Curries & Stories: polao

September 24

The other week I had got a bunch of small red apples. I'm not much of a fruit lover ( I know I am weird) but I just got them because they were so cute! And I thought that maybe if I get smaller apples I might just be able to coax myself into having them. And obviously they are good for health right?

So yes I did coax myself into having a couple of them, I am doing healthy stuffs now a days so it was somewhat easy to motivate myself. But then after a while my foodie brain started to think in a disrupted manner. Why to eat apples as just apples? I mean while they are good as apples, why not use them to make something different. That's what Instagram does to you, you see. Till the time you limit yourself to cooking shows, MasterChef episodes and Facebook food groups, you are exposed to comparatively less ideas of thinking out of the box. But once you come on Instagram, there is just disruption in every food preparation you have had in your entire lifetime.

Once you step into the realm of Instagram you feel like everyone out there is a MasterChef and you are the only horrible cook left in this big bad lonely world. At least I felt it that way, I was too embarrassed to put up the simple macher jhol pictures or the beans ki subzi which tastes heavenly but not much of a looker. There was absolutely no drama in the preparation or the dish that I plated it in. I mean who would even care for your jhinger macher jhol ( fish curry with ridge gourd) with some soggy jhinge swimming around the fried fish, when they can see a gourmet fish steak lying on a bed of aromatic rice and some green ridge gourd on the side strategically placed to give the feel but not to crowd the dish? I definitely liked the gourmet version, not sure about you folks.

Thus I learnt in a few months, if you cook something which you could not shape properly simply call it deconstructed xyz and further distort the shape and present it with nice garnish. If you want to shock people just combine 3-4 elements which never on earth you would have imagined to go together. Or if you have things wilting in your pantry just make a dip or chutney out of it and present it in a nice set of crockery with all the bells and whistles. Sounds simple right?

The truth is farther from it. Instagram is where we bring to life the concept of eating first with our eyes. And to do that the kind of efforts that goes into the background is tremendous. Each of these people meticulously plan the entire production of a dish they are going to capture in the frame much ahead of time. There is a lot of money and time invested in making each picture come to life. Food photography is expensive. And only through trials and error you will know of tips and tricks which can save you a few bucks. But still it is expensive. At the minimum you need to invest in a good camera, some decent backgrounds and of course good crockery. And after that you will still be in the beginners stage as per the Instagram standards.

Thus when you are just starting a food page on Instagram you might feel a whole lot overwhelmed by the contents you see around you or the growing number of followers in others profile might give you sleepless nights or put your mind on a self induced pressure zone, but my suggestion is don't fret. I mean what was the point of joining Instagram in the first place? For me it was like a live journal wherein I wanted to document my food journey, interact with like minded folks, know more about food and photography and the most important enjoy the experience at my own pace. I wanted to look back in time at my feed and feel good that I created so many things which I never thought of making earlier. I will look back in time and feel this year I have cherished the fact that I could give so much time to one of my favorite hobbies - cooking. That will be a true accomplishment rather than chasing after numbers like crazy. I do not deny the fact that as your followers graph goes up you do feel a growing happiness but then if you have good content there will always be audience to appreciate it. Unless you want to monetize right away, you can go at a steady pace, trying to build meaningful content once every two days rather than a cartload of shitty images daily.

So just take a deep breath, cook things which make you happy and don't worry about the results.

I wanted to make something nice and filling for lunch as well as use the apples. Egg pulao was on my mind but then I decided to make a Kashmiri dry fruits pulao and add egg to it (simply because I wanted to have egg :)). And when its a dry fruits pulao obviously apples are a right candidate to throw in as well. Believe me it tastes super duper awesome. So if you have some apples which are not that sweet and do not know what to do with them apart form halwa, this is a good option. You can also add more fruits like cranberries or pomegranate to make it more fruit loaded.

This Kashmiri Pulao recipe will tease your taste buds with sweet, spicy and tart flavors. The best part of this recipe is you can reuse left over rice also for making this amazingly flavorful and textured pulao. Its a one pot fragrant, fruity and nutty pulao which can be made quickly and enjoyed.

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 40 minutes
Serving : 1 serving

Ingredients :

Basmati Rice / Any fragrant Rice - 50 gm
Stock ( Vegetable/Chicken/Mutton) - 100 ml
Ginger Paste - 1/2 tsp
Bay Leaf - 1
Fennel Seeds (Bruised) - 1/2 tsp
Cardamom (Bruised) - 2
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch
Green Chilli (Slitted)- 4 to 5
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - As per taste
Ghee - 2 tsp
Refined Oil - 2 tsp

Garnish :

Onion (for Beresta) - 1/2 sliced
Red Apple (Diced) - 1/2
Black raisins / Manaka / Normal Raisins - 1/2 cup
Cashew Nut - 1/4 th cup
Almonds - 5 to 6
Coconut Slice - 8-10
Saffron Strands/ Orange Food Color - 1/2 tsp

Additional:

Potato (Halved)- 1 medium
Boiled Egg - 1

Equipment:
Heavy bottomed wok

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice in water for about 30 minutes

2. While the rice is soaking we need to prep up for the rest of the elements. Boil the halved potatoes with skin on and the egg and keep aside.

