Recipe of Bread ki kheer

Ingredients and Method:

Cut the crusted sides of the bread and soak it in cold milk for 30 minutes. Now cook in a heavy bottom pan on medium flame. Keep stirring. Add a pinch of saffron. Remove from heat. Add sugar, cardamom and chopped dry fruits once cool.

Recipe of Rogan Josh

Serves - 6

Ingredients:

Ghee- 2tbs
Mutton - 1 kg. Don't use boneless pieces
Onion - 500 gms
Garlic - 3 flakes
Ginger - 1" piece
Chopped red chilies - 4
Cloves - 4
Coriander seeds - 2tsp
Green cardamom - 4
Cumin seeds - 2tsp
Kashmiri lal mirch/ degi mirch powder - 1tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Bay leaf - 1
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon stick - 1" piece
Hot water -2/3 cup
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder - to taste
Almonds - Blanched & coarsely ground 10 pieces

Method:

Grind ginger, garlic, red chilies, cardamom, cloves, coriander, cumin, kashmiri lal mirch adn salt together and keep aside.

Heat ghee. Saute onions until light brown. Add ground paste and bay leaf and stir until fragrant. Add the meat and simmer for a few minutes. Add the ground almonds. Add yogurt & mix well. Stir in the cinnamon, hot water and pepper to taste. Cover and cook on a low heat until the meat is very tender and the sauce thickens. While cooking, stir occasionally to prevent burning.

When it is done, discard the cinnamon stick and stir in the garam masala. Cover for a few minutes and remove from fire.

Serve both these with hot basmati rice.

Note: If you cannot get kasmiri lal mirch use paprika. 

Recipe of Chicken Yakhni

Ingredients:

2 chicken - cut into 8 pieces each
6 tbsp oil
4 bay leaves
10 cloves
7 tbsp saunf (fennel seeds)
4 tsp sonth powder (it is basically dried ginger powder)
2 tsp salt or to taste
5 cups curd - well beaten
2 tsp garam masala
2 black cardamom & 8 green cardamon - coarsely powdered

Method:

Heat oil. Add bay leaves and cloves. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken & fry to 3-4 minutes. Add saunf, sonth, salt and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add crushed cardamoms. Reduce heat. Add beaten curd. Mix well. Keep stirring till it boils. Cover and simmer on low heat till chicken is well cooked and some gravy remains. Sprinkle garam masala and serve.

Recipe of Kashmiri Rogan Josh

6 Servings

Ingredients:

1 tbsp whole fennel seeds
3 1/4 cup plain yogurt
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 - 3/4" stick of cinnamon
1/2 tsp whole cloves
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch asafoetida
3 lb cubed lamb/ meat
4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp dried ginger
3 2/3 cup water or meat broth
1/4 tsp garam masala

Method:

Grind the fennel seeds until fine. Put yogurt in a bowl and beat it until smooth and creamy. Heat oil in a large pot over high flame. When hot, put in cinnamon and cloves. A second later, put in asafoetida. Just after that add meat and salt. Stir the meat and cook, still on high flame, for about 5 minutes. Now add paprika and cayenne and stir well. Slowly add yogurt, small amount at a time, stirring meat vigorously as you do so. Add all the yogurt this way. Keep cooking on high flame until all the liquid evaporates and meat pieces are slightly brown. Add fennel and ginger. Give meat some more good stirs. Now add water/ broth and cover so as to leave the lid little ajar. Cook on medium heat for 30 minutes. Cover completely and cook on low heat for another 45 minutes or until meat is tender. Stir a few times as the meat cooks ensuring that there is some liquid in the pot. Remove the lid, add garam masala.

Recipe of Korma-E-Vakil

Ingredients:

1 kg meat - cut into pieces
1 cup ghee
2 cups onions - thinly sliced

Mix together:
10 green cardamom
10 cloves
1 tsp seeds of black cardamom - powdered
1 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 cup yogurt
salt to taste
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan and fry onions til brown and crisp. With a slotted spoon, scoop them out and grind to paste with little water. Keep it aside.

Add the mixed spices to the meat and put it into the hot ghee over high heat.

Stir to mix well. when the meat pieces begin to look opaque, lower heat; cover and simmer for about an hour or till the meat is tender. Stir a few times to make sure it does not scorch.

