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.

How to prepare Stuffed Capsicums

Serves: 6
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
6 medium size capsicums, 2 tbsps tuvar dal boiled,
3 cups rice cooked, 50 gms butter, 4 hard-boiled eggs chopped,
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste, 2 tomatoes skineed and chopped,
1/2 tsp turmeric

Steps to prepare Stuffed Capsicums

• Mix cooked rice, chopped eggs, chopped tomatoes, salt, sugar and pepper to taste. Add turmeric and boiled tuvar dal. Reserve.
• Remove the tops of the capsicums and the seeds. Stuff the capsicums with the rice mixture. Replace the tops and lightly fry on a low fire in a shallow dish in the butter.
• Serve hot with sweet and sour chutney.

How to prepare Vegetarian Egg Koftas (Kashmiri)

Serves: 6
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
1/2 kg paneer, 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp arrowroot powder,
1 large onion chopper and ground, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds,
1 cup coriander leaves chopped, 1/2 tsp coriander seed powder,
4 tbsps curds, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, Oil, Salt to taste

Steps to prepare Vegetarian Egg Koftas

• Divide the paneer into two portions. Mash seperately with a fork, adding 1/2 tsp turmeric powder to one portion and arrowroot powder to the other portion. Mix salt to taste in both the portions. Form into small yellow balls like the yolk of egg from the first portion and cover with white paneer. Deep fry in oil and reserve.
• Heat 2 tbsps oil and fry cumin seeds. Add turmeric, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala, ground onion and salt and sugar to taste. Fry till the gravy seperates from oil.
• Add beaten curds. Add water if required. Simmer till the gravy is creamy. Add koftas just before serving. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Dum Aloe Kashmiri

Serves: 6
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
1kg medium size potatoes peeled, 2 cloves,
1 and 1/2 tsps cumin seeds, 2 cardamoms,
1 and 1/2 tsps chilli powder, 1 bay leaf,
1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 and 1/2 cups beaten curds
1 and 1/2 tsps coriander powder, 2 tsps cashewnuts crushed,
1/4 tsp asafoetida, Oil, Salt to taste

Steps to prepare Dum Aloe:

• Prick the potatoes with a fork. Heat oil and fry them to a golden brown. Reserve.
• Heat 2 tbsps oil in a pan and fry cumin seeds. And all the masala powders, asafoetida, cloves, cardamoms, cinamon and the bay leaf. Cook till golden brown. Put in the fried potatoes and beaten curds.
• Add 1 cup of water and salt. Cook tightly covered till potatoes are tender. Sprinkle water occasionally if required.
• Serve garnished with crushed nuts.

How to prepare Mushroom rice ring

Serves: 6
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups basmati rice washed and drained, 400 gms mushrooms
washed and quartered, 1 onion sliced, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 cup tomato puree,
4 black cardamoms, 1 tsp ginger paste, 1 ts black pepper,
1 piece cinnamon, 1 tomato cut into rings, 3 bay leaves,
Oil, Salt to taste

Steps to prepare Mushroom rice ring:

• Heat 2 tbsps oil in a pressure cooker and fry the onion. Add the rice and cook for five minutes till rice looks opaque. Add salt and whole spices. Add double the quantity of water and cook for five minutes in the pressure cooker. Keep covered.
• In another pan, heat 2 tbsos oil and fry turmeric powder, tomato pulp and ginger paste. Add salt to taste and sprinkle water occasionally to prevent burning.
• Add mushrooms to the masala leaving a few for garnishing. Cook for 10 minutes. Do not let it dry.
• Put rice in an oven-proof rice tray or a metal dish in a circular shape leaving the center hollow. Put in the mushroom filling. Heat in the oven for a few minutes before serving. Fry the remaining mushrooms in butter.
• Garnish with fried mushrooms and tomato rings.

