way to ensure complete deboning. You could use boneless meat for haleem. It is simpler and less complicated. I prefer cooking with the bones as the stock adds to the flavour. Keep the deboned qorma aside.
Dal
250 gm chana dal
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
This is a simple dal recipe. Boil the dal with about 3 cups of water along with salt, red chilli and turmeric powders. Cook till the dal is soft and ready. Chana dal needs to be soaked in water for a substantial amount of time. Otherwise, you could pressure-cook the dal for two whistles. Keep the ready dal aside.
Wheat
500 gm broken wheat (chaddi hui)
½ tsp turmeric
Salt to taste
Soak the wheat overnight in water. Boil it in water with turmeric, salt and cook till soft. The turmeric lends it a little colouring. While boiling, the level of water should be around 3" above the wheat.
Haleem Preparation
Mix the deboned qorma with the prepared wheat and dal. Traditionally, haleem is mashed with a special ghotni, wooden ladle. It is like the ladle used to make lassi but without the wedges at the bottom. If you use a mixer, exercise patience. A cup at a time is best and the mixture requires a quick spin. If it is too thick, a little boiled and cooled water can be added while blending. You must make sure that there is no bone left or it will spoil both the haleem and the mixer. I find using an electric hand mixer the best. This enables mixing directly in the utensil.
Haleem must have shreds of meat visible and should not become a thin paste. It is meant to have loch, a gruel-like consistency. The consistency should be just right, not too watery and not too thick. A topping of some sliced golden fried onions added to piping hot desi ghee and poured over the haleem serving perfects the presentation and taste.
Haleem garnishing includes fresh chopped coriander leaves, finely chopped green chillies, garam masala, finely shredded ginger strips and sliced lemon halves. It is eaten with a spoon. I cannot understand how some people eat it with roti for it already contains wheat! Dilliwalas serve haleem with the sweet-sour arq-e-nana chutney, made from raw mangoes, raisins, watermelon, cucumber, lauki and melon seeds. Haleem is a delicacy that has the honour of being a stand-alone dish. When you have haleem, just enjoy haleem.
Paya – Trotters
I often have friends and family over for paya Sunday brunch. There is nothing like trotter soup to keep the body warm. Paya is another stand-alone delicacy.
Sometimes the dish is made with just paya. The only meat cut that is often added to paya is adla. No other meat cut is cooked with paya.
Making paya is rather simple, but one must get the consistency of the soup right. It should not be too watery nor too thick. Ameena Chachi, whom we call Choti Auntie, taught me this recipe many years ago.
Paya requires meticulous cleaning at home, even if the butcher claims to have already done it. The best way to do this is to soak them in warm water for a while. Now, clean them with your hands, making sure that there is no hair left on the bones.
Paya Soup
6 paya
1-2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
4 tsp coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Pressure cookers work well for preparing paya or else they take forever to cook. Boil the paya with about 8-10 cups of water with the red chilli powder, garlic and paste, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. Three whistles of the cooker should be enough. If cooking on a low flame, then boil for about an hour. The bones should not break but soften, while the soup must remain slightly thick. It should acquire a chipchipahat, stickiness, from the gelatin released by the paya.
Paya Bhagar
3 medium-sized onions, chopped
300 gm curd
1 tsp garam masala
½ cup oil
¼ cup whole-wheat flour (optional)
From the prepared paya, take out the bones and keep aside. In another utensil, heat oil and sauté the onions till they are translucent. Add the curd and garam masala to the onions. Fry till the curd is cooked and then add the paya bones and fry for a few minutes. Now, add the bones and masala to the soup and paya is ready. If you wish to thicken the soup, add a little wheat flour to it. Roast the wheat flour on a flat tava lightly and mix with about half a cup of water, making sure no lumps are formed. Pour this into the boiling paya and leave to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes before turning off the flame.
Paya with Adla – Trotters with Shanks
If cooking paya with shanks, boil the paya as above and keep aside. Cook the shanks separately.
½ kg mutton shanks
3-4 medium-sized onions, golden fried
1 tsp red chilli powder
4 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garlic paste
¾ tsp ginger paste
200 gm curd (optional)
½-¾ cup oil
Salt to taste
Heat oil, add the garlic, ginger, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt with half a cup of water. Fry the masala for a minute or two. Add shanks and cook on high flame for about 5 to 10 minutes till the water released by the meat evaporates. Once the oil bubbles rise, lower the flame.
