Ever since I have come to Hyderabad, I have tasted some awesome mutton preparations like Mutton Biryani, Haleem, Patthar ka Gosht and many more. I have now developed a taste for Mutton so much that I have started preferring it to Chicken. 
Today I cooked Mom's Konkani Mutton Gravy. Tasted awesome.



Method

1. Prepare a paste of 2 green chillies, 7-8 garlic flakes, 1 inch ginger, handful of mint and handful of coriander leaves. Marinate the 500 gms of mutton with this paste. Add 1 cup of curd, 1 tsp turneric and 1 tbsp chilli powder and salt. Leave to marinate for 1 hour.

2. Dry roast 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tbsp cumin seeds, 4-5 dried red chillies, 1 inch cinamon stick, 5-6 cloves, 5-6 pepper corns, 2 cardamom with 3 tbsp of freshly grated coconut. When slightly brown remove from flame and let it cool. Then grind in a blender to get a fine paste.

3. Take a pressure cooker and add 2 tbsp oil. Add 1 big onion finely chopped and saute it till translucent. Add 2 finely chopped tomatoes and saute till cooked. Now add the marinated mutton and cover the cooker. Cook for 4-5 whistles - mutton takes longer to cook.

4. After the whistles remove the pressure cooker lid and add the finely ground paste and bring to boil. Adjust the salt. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

This mutton goes well with rice rotis or rice. In Konkani cuisine, we use a lot of coconut. In the original recipe, we add around a cup of coconut since coconut adds to the volume and makes the gravy thick. However I prefer adding more curd and less coconut to get a slightly thinner gravy.

Rajma is one of my favorite vegetarian dishes. I have tried it many times but somehow it never turned out as good as my friend Rajneet's recipe. Here is the traditional recipe straight out of Rajneet's Punjabi Kitchen. 

Recipe and photo courtesy Rajneet!!

Method

1. Wash around 2 cups of rajma. Soak it in water (4 times the quantity) and add salt n leave it overnight.

2. Take 2 tsp oil in the pressure cooker.  Add 1tsp cumin seeds and let it crackle.

3. Then add 2-3 medium sized grated onions and fry  till they turn light brown.

4. Add grated garlic (2-3 cloves) and ginger (1 inch piece) and sauté for 2 mins.

5. Now add 2 grated tomatoes and sauté it till the smell of raw tomatoes disappears. (I sometimes use 1 tomato and 2 tsp of tomato puree for the reddish tinge).

6. Now when oil starts leaving the masala, it is the time to add all the spices ( ¼ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp red chilly powder,  1 tsp cumin powder, ½ tsp coriander powder). Add a little bit of salt, since you have already added salt in Rajma. Saute for 2 mins.

7. Add soaked rajma to this masala along with the same water. Pressure cook it on medium flame for around 4 whistles and then on slow flame for about 10mins. Let the pressure release and open the cooker with all the safety precautions.

8. Add 1 tsp of garam masala and cook it for 5 mins. Just cover it lightly. Adjust water if required and also check if the rajma are soft enough. (if not you can cook for more 1-2 whistles, generally it is not required but depends on the quality of rajma)

9. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice/jeera rice/rotis.

There are two varieties of rajma : the dark maroonish ones which don’t soften so easily (exception are of the original ones from jammu) and the other is the light pinkish rajma with dark streaks which are generally preferred in the traditional recipe. I have cooked the pink ones here.

Thai red curry comes very close to Konkani curries with predominant coconut flavour and hence both hubby and me end up ordering it a lot when we eat out. One day I came across Thai red curry paste and thought I will try this. The gravy tasted so good that I make it very regularly and have also planted lemon grass and basil at home so that I can use freshly cut lemon grass and basil leaves in the curry. Here is how I cook it.

Method

1.     Marinate 250 gms of boneless chicken cubes with salt and pepper powder and keep aside some time.

2.     In a saucepan, add 1 packet red thai curry paste (I use Real Thai Red Curry paste) and sauté on low flame

3.     Add 2 cups of thick coconut milk to the paste and let it reach a boil. You can extract fresh coconut milk but since it is cumbersome I use store bought coconut milk powder and mix it with water. Simmer the mixture for 5 mins

4.     Add 1tbsp soya sauce, 1 tbsp fish sauce, a pinch of sugar (brown sugar is preferable) and some lemon grass roughly chopped. Stir and simmer for 5 mins

5.     Add around 10 basil leaves and remove from heat and keep aside.

6.     In another non stick pan, add 2 tsp olive oil. When the oil is hot add the chicken cubes and sauté. Saute for 4-5 mins till the chicken cubes are no longer pink.

7.     Add 1 cup of bell pepper diced into cubes, ½ cup of carrot diced into cubes, 1 cup of zucchini  and 1 cup of broccoli cut into florets and sauté until the vegetables are done

8.     Add the sauce that we kept aside earlier to the pan and simmer for 5 mins.

9.     Add some coriander stalks roughly chopped at the end and remove from heat.

I had seen chicken being cooked this way in a cookery show but did not have the recipe written down. I tried making it using ingredients in my own way. It may not be the authentic recipe for Malwani chicken but tasty nevertheless.