Time taken for meat to cook through depends on the quality of the meat and the width of the vessel. If the meat gets cooked before the water dries up or fat separates, take out the pieces and then cook the masala till fat separates. Put the meat back.

If it does not cook add little more water and cook till tender.

Add the onion paste and cook some more till well blended and serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Recipe of Daal Gosht

Ingredients:

1/2 kg mutton
1/2 cup husked black gram
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt to taste

Method:

Cook the mutton as in Korma-e-Vakil (please refer to the recipe from my blog). Soak the husked black gram for about an hour. Add the soaked lentils to the meat. Add the chili powder and the turmeric along with the salt to taste.

Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the lentils are cooked through, but not soft enough to disintegrate. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.  

Recipe of Mutton Korma

Ingredients:

1 kg mutton/ lamb - cut into pieces

2 cups onions - sliced thin and browned in 1 cup ghee

1 cup ghee

6 green cardamoms

1 black cardamom

7-8 cloves

1 tsp grated nutmeg

1 tsp black cardamom powder

1 tbsp chili powder

1 inch stick cinnamon

7-8 black peppercorns

1 1/2 tsp Ginger paste

1 1/2 tsp Garlic paste

Salt to taste

1/2 cup whisked yogurt

1/4 cup cashewnut paste

1 tsp garam masala powder

1/2 cup fresh cream

Method:

Cut the lamb into one inch cubes. Chop the onions. Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Add green cardamoms, black cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and black peppercorns and sauté till fragrant. Add onions and sauté until lightly browned. Add ginger paste, garlic paste and sauté for one-minute stirring continuously to avoid the paste from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add lamb pieces and sauté on a high heat for three to four minutes stirring continuously. Add coriander powder, red chilli powder and salt. Sauté for another two to three minutes. Add yogurt and one cup of water. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook till the lamb pieces are tender. Add cashewnut paste and garam masala powder. Cook for five more minutes on medium heat. Add cream and mix. Simmer for ten minutes. Serve hot.

Recipe of Garlic Shrimps

Ingredients:

700 grams Shrimps (cleaned and deveined)
1 medium garlic (grounded to thick paste)
1-2 tsp red chilli flakes
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup lemon juice 
Salt to taste (optional, if you are using salted butter)
2 tbsp butter (divided into four parts)
2 tsp olive oil

Method:

Heat a heavy bottom pan on high flame. Put olive oil and warm a little. Add shrimps to it and cook till half done. Keep stirring continuously as its on high heat. Add garlic paste (do not add water while grinding garlic) and chilli flakes. Stir for about a minute. Add lemon juice. (Tip: if you a spoon of brine, the final dish will taste different and better, but it is absolutely optional). Stir for another minute. Now add 1/4 of the butter and salt, if using. As soon as the butter has melted add half of the parsley and rest of the butter and bring the heat to low. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Take it out on a dish, sprinkle rest of the parsley. It's ready to be eaten. 

Recipe of Gaajar ka halwa

Ingredients:

1 kg carrots 

1.5 litres milk

1 bowl dry fruits (chopped)

3-4 finely crushed cardamom

2 tbsp ghee

1 cup sugar (or to taste)

Method: 

Wash, peel an grate the carrots. Grated carrots leave a lot of water, to reduce the cooking time it is advisable to squeeze as much excess water as possible. Put carrots in a heavy bottom pan. Cook on medium heat till all the water vapourizes and the colour of carrots turns deeper red. Add ghee and cook for about 25-30 minutes on low heat. It will ensure that carrots get their right flavour. Once the little fargments ghee starts to show, add milk. Cook on medium to low heat till the milk vapourizes and what is left is more like condensed milk or mawa. Add Sugar and cook till it gets dissolved. Now add cardamom an dry fruits. Cook for another 5 minutes. 

Tip: You can directly use khoya/ mawa instead of milk. It reduces the cooking time to half but the taste of final product will be different depending on what we have opted to use. 

Recipe of Aam ki Kheer

Ingredients:

Ripe Mangoes - 2
Milk - 1 liter
Saffron - 1 pinch
Sugar - 1 small bowl
Cardamom - powdered/ crushed
Dry fruits (almond, cashew, pistachio) - chopped

Method:

Peel mangoes and grate it or cut it into small pieces. Boil milk and reduce it to half. Add mangoes and cook. Add saffron and stir for 2-3 minutes. Now remove from fire and let it cool. Add sugar according to taste. Add cardamom and dry fruits.