Meanwhile blend the golden fried onions and curd together for a few seconds in the mixer and add to shanks. When the curd is cooked and the oil rises, add a cup or two of water, enough to cover the mutton pieces. Pressure-cook for two whistles or leave on low flame till done.
Now mix the shanks with the cooked paya soup and let them simmer together on low flame for about 5 to 10 minutes. If you wish to thicken the consistency of the soup, add a little roasted wheat flour as suggested above. Add some golden fried onions to a little piping hot desi ghee and pour directly over the paya on the serving dish.
Paya garnish includes garam masala, chopped green chillies, fresh chopped coriander leaves, fine strips of ginger and lemon slices. These accompaniments are kept separately, so that each person can add the garnish to t
heir taste. Paya is best served in soup bowls.
Kali Mirch Pasanda – Black Pepper Mutton
Pasanda are flattened boneless pieces of mutton from the raan, leg. The process of flattening requires extra time and effort from the butcher, and they often make a fuss unless you are a regular customer. Bharva pasanda is a popular dish with the Kayastha community of Delhi, but they make it differently from us. As the name suggests, they use a stuffing, we don’t. We also cook pasanda with the qorma or basic salan recipe. Paneer pasanda and chicken pasanda recipes are now common, but frankly any pasanda except those made from mutton are a joke!
Kali mirch pasanda is a rather unique specialty of Dilliwalas and are simply awesome. In this version of pasanda, black pepper powder replaces the red chilli powder. A touch of turmeric gives the dish a rich golden hue. If you enjoy pepper steak, I guarantee you will love these pasanda.
1 kg mutton pasanda
5-6 medium-sized onions, golden fried
6 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp black pepper powder, fresh ground
1 tsp garam masala powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
350-400 gm curd
¾-1 cup oil
Salt to taste
Heat oil and add the black pepper powder, garam masala powder, garlic and ginger paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. Add a little water and fry the masala for a few minutes till the oil separates from it. Now add the pasanda and stir for 5 to 10 minutes on high flame. When the oil rises, add a cup or two of water and cover the utensil and cook on medium flame.
Meanwhile, blend the golden fried onions and curd in a mixer for a few seconds. Add this mixture to the pasanda when it is half done. Now cook on low flame till the pasanda is tender.
Salan – Mutton with Vegetable
Dilliwalas regularly make salan, that is, adding seasonal vegetables to mutton. There is no concept of sookhi sabzi, dry vegetables, in our cuisine. When a dish with mutton and vegetables has gravy, it is called a salan; if not, it becomes gosht – gobi gosht, chuqandar gosht and so on. A large variety of salan are made, each with distinct flavour and taste. The basic method of making various salan is almost the same, except for a slight change in the addition or subtraction of an ingredient or two.
My favourite salan include gajar, matar, shalgam and chuqandar. For health reasons, I don’t add too much meat. For everyday cooking, I divide a kilo of meat into two or three packets and freeze them, using one packet at a time. This way, one gets the flavour of salan, while eating more vegetables.
Basic Salan Recipe
½ kg mutton
4-5 medium-sized onions, golden fried
1 tsp garlic paste
¾ tsp ginger paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
3-4 tbsp coriander powder
200 gm curd, lightly beaten
½ tsp turmeric
½ cup oil
Salt to taste
Heat oil and add the fried onions, garlic, ginger, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt with half a cup of water, so that the masala does not burn. Fry the masala for 2 to 3 minutes till the oil separates from it. Add the meat, stir occasionally and cook on high flame for about 5 to 10 minutes so that the water released by the meat evaporates and oil bubbles rise.
Now lower the flame and add about two cups of water. As a rule, the level of water should remain a few inches above the meat. If making a salan, the quantity of water is generally more than when making a gosht. This depends on the vegetable being cooked with the mutton. When making salan with a vegetable that release a lot of water, less water is used.
Cover the utensil and leave the mutton on medium flame till half done. If using the pressure cooker, allow for one whistle. Add the vegetable and leave covered on low flame till both the vegetable and mutton are nearly done. Now add the beaten curd and leave to simmer for another 10 minutes till both the vegetable and mutton are done.
With some practice, you will figure out at what stage different vegetables should be added to the meat. Vegetables such as potatoes, peas, carrots and turnips require more time and are added when the meat is half done. Lighter greens are added when the meat is nearly done as they take less time to cook.
Note: In a slight variation of the traditional salan recipe given above, I usually add the curd after frying the meat. Stirring occasionally, I let it cook for about 5-8 minutes. Then I add water and pressure-cook the mutton for one whistle before adding the vegetable. This gives the dish a richer deghi texture. You can make salan with either of the two methods.