Note: This is an optional step. You can completely skip it

3. To make the beresta, slice the onion and then fry them to a crisp in the wok. Keep it aside. You can add a little sugar while frying to give a nice caramel color to the onions.

4. Halve the cashew, chop the almonds, and slice the coconut. Now heat the wok and add enough ghee to fry the dry fruits. On medium heat toss the dry fruits in batches and take care not to burn them. Fry till they are fragrant with a slight brown color. Once the nuts are fried, switch off the heat and toss the raisins in the remaining ghee for about 30 seconds. They will get fried in the heated oil itself. Keep these aside

Note: You can brown the coconut slices a little more than the nuts for a nice look.

5. Now shell the egg, make a few shallow slits along all sides. Toss it in a pinch of turmeric and salt and coat the egg well. In the same wok heat some ghee or refined oil and shallow fry the egg turning it on all sides till it gets a little crispy cover. Keep it aside. Now in the same oil fry teh boiled potatoes with their skin on. Fry till the potato gets a little brown on the eggs and the skin starts to turn little crispy. Take it off the flame and keep aside.

6. Now take the wok and heat 2 tsp of ghee. When its fragrant add the bruised cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon and slitted green chillies. Toss it around for 30 seconds and add the ginger paste. Fry on medium heat till fragrant.

7. Now drain the water from the rice and add the rice to the spices in the wok. Fry the rice till they start turning white. Keep giving gentle stir frequently to prevent it from sticking to the wok. Take care not to break the rice.

8. Now measure double the amount of stock or water to the amount of rice and add it to the wok. Add salt and sugar. Give it a gentle stir. Add the fried potatoes. Now cover the wok and let the rice cook on high for about a minute.

Note: You can replace the stock with water. However stock would impart a better flavor.

9. When the rice is 3/4th cook, open the cover and now put the flame on sim/low. Put a tawa underneath the wok before you start assembling everything. Now add the fried egg on top of the rice. Add some slitted green chillies for added flavor. Sprinkle the raisins and beresta all over the rice. At a few points add the saffron color water/ orange food coloring. Now cover the wok and make sure any openings are closed to arrest the steam within the wok. We now need to cook rest of the rice on dum for about 10 minutes or till it is completely cooked.

Note: Do not mix the orange colour with entire rice. We want to gain a dual tone effect.

10. After 10 minutes or when the rice is done. Open the cover and let the rice sit in the wok till the excess moisture is absorbed. Now you can serve the rice on a plate and sprinkle it with all the fried nuts and coconut pieces.

Pro Tip: If you want to have a lovely crunchy feel to the nuts always add nuts while serving and not while putting the rice on dum which makes the fried nuts soft.

11. The final step is to dice the apple, toss it in some lemon juice and then add it to the rice. This will keep the apples crunchy and color intact. however if you want the apples to be soft, add it to the rice when you are putting it on dum.

Serve it as it is, or with a choice of raita and salads.

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20 September

Mutton Tahari recipe or the Tehari recipe is a very traditional and age old recipe. It is a one pot meal where all the components are cooked together unlike biryani, where the yakhni and the rice is separately cooked and then layered together and put on dum. Here the yakhni is cooked first and then the raw rice is added to it and let it cook on a slow flame or dum till it is flaky and has absorbed all the juices of the yakhni. Ideally at the final stage even Tehari is put on dum, but for a quick and easy way out, you can also pressure cook it together like any pulao. You can try and make this with vegetables of your choice as well and replace the mutton. pieces.

Just like pulao or biryani every region has its own tehari recipes wherein the core process remains the same but the ingredients might differ a bit. The one that I am writing about is a recipe from East Bengal. Its an easy and quick recipe compared to mutton biryani. So when you want to have something biryani like but want to cheat on the preparation hassles this should be your go-to recipe.

It might look like a Mutton Yakhni pulao recipe but note that the signature flavor of this tehari comes from the whole green chillies we use during the dum process in this recipe. Tehari is cooked either with potatoes or without varying from region to region. I love potatoes with my biryani and Teharis; it adds a little something to incorporate with the rice when you eat, apart from the meat itself.

The most crucial aspect of a good pulao/biryani/tehari is that the meat must be double the quantity of rice used. Don't get overwhelmed by the long list of ingredients. I have segregated phase wise so that its easy to read and remember.

