How to prepare Mutton Korma

Serves: 6
Cooking time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1/2 kg mutton cubed, 1 tsp mango powder,
5 green chillies, 1 tsp garam masala, 2 large onions chopped,
8 cloves garlic chopped, 2 cms piece ginger chopped,
1/2 bunch coriander leaves chopped, 1 tsp garam masala,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder, Oil, Salt to taste.

Steps to prepare Mutton Korma:

• Grind the green chillies, ginger, garlic and coriander leaves.
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Fry the chopped onion till light brown. Add the ground masala. Fry till aromatic.
• Add the mutton pieces. Add turmeric, garam masala and mango powder. Add salt to taste and 2 cups of water. Cook till tender.
• Serve hot with rice.

How to prepare Mutton with chana dal

Serves: 6
Cooking time: 1hour 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1 kg mutton cubed, 1 and 1/2 cups chana dal soaked in water for 2 hours,
2 onions chopped finely, 4 tomatoes chopped finely,
3 tbsps chilli powder, 2 tsps garam masala powder,
2 tbsps ginger-garlic paste, 1 cup curds beaten,
1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp sugar, 1 cup coriander leaves chopped,
Oil, Salt to taste

Steps to prepare Mutton with chana dal:

• Cook chana dal in a pressure cooker till soft but seperate. Reserve
• Heat 6 tbsps oil in a pressure cooker. Add the meat and fry till well browned. Add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala and the onion and tomato paste. Fry on a low fire till the gravy is rich and oil separates from the masala.
• Add salt, sugar and curds. Add 2 cups of water. Pressure cook for 30 minutes or till meat is soft.
• Open. Add chana dal and mix well. Add salt if needed. Simmer till well blended.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with parathas.

How to prepare Sarson ka Saag

Sarson ka saag is called Mustard leaf curry in english and Punjab is famous for the preparation of this sarson ka saag. Lets see how its prepared.

Serves: 6
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1 kg sarson(mustard greens) chopped finely, 2 red chillies,
1/4 kg spinach chpped finely, 2 tbsps gram flour sieved,
2 cms piece ginger minced, 1 tbsp butter, 4 cloves garlic minced,
Ghee, 2 green chillies minced, Salt to taste

Steps to prepare Sarson ka saag:

• Boil bothe the greens till soft. Remove excess water and mash the leafy vegetables well and reserve.
• Heat 4 tbsps ghee and add ginger, garlic, green chillies and broken red chillies. When the masala is browned, add the mashed saag and salt.
• Mix the gram flour in a little water and add to the saag. Simmer for atleast 30 minutes.
• Serve, topped with a spoon of butter, with makki(maize) ki roti.

How to prepare White Puris (Bhatura)

Serves: 4
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
2 cups refined flour(maida) sieved, 1 potato peeled and mashed,
1/4 tsp soda bicard, 6 tbsps curds well beaten, 1/2 tsp sugar,
Ghee, Salt to taste

Steps to prepare White puris

• Mix the maida, mashed potato, soda bicarb, curds, salt and sugar and form a soft dough adding enough water.
• Leave covered for 10 hours to ferment.
• After the dough has risen well, knead and make into small balls. Roll out in 8 cms discs and deep fry in hot ghee. They should puff up and look almost round.
• Serve with chana and sliced onions.

How to prepare Methi ki Missi Roti

Serves: 4
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
1/2 kg wheat flour sieved, 3 tbsps curds well beaten,
4 tbsps gram flour sieved, Ghee, 1 cup methi leaves chopped,
Salt to taste, 2 spring onions chopped finely

Steps to prepare Methi ki Missi Roti

• Mix wheat flour with gram flour, salt, curds, 1tbsp ghee, onions and methi leaves. Mix well. Add enough water to make a stiff dough. Reserve for 30 minutes.
• Make into lemon-sized balls. Roll each into a 12 cms disc. Cook on a hot greased griddle till browned on both sides.
• Serve hot, dotted with butter.

About PUNJAB

Before writing posts on how to prepare Punjabi cuisines, I wanted to write something on Punjab, its people and the cuisines. So you might have known by now that this post is about Punjab.

Vim, vigour and vibrancy qualify the state of Punjab and its energetic people. Called the granary of the nation. Punjab is a green vision of swaying wheat and maize fields. Situated just at the bottom of the foothills of the Himalayas, Punjab constitutes the valley of the five rivers, the Beas, the Jhelum, the Satlej, the Ravi and the Chenab. Abundant in water, Punjab produces huge and excellent crops of wheat.
In summer, the landscape is almost coppery in the heat haze. The winters are bracing and cold and swirling mists cover the ground almost all day.
The Punjabis are a vigorous people, fond of eating, working and merry-making. Their dances are powerfully active. Their songs are rhthmic and the men and women are energetic. The Punjabi harvest dance - Bhangra - is performed with the drums beating wild and loud to the joy of onlookers who sing along to encourage the dancers.
Punjabis are robust people with robust appetites. Their mornings begin with thick parathas stuffed with vegetables and eaten with butter or spicy chanas cooked in a clove and cardamom-flavoured curry. Huge tankards of lassi or creamy buttermilk are drunk to wash down hot jalebis dripping with sugar syrup.
Punjabi tandoori cooking is celebrated as one of the most popular cuisines throughout the world. Huge earthen ovens , half-buried in the ground, are made red hot with a coal fire lit at the bottom. Marinated meat, chicken, fish, paneer and rotis and naans of many types are cooked. Tandoori food is today featured on the menus of almost all five star hotels in India and reputed Indian restaurants abroad.
The winter is Punjab's great season. The harvests are in. The weather is clement. And the fields are full of mustard greens. It is in this season of mellow mists that Punjabis eat their national delicacy - makki ki roti and sarson ka saag. Huge spicy and hot with green chillies , ginger and garlic. Farm picnics around bonfires on the cold nights of autumn are a favourite feature of Punjabi life.
At the end of winter comes Holi and Baisakhi, both colourful festivals of dance and song. These are great community celebrations where rotis and spicy meat curries are shared by merry-makers under a dull April moon.
Punjabis, wherever they live, lead fun-filled lives. Their weddings are glittering feasts. Their parties are joyous and food and drink flow generously at their get-togethers.
Punjab, with its rivers and canals, is a rich state and its riches are evident in the lifestyle of the people. Chandigarh, the capital of the state is called "city beautiful" and is the most aesthetically designed city in India. It is the result of the creative genius of the world famous architech Le Corbusier who has brought Chandigarh internation acclaim. Inspite of being the capital, the city has a leisurely lifestyle with people living in beautiful houses surrounded by lush gardens.

How to prepare Kashmiri yeast bread

Serves: 6
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1/2 kg wholewheat flour (aata), 1 tsp aniseeds crushed roughly,
3/4 cup milk, Ghee, 1 tsp sugar, Salt to taste, 2 tbsps yeast softened

Steps to prepare Yeast bread:

• Melt sugar in the milk
• Mix flour, aniseeds, milk, salt, 1 tbsp ghee and the yeast. Knead till the dough is soft.
• Leave till doubled in size.
• Make into lemon-sized balls and roll out rotis. Cook on a griddle and then on an open fire so that rotis puff up.
• Serve with hot ghee.