Enjoy these lip-smacking Eid specialities!
Reshma Aslam shares 3 traditional recipes on the holy occasion of Eid ul-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the fasting month of Ramzan.
Badshahi Gosht
Ingredients
- 1 kg mutton, cut into 2 inch pieces
- 4 to 5 onions, chopped
- 1 cup tomato puree
- 1 cup thick yogurt
- 1 cup fresh cream
- 15 cashew nuts ground to a smooth paste (grind after soaking cashews in hot water for 10 mins)
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tbsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tbsp garam masala powder (all spice powder)
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 2 to 3 tbsp oil
- 3 to 4 green cardamoms
- 1 small piece of mace (jaavitri)
- 1 small piece of nutmeg powder (jaiphal)
- Salt to taste
Method
- Marinate mutton in a mixture of salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, yogurt and tomato puree for 4 to 5 hours.
- Heat oil and add mace and cardamom. Saute chopped onions until golden brown.
- Add ginger garlic paste. Cook for a minute and add the cashew nuts paste. Mix well. Add a little water if paste sticks to the pan.
- Add the marinated mutton. Mix well and cover with lid.
- Cook till mutton is tender.
- Add fresh cream, garam masala powder and nutmeg powder. Mix well.
- Let it simmer for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Serve with bread, roti or paratha.
Photograph: gahdjun/Creative Commons
Nawabi Biryani
Ingredients
- 1 kg mutton pieces
- 750 grams basmati rice, par boiled.
- 750 gram onions, julienned (for birasta)
- 250 gram oil (for birasta)
- ½ cup smoked oil
- 250 gram thick curd
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tbsp red chilli powder
- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tbsp tandoori powder
- 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tbsp garam masala powder
- 1/2 tsp red food colour
- 1/2 kg potatoes, fried
- Wheat dough enough for two rotis
- 1/2 cup ghee
- 1/2 cup coriander leaves, chopped
- 1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped
- Few cashewnuts and few apricots
- Few peppercons
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 star anise
- 2 to 4 green cardamoms
- 2 tsp shahjeera
- Salt to taste
Method
Birasta
- Fry onions until golden brown.
- Remove on tissue paper.
- When it cools, grind or hand-crush it. Keep aside.
Smoked oil
- Heat 1/2 cup oil. Place a small piece of live coal in a vessel and pour the hot oil over it. Cover it with lid.
Parboiled rice
- Boil to 2 to 3 liters of water in a big vessel. Add salt, few peppercons, 2 bayleaves, one star anise.
- Add the washed rice.
- Boil till it is half done. Strain excess water.
Biryani
- Clean, wash and cut mutton pieces. Apply salt.
- Add curds, birasta, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, coriander powder, tandoori powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, red food colour. Mix well.
- Add half of the chopped coriander and mint leaves. Mix well and marinate for 6 to 8 hours in refrigerator.
- Heat smoked oil in a thick-bottomed vessel. Fry shahjeera.
- Add mutton. Let it fry for a good 20 minutes. Turn off flame.
- Add fried potatoes. Layer parboiled rice over the mutton.
- Sprinkle remaining coriander and mint leaves. Garnish it with cashewnuts and apricots.
- Pour hot ghee over the rice.
- Cover vessel with a lid and seal the edges with the wheat dough.
- Heat a tava and put the vessel on it. Cook on high flame for 10 minutes and then on low flame for 40 to 45 minutes.
- Serve hot with raita.
Photograph: James/Creative Commons
Sheer Khurma
Ingredients
- 1 litre milk
- 100 grams roasted vermicelli (crushed into small pieces)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1/2 cup dry fruits chopped (almonds and pistas julienned, charoli or chironji)
Method
- Boil milk. Add sugar. Let it simmer so it thickens. Keep stirring in intervals.
- Heat ghee in a pan. Fry the vermicelli till golden brown.
- Remove from pan and let it cool.
- Add to the boiling milk.
- Garnish with dry fruits. Serve warm.
Photograph: Sahil Tiwarie/ Creative Commons
Also See
Want to share your favourite recipe? Simply e-mail your recipes to getahead@rediff.co.in (subject line: My Fav Recipe) with your name, hometown and any interesting details about the origin of the recipe, along with a photograph of the recipe, if possible. We'll publish the best preparations right here on Rediff.com and India Abroad.