Marination Time : Overnight

Cooking Time : 60-65 minutes
Serving : 2 Adults

Ingredients for Marinating Mutton (Overnight) :

Mutton - 500 gm
Garlic - 1/2 tsp paste
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Curd - 2 tsp

Ingredients for Boiling Mutton:

Black Pepper Clove - 5, bruised
Garlic Clove - 3, bruised
Bay Leaf - 1
Phool Chakri/ Star Anise - 1
Cinnamon Stick - 1/2 inch
Black Cardamom - 1, bruised
Green chilli - 2, slitted
Salt as per taste
Water - 2 to 3 cups

Ingredients for Mutton Gravy Base:

Bay Leaf - 1
Cardamom - 1
Cinnamon - 1 inch
Potato - 2 medium, halved
Onion - 2 medium

Garlic - 1 tsp
Ginger - 2 inch grated or 1 tbsp paste
Coconut Milk / Normal Milk/ Milk powder mixed in hot water - 1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Sugar To taste
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Refined oil - 3 tbsp* [Will depend on how much fat the mutton has, more fat less oil]

Ingredients for Rice:

Rice - 250 gm
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Mutton Stock from boiling mutton - 500 ml
Sugar - 3 tsp
Salt as per taste
Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Ingredients for Onion Beresta:

Onion - 1 medium, sliced

Ingredients for Garnish:

Manaka/ Raisins - 1/4th cup
Green chilli - 3-4

Method:

1. Marinate the mutton overnight with mentioned ingredients

2. Thaw the mutton for 15 minutes before boiling. Now in a pressure cooker add everything and cook the mutton till tender [depends on mutton quality. I took about 9 whistles]. Let the mutton sit for a while till the steam is off. Now drain the stock and keep it aside, we will use it while cooking rice.

Tip: The traditional recipe is made by cooking the mutton on dum for more delicate flavors. But I am hereby using pressure cooking method to reduce the time by half. The taste at the end is very much same, because post boiling we will be cooking the mutton with the spices and masala.

3. Make a paste of one onion and slice one onion. Halve the potatoes with skin on.

4. Wash the rice and soak it in turmeric water for about 15- 20 minutes.

Tip: I added turmeric to the water to only give the rice a mild yellow color and not the mutton. You can simply soak it in plain water if you do not want a yellow hue.

Tip 2: If you do not have basmati handy, like me then you can use a trick method. Add any other fragrant rice with normal rice, like here I added half and half of Kolam and Indryani rice to have an aromatic effect even without basmati. I didnt fully use Indryani because its a sticky type of rice which would have made the whole pulav mushy.

5. In a heavy bottom kadai, add the oil and ghee. When the ghee is fragrant add 1 bay leaf, bruised cardamom and cinnamon. Add the onion paste and a pinch of salt. Cook on medium heat till the onion starts changing color. Now add the sliced onion. Also add the halved potatoes. Fry it till both the onions and potato are half cooked, occasionally stirring.

Tip: If you want you can cook the entire thing in ghee which will give more robust flavors. But I have done half and half of ghee and oil.

6. Remove the potato from the kadai, the rest of it we will cook along with rice.

7. Now add grated ginger, bruised garlic and fold in. Fry for about 2 -3 minute to let it incorporate. Take care so that the masala doesn't stick to the bottom of the kadai.

8. Now add the boiled mutton along with the spices used to boil it. Fold in. Now we need to cook on high heat. So make very sure that you are constantly folding in everything in the kadai, else it might burn. Cook the mutton with the masala till oil separates, about 15-20 minutes. Take it off heat.

9. Now in a separate kadai, add 1 tsp of ghee and let it become fragrant. Add the turmeric hued rice and on low flame fold in slowly. Keep tossing for a couple of minutes till they get a nice sheen, make sure to not break the rice in this process.

Tip: Frying the rice lightly will ensure the Tehari wont turn out mushy.

10. Now put the kadai with cooked mutton on the heat again. Measure double the amount of mutton stock to rice quantity and add to the mutton masala. Add the coconut milk at this stage. If you do not have coconut milk use normal milk or just make a mix of milk powder and warm water and add to the mutton. Let it come to a soft boil.

Tip: Adding coconut milk gives a nice rich texture. If you do not have fresh coconut milk, use the coconut milk powder and mix it in water and add.

11. Now add the lightly fried rice and carefully fold in everything. Adjust sugar and salt levels. Add the garam masala powder and give it a stir. Now let this cook on medium heat with lid on for about 5-6 minutes or till rice is 2/3 done.

Note: Bengali Polao or Tehari are usually made a little sweet. But you can adjust the sweetness as per taste.

12. Now keep a tawa below the kadai and lower the heat to minimum. We will keep the Tehari to cook to perfection on dum (slow heat cooking method). Open the lid and shove the fried potatoes inside the rice, sprinkle the manaka or raisin on top. Add a few slitted green chillies. If you have saffron you can soak it in some milk and add it at this stage. Now cover the lid and keep it on dum for 15 minutes. The lid should be tightly closed and if there are any steam passages they should be closed with tissue or anything suitable.

Tip: The tawa will evenly distribute the heat and not let the rice or mutton stick to the kadai while being cooked on dum.

Tip 2: You can seal the edges with whole wheat flour dough, or you can also cover the mouth of the pot with aluminum foil and then put the lid on.

13. Post the 15 minutes. Let the kadai sit like that undisturbed till you are ready to serve. Minimum 15 more minutes. The rice will cook to perfection after this time.

14. While the Tehari is cooking, take a wok and add oil/ ghee. Make onion juliennes and fry them in the wok with a pinch of salt and sugar till browned and crispy.

15. Garnish the tehari with a generous layer of beresta. Serve it hot with salad and raita of your choice.