How to prepare Chickpea and rice pulao

Serves: 6
Cooking Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
500 gms basmati rice washed and drained, 6 peppercorns,
250 gms Kabuli chana, 3 tbsps ghee, 2 cloves
2 cardamoms, 1 stick cinnamon,
1 onion sliced finely and fried crisp,
Salt to taste

Steps to prepare Rice pulao:

• Soak chana overnight with a pinch of soda bicarb in water. Boil for 30 minutes in a pressure cooker.
• Heat 2 tbsps ghee and fry the cloves, cardamoms, pepper and then the rice. Pour double the quantity f hot water and add the bay leaf. Cook till rice is 3/4 done.
• Add boiled chana and salt. Simmer on a low fire till each grain is seperate.
• Garnish with fried sliced onion.

How to prepare Steamed fish (Kashmiri dish)

Serves: 6
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1kg fish washed and cut into large slices, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp aniseeds, 1 tsp ginger paste, 4 red Kashmiri chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds, 1tsp coriander seed powder,
1 tsp chilli powder, 1 cup coriander leaves chopped
Oil, 1/2 cup cirds, Salt to taste

Steps to prepare Steamed fish:

• Mix the turmeric, aniseeds and fish and keep aside for two hours. Heat oil and deep fry the fish pieces. Drain and reserve. In the same oil, add ground ginger, Kashmiri chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seed powder and chilli powder. Fry till golden brown.
• Add curds and cook till oil seperates from the masala. Add the fried fish and salt to taste. Cover the pan tightly. Cook on a very slow fire till the fish pieces are cooked.
• Serve covered with coriander leaves.

How to prepare Dry Chicken

Serves: 6
Cooking Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 kgs chicken, skinned and cut into pieces,
1 and 1/2 tsps cumin seeds, 3 tomatoes chopped,
1/4 tsp red food colouring, 2 onions sliced and fried golden crisp,
1 cup curds, 1(2 cms) piece ginger sliced, 6 cloves garlic,
1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin seed powder,
1 tsp chilli powder, 3 cardamoms, 1/4 cup malt vinegar,
Ghee, Salt to taste.

Steps to prepare Dry Chicken

• Mix the ground masala paste with the curds. Apply this paste to the chicken pieces and keep aside for 3 hours. Heat 2 tbsps ghee and fry cumin seeds. Add the chicken with the paste. Add tomatoes. Cook till the chicken is tender. Add the red color. Cook till the chicken is dry and the gravy is completely absorbed.
• Serve chicken garnished with fried onions.

How to prepare Mutton Biryani (Kashmiri)

• Serves: 6

Cooking time: 2 hours
Ingredients:
400gms mutton cubed, 2 cloves, 2 tsps chilli powder
1/4 nutmeg, ground 2 big black cardamoms,
2 tsps garam masala powder, small cardamoms,
2tbsps curds, 1 stick cinnamon, 1/ kg cooked basmati rice,
1 bay leaf, 1/2 tsp saffron mixed with 1 tbsp milk
2tsps shahjeera, 1 cup chopped mint and coriander leaves
2tsps coriander powder, 4 tbsps pure ghee, 1tsp turmeric powder,
Salt to taste

Steps to prepare Mutton Biryani:

• Heat ghee. Fry cloves, cardamoms, small cardamoms, cinnamon, bay leaf, shahjeera, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder, ground nutmeg and garam masala. Add curds and stir fry for a minute. Add meat to the masala. Cook meat till well browned and the curds is absorbed by the meat. Add salt to taste and water so that mutton is immersed in the gravy. Cook till done. Reserve.
• Divide the rice into two portions. Mix saffron with one portion of rice. Add half the meat. Add mint and coriander leaves. Cover with white rice and remaining meat. Close the pot tightly. Cook on a low fire for a few minutes.
• Turn out upside down in a large serving dish.
• Serve hot with pickle and green chutney.

How to prepare Apricot Sweet - Khubani in Kashmir

Serves: 6
Cooking Time: 2 hours
Ingredients:
30 dried apricots, 350gms sugar, 300gms paneer
2tbsps arrowroot powder, Ghee,
1/4 tsp saffron, soaked in tsp water,
1/2 tsp cardamom powder, 1tsp rose water.

STEPS TO PREPARE

• Soak apricots in water overnight. In the morning, add 150gms sugar to the water and simmer the apricots till soft. Gently remove seeds, leaving fruit whole. Cool and reserve.
• Knead paneer with arrowroot till soft. Form small balls of the mixture.
• Heat ghee in a pan and fry the balls gently to a golden colour. Drain and reserve. Prepare a syrup with the remaining 200 grams sugar and 2 cups of water. Add saffron, cardamom powder and rose water.
• As the syrup simmer, add the paneer balls, taking care not to break them. Cook till they are slightly translucent. Cool thoroughly.
• Serve in individual bowls with a topping of the apricots.

ABOUT KASHMIR FOOD AND PEOPLE

Before coming up with posts how to prepare kashmiri cuisines, I thought that it would be better off to tell about this beautiful place in India.

A veritable heaven on earth - this is how emperors and their bejewelled queens have described the mist and flower laden valley of Kashmir. Surrounded by the snowy peaks of the Himalayan ranges, Kashmir is evergreen and breathtakingly beautiful.

The rivers - Jhelum, Lidder and many others - run through this paradise of flowers and fruits, making it one of the world's most attractive resorts.

On the sapphire-gleaming lakes, the shikaras ply - as if they were floating markets - selling strawberries, cherries, plums and peaches in the clement summer months. The market too are full of lush green and plump juicy vegetables and fruits of every variety.

Undoubtedly, the Kashmiri people are the most beautiful in India. With their peaches and cream complexion and light golden eyes, they are spell-binding in looks.

Surrounded by high mountains, the valley is almost a carpet of flowers. The slopes of the mountains are thickly covered with forests in which fir, pine, silver birch and sycamore trees spread their very special fragrance. The streams that cascade through the forests and the meadows are excellent fishing preserves and snow trout and satsar caught and cooked instantly are a great delicacy.

Kashmiri cuisine is essentially meat-based. Lamb, goat's meat and chicken form the basis of many a famous dish such as Kabargah, Roghan Josh, Gular Khababs and Goli Kababs. The abundance of dry fruit - walnults, dried dates and apricots also inspire the Kashmiri connoisseur to use them lavishly in puddings, curries and snacks. Paneer, or Chaman as it is called, is also a popular accompaniment to many meats and vegetables.

On trek in the Kashmir mountains, one eats and eats with passion. The bracing climate guarantees ravenousness and the wide variety of dishes offers a gourmet's dream to visitors.

HOW TO MAKE PANEER, TOMATO PUREE, COCONUT MILK AND SAMBAR POWDER

HOW TO MAKE PANEER:
1 litre warm milk 2 tbsps lemon juice
Pour lemon juice into the warm milk. When the milk curdles, put it in a piece of clean muslin cloth and hang up. When the water has completely dripped away, keep the paneer under a heavy weight for 1 hour. Remove and cut into desired shapes.

HOW TO MAKE TOMATO PUREE
5 big tomatoes
Dip tomatoes in boiling water for one minute. Remove. Peel off skin and remove hard seeds. Liquidize. Use as needed.

HOW TO MAKE COCONUT MILK
1 coconut, grated
Liquidize the gratings and strain through a piece of muslin or fine sieve. Keep the first thick milk aside. Add a little warm water and liquidize once again and strain. This is the thin milk.

HOW TO MAKE SAMBAR POWDER
50gms whole red chillies 1tbsp chana dal
100gms coriander seeds 10 gms whole turmeric, crushed
25gms peppercorns 10 gms cumin seeds
1tbsp tuvar dal
Dry roast all the ingredients in a hot pan for one or two minutes. Grind finely and store.