Method

1. Marinate 1 kg chicken with 2 tbsp red chilli powder, 1tsp turmeric and salt for at least an hour before cooking.

2. Cut 2 medium onions roughly, 1/2 cup coriander leaves, 2 green chillies, 10 flakes of garlic and 1 inch of ginger, handful of mint leaves and fry them till the onions turn slightly brown in texture on a pan without oil. Blend them in a mixer to get a coarse paste.

3. Dry roast 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 inch cinnamon, 2-3 cardamoms, 4-5 cloves, 3-4 peppercorns. Blend them in a mixer to get a coarse powder.

4. Take oil in a vessel and saute the onion paste for 2-3 mins . Add the chicken and mix thoroughly. Add around 1 cup of water and let this cook for 20 mins or till the chicken is almost cooked. 

5. Now add the dry masala powder and stir well. 

6. Add 1 cup of dahi to give a rich texture to the chicken and cook for 5 mins.

7. Garnish with coriander leaves. 

I made this slightly dry so that it tastes good with rice roti and chapatis. You can try adding more water if you want a gravy to go with rice.

This dish is traditionally cooked using fresh mushrooms which grow naturally during the rains. But since those are not so easily available, I cook it with button mushrooms which are available in the food stores.

However if are lucky enough to get those fresh mushrooms that sprout up during rains, do try this recipe with those...I bet that you won’t be disappointed.

Method

1.     Cut 1 medium sized onion into fine pieces. Cut mushrooms to similar sized pieces so that you have around 2 cups of mushroom

2.     Heat 1tbp oil in a pan and fry 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 inch cinnamon, 3-4 black pepper, 2 cloves and 3-4 red chillies. Grind to a paste with 1 cup of freshly desiccated coconut and a marble sized ball of tamarind.

3.     In a vessel boil onions and mushroom in water. When this comes to a boil add the above paste and salt to taste and continue cooking. Cook for another 10 mins on a slow flame or till the mushrooms look cooked.

4.     Add 1 tsp garam masala at the end just before putting of the flame.

This dish tastes good with neer dosas, chappatis and even with rice.

This dish is my creation from different Andhra recipes that I have tasted.

Method

1. Marinate prawns (after removing the shell - I use smaller prawns for this dish) with ginger garlic paste, lemon juice, tamarind paste and salt for atleast an hour before cooking
2.  Take 2 tbsp oil in a pan(Andhra dishes are high in oil but I add less of oil and use a non stick pan instead)
3. Add 1 tbsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp mustard seeds, pinch fenugreek seeds, 3-4 dried red chillies, 2 medium sized onions (cut them into long and thin slices) and 2 twigs of curry leaves. Saute on medium heat till onions are pinkish.
4. Add 2 chopped tomatoes and sauté.
5. Add 2 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, salt and sauté till the oil separates
6. Now add a cup of tamarind water. You can make this by boiling tamarind in water.
7. Add the prawns and cook for 10 mins on slow flame. Prawns cook easily to see to it that you don’t overcook them
8. I add a pinch of sugar to balance the sourness in this dish
9. Garnish with coriander and serve with rice

Andhra cooking is high in chilli, salt and tamarind. I don’t like too much chilli in my cooking and hence have not added much. You can add more if it suits your taste. You can replace prawns with boneless chunks of fish too.

This is a traditional Konkani recipe and I always end up cooking this dish when there are no vegetables in the fridge and I have only have potatoes and onions left.

Method

1. Boil 3 medium sized potatoes with the skin on. Cut them into big (around 1-2 inch) pieces.
2. Add 2 tsp oil in a pan.  Add  2 medium sized onions chopped finely. Saute till it is pinkish in colour
3. Take a different pan and dry roast 1 cup freshly desiccated coconut, 1 tsp coriander seeds and 2-3 red chillies. Grind in mixie with a small marble size ball of tamarind and water. Add this thick paste to the onions and sauté till the rawness of spices is gone. Add salt to taste.
4. Add the boiled potatoes and water and cook the dish till the gravy is ready.
5. Keep the gravy slightly thick and use this as a side dish with rice. I use coconut oil in this dish as it gives a beautiful flavour to the curry.

This is a traditional Konkani dish and is a regular fare at Konkani weddings. Like all Konkani dishes, we use coconut, red chilli and tamarind here. We cook a lot of different pulses in Konkani cooking but somehow the masala remains the same and yet every curry tastes different. So sometime back I started grinding together this masala to suffice a weeks cooking and storing it in the fridge and using small portions every day. This reduced cooking time drastically.

Method

1. Soak 1 ½ cup of black chickpeas (kala chana) overnight
2. Next day pressure cook it till  tender but not completely soft.
3. For the masala, dry roast 1 tsp of coriander seeds, 3-4 dry red chillies and grind together with ½ cup of freshly grated coconut and 1 small marble sized ball of tamarind to a fine paste. Dont add too much water while grinding
4. Now pour the masala and the cooked chana in a pan. You can add the water used to boil the chana too. Add 1 potato cut into cubes/  or raw banana cut into cubes or 1 cup yam cut into cubes
5. Add salt according to taste and cook till gravy boils and the potatoes are cooked. Turn off the gas.
6. Give a chaunk/seasoning with oil,1 tsp mustard seeds, pinch of asafoetida, 5-6 curry leaves. Cover the dish and let the gravy absorb the flavours of the seasoning
7. Serve with rice

I have used raw jackfruit (kathal in hindi) in the above picture instead of potatoes.