Shola
Shola is traditionally made with leftover qorma with dal, spinach and rice added to it. It is a unique dish associated with our community.
½ kg mutton
500-600 gm spinach, finely chopped (palak)
125 gm rice, preferably broken basmati (unsoaked)
125 gm split green moong dal (chilkey wali)
Prepare the meat base with the basic salan recipe. Add the curd to the meat and cook it before adding the spinach. Let the meat cook in the water released by the spinach. Pressure-cook for one whistle or leave on medium flame till the meat is half done. Now add rice and dal along with about 3 cups of water, the level being about 2-3" above the rice. Leave on low flame and cook till all the ingredients are done. Use a wooden ladle to mash the mixture lightly.
Top the dish with a dollop of desi ghee and golden fried onions. Garnish includes finely sliced ginger strips, chopped green chilles and lemon slices. These are kept on a separate plate along with the shola dish.
Sem Beej Salan – Green Fava Beans with Mutton
½ kg green fava beans
½ kg mutton
1 tsp dried methi
Sem ke beej are a favourite with Dilliwalas. Unfortunately, these beans are not easily available. They are sold in Maliwara, Ballimaran and Phatak Habash Khan mohallas. I make an effort to cook sem ke beej at least once in winter for old times’ sake.
Soak the fava beans in warm saline water for about 15 to 20 minutes. Then, peel away the outer layer. It’s a bit tedious, but worth the effort. Sem ke beej are cooked with the basic salan recipe. Add the beans to the meat when it is half done as they take a while to cook. Just before turning off the flame, add a spoon of dry methi leaves for enhancing the taste.
Matar Salan – Peas with Mutton
Sometimes Dilliwalas make aloo matar salan, by adding both peas and potatoes to the meat. I do this often and it creates an enjoyable, wholesome meal. I recommend that you try this combination.
½ kg shelled green peas
½ kg mutton
Prepare matar salan with the basic salan recipe. Sometimes I blend one or two medium-sized tomatoes along with the curd. Add the peas to the mutton when it is half done. If using a pressure cooker, it would require one whistle for the meat and another after adding the peas. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves.
Boont Salan – Green Chickpeas with Mutton
½ kg mutton
½ kg fresh green chickpeas
Boont are available during the cold months and disappear by March or early April. As children, we roasted whole shrubs of it on a bonfire. They crackled in the fire and tasted warm and wonderful. To make boont salan, use the basic salan recipe. Add the boont to the meat when it is half done.
Gajar Salan – Carrots with Mutton
½ kg carrots
½ kg mutton
Several friends have tasted gajar salan in my home for the first time. Some are surprised at the combination of carrots and meat. I tell them that we eat almost all vegetables with meat! You must try gajar salan to believe how sumptuous it is. It’s an exciting way to eat carrots, which are so nutritious.
Gajar salan is made with the basic salan recipe. Simply add two medium-sized tomatoes along with the curd to reduce the sweetness of the carrot. Ideally, carrots for this recipe should be thick and large, sliced into 2" pieces. Slit
the thicker pieces lengthwise into two and then scrape out the hard, yellowish part from the upper and middle portion of the carrots. Add the carrots when the meat is half done. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves.
Shalgam Salan – Turnips with Mutton
½ kg turnips
½ kg mutton
Shalgam salan is made with the basic salan recipe. Cut the turnips vertically into halves and add to the meat when it is half done. If using the pressure cooker, it’s one whistle for the meat and another after adding the shalgam. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves and a sprinkling of garam masala.
Nashpati Salan – Pears with Mutton
½ kg cooking pears
½ kg mutton
Nashpati salan requires cooking pears that are a little hard. Peel and slice the pears into halves and remove the seed part in the centre. Nashpati salan is prepared with the basic salan recipe. Add the pears to the meat when it is half done. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves.
Kela Salan – Bananas with Mutton
6-8 raw bananas
½ kg mutton
We had a banana tree at home, so Amma plucked raw bananas and cooked them with meat. Once a a popular dish with Dilliwalas, few make it these days. I had not eaten it for decades until I recently tried it before including the recipe in this book. It is delicious and can be made at any time of the year.
Prepare kela salan with the basic salan recipe. Cut the bananas into small one inch rounds and fry lightly. Add the bananas to the meat when it is almost done. You can use the pressure cooker for the meat, but not after adding the bananas. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves.