It's Eid and (I know it's grosse but) it's Mutton time!

So guys it's Eid and I do have a special dish that is made with Mutton in celebration of this wonderful festival and is a typically Bohri Muslim dish that we make and so I'd love to share it with you. Also, please note that this is a celebration and festival dish so you CANNOT count the calories for this one.

Ingredients

1kg mutton

Oil for frying

2 medium sized potatoes cut in quarters

2 large onions – sliced and fried crispy brown (or 4 - 5 small ones) this is called birista

1 ¼ heaped teaspoon of ginger garlic paste

¾ tsp green chillies paste

1 tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds

1 tsp cumin (jeera)

2 - 3 Tej patta or Bay leaf

2 Elaichi or Cardamom pods broken roughly by hand

4 lavang or cloves

4 miris or whole pepper seeds

1-2 small sticks of cinnamon (dalchini)

¼ tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Corriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp red chili powder

Salt to taste

2 tomatoes chopped finely

100g Cashews ground to a fine paste

150g Yoghurt

2 hard boiled eggs (optional) for decoration

Fresh coriander and mint leaves chopped for garnish

Method

Wash cut and clean the mutton pieces and marinate in Ginger, Garlic and chili paste for a few hours (preferably overnight)

Heat oil in the lower half of a large pressure cooker and keep on high flame

Cut onions in half and slice.

Fry the onions until they are brown and crispy, drain oil and remove onto sheets of tissue to cool.

Next make quarters of the potatoes and fry in the same oil until golden brown (around 3 - 5 minutes)

Remove and keep aside for later

Take out oil in excess of 1/2 a cup and put on high flame to heat

Add fenugreek seeds seeds, jeera, Bay leaf, cardamom pods, cloves, whole peppers and cinnamon to the oil and saute quickly over the high flame for around 1 minute

Add turmeric powder, cumin and corriander powder, red chili powder and salt

Add the Mutton to this aromatic hot and spicy mixture and let it saute for a bit until it changes colour.

Cut 2- 3 tomatoes finely and add to this mixture

Add just enough hot water to cover the mutton and put in a pressure cooker to cook. let the flame be high for the first whistle and then put it on a low flame. remove lid after the third whistle to check if the meat has been cooked. This can be done by checking the softness and colour of the meat and when done transfer all ingredients to a large vessel for the rest of the cooking process.

please do not yet put the pressure cooker to wash as it comes in use slightly later.

Put on a slow flame and allow the mutton to simmer whilst you prepare the next procedure

In the same pressure cooker add a teaspoon of oil and heat and saute the cashewnut paste until the oil separates and add to the mutton gravy

In a mixie put the birista and the yoghurt and whizz until a smooth paste is formed

Add this to the mutton and stir continuously.

never completely cover and keep the mutton dish when it is boiling with the yogurt as there are chances that it might curdle.

There finally you're dish is done. It isn't as hard as it looks on the recipe and besides, most Indian households have all the above ingredients and spices mostly so all you need to do is prepare all the ingredients in advance and then it's just a matter of putting them in one after the other.

Just garnish it with chopped mint and coriander leaves and the hard boiled eggs quartered lengthwise and serve!

This dish is ideally eaten with Naan. In Bandra you can get naans at Hersh Bakery.

Enjoy!

The New Golden Dragon and New Wasabi

Peace and blessings to all those who had their lives taken away fro them on this ill-fated day. We hope that we will always remember the sacrifice that was given by so many to save lives when the terrorists attacked. My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones today and I do hope that we can strive to work towards a better future.

On the same note, the Golden Dragon is open as of last night and in solidarity it was fully booked for lunch last night as well as this lunch. Wasabi however is scheduled to open on the 2nd of December or so. Apparently no such good news yet from either Tiffin or Kandahar but I will keep you posted.

The new décor is looking really bright and open and gives a luxurious feeling with gold and cream with a touch of brown being the theme. You can actually see into the whole restaurant as there are lovely large glass panels with gold work on them so you should really go and check it out.

I will keep you posted on more updates...

One of my favourite blogs

Hey guys this is just a shout out to you to let you know that a very dear friend called Marianna Farag has a fabulous amazing Blog called swirl and scramble. Do check it out especially since she does her own photography for all the food items - I love it!

Her latest blog about Apple muffins are such a treat!

do check her out on : http://swirlandscramble.blogspot.com/

Recipe - Guilt Free Sticky Toffee Pudding

Guys this recipe is dedicated to my sister Sarah who loves this dessert. Now we can have it without feeling so very guilty about it! I got this recipe from the femina which has some other interesting recipes as well of fruits and desserts. Do let me know if you want more recipes such as this one!

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cooking time 0 1 hour

Serves - Four

Ingredients -

175 g Pitted Dates

175ml water

150 ml Maple Syrup plus more to serve

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 eggs, separated

85 g self-raising flour

8 pcs whole Walnuts or Pecan Nuts to garnish

4 scoops vanilla ice cream (to serve with) alternatively you could use yoghurt

You will also need - 4, 200ml cupcake moulds, A deep over proof dish, butter to grease moulds, Foil Paper & a toothpick

Method

Heat Over to 180 Degree C

Put the dates and 175ml water in a pan doe 5 minutes

Take off the heat and add 120ml maple syrup and vanilla extract and blend in a food processor till smooth

Transfer to a bowl

Mix in egg yolks and then the flour

In another bowl, whisk egg whites till stiff

Fold into the date mix carefully

Put the remaining syrup into greased moulds and add the date mixture to this.

Cover tightly with a foil and stand in an overproof dish

Pour in hot water to come halfway to the mould's sides

Cook for an hour until a skewer put into the centre comes out clean

Uncover, run a knife around the edges and invert onto plates.

Drizzle over some maple syrup and place the Pecan nuts/walnuts on top of the pudding

serve with the scoop of vanilla Ice cream or alternatively you could serve it with a dollop of sweetened Yoghut!

Parsley

So this is a request from a friend for more details on how we can use parsley which led me to know more and understand this.

WH foods (www.WHfoods.com) is a super website to go on when researching about foods. they have the whole lowdown on Parsley and it's health benefits too!

In fact, according to WH foods, Parsley is the most popular garnish herb but i think that's a very biased viewpoint as they have underestimated the role of CORRIANDER in Indian cooking!!!

Tips for Preparing Parsley:

Fresh parsley should be washed right before using since it is highly fragile. The best way to clean it is just like you would spinach. Place it in a bowl of cold water and swish it around with your hands. This will allow any sand or dirt to dislodge. Remove the leaves from the water, empty the bowl, refill it with clean water and repeat this process until no dirt remains in the water.

Since it has a stronger flavor than the curly variety, Italian flat leaf parsley holds up better to cooking and therefore is usually the type preferred for hot dishes. It should be added towards the end of the cooking process so that it can best retain its taste, color and nutritional value.

If you are making a light colored sauce, use the stems from this variety as opposed to the leaves, so the sauce will take on the flavor of parsley but will not be imparted with its green color.

A Few Quick Serving Ideas:

Add parsley to pesto sauce to add more texture to its green color.

Combine chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest, and use it as a rub for chicken, lamb and beef.

Chopped parsley can be sprinkled on a host of different recipes, including salads, vegetable sautés and grilled fish.

My favourite thing to do for parsley is to make a tabouleh with it withfresh mint. Other easy recipes with Parsley are mentioned below.