After I wake up everyday, I walk into the kitchen and ask my mother, “Mommy, what’s there for lunch?”
When the sun is setting everyday, I walk into the kitchen again and ask my mother, “Mommy!!! What’s there for dinner?”
Asking these questions to my mother is a mandatory affair. It annoys her a lot but I have given her alternate solutions to this problem. She can either put up sticky notes with the menu written or a more eco-friendly solution is to buy a small chalkboard and write the menu on that. Sadly, even after giving her these brilliant ideas, she would glare at me and ask, “Do you think I run a hotel?” Oops, sorry mommy.
I am not an avid foodie but I do crave for ‘tasty’ food sometimes. Okay, many times.
Tasty
(adjective)
fried snacks, street food items, baked goods, biryani, non-vegetarian foods, cuisines other than Indian cuisine
Ever since lockdown started in March 2020, I have been trying my hand at cooking. My cravings for certain foods gave me the motivation to make them myself because ordering food was suddenly not safe. Surprisingly, most of what I made was indeed tasty! I am not the only one saying this, everyone who tasted my food, which includes just my parents and my brother for now, also said it was tasty! Appreciation, validation and approval from my close ones gave me the confidence to cook and bake more often and even try out certain overwhelming dishes like egg biryani, sweet boondi, cinnamon rolls, carrot cake and many more! My brother often gives me company and assistance while cooking and even though the idea is to give my mother a break from cooking, I end up taking her help many times! A few days ago, my brother and I started making a list of all the foods we made during the lockdown and we had around 40 items! The idea of making a new dish which no one else has tried making at home before, thrills me the most! So much so that now, I prefer making most things at home rather than ordering it from restaurants.
My relationship with cooking is like a sine wave. When I was much younger, say in 5th grade or so, I wanted to learn how to cook. My mother taught me how to make chapatis and parathas and my father really enjoyed the tea I made for him. It was a matter of pride for me. Then as I grew a little older, in my adolescent age, the female ego set in and I would question ‘Why should only females learn how to cook?’. My ego pulled me a few steps back and eventually I stopped learning. Even when I started living in the hostel, my roommate would generally do the cooking and I would opt for washing dishes. We would have to cook some late night snacks because somehow mess food was never sufficient and fulfilling. This time I didn’t cook because my laziness pulled me back. Finally, this lockdown has helped me hone my cooking talent that I had been ignoring for long.
I not only like cooking but also like reading about the history behind every dish. Every dish has its own unique story to tell and those stories make the food even richer in value. My parents don’t eat non-vegetarian food but everyone else in my joint family does. My grandmother and Chachi make really tasty chicken dishes. Dadi makes dry chicken with onions and tomatoes while Chachi makes chicken in coconut curry. I had experimented a lot with vegetarian dishes but could not do it with non vegetarian dishes because I don’t have the permit to do so at my home. Therefore, once the lockdown was eased, I decided to head to my extended family’s house to attempt making non-veg food. A fortnight ago, I had made butter chicken with my Chachi and while we were savouring it together in the living room, Chachu suggested making ‘Mutton Rogan Josh’ next. I was very excited because I love goat meat more than chicken.
When I was searching for the recipe on YouTube, I came across one put up by the chef, ‘Ranveer Brar’. While cooking, he narrates the history connected with the dish as well. I learnt that Mutton Rogan Josh is a Kashmiri dish made in two styles. One being Kashmiri Pandit style and the other being Kashmiri Muslim style. The only difference between the two is that the Muslims use onions, garlic and ginger while the Pandits don’t. Rogan means oil and Josh means heat or boiling. Thus Mutton Rogan Josh means mutton cooked in oil at intense heat. Upon initial search, I only found recipes of the Kashmiri Pandit style Rogan Josh. If not for Ranveer Brar’s video, I wouldn’t have discovered the other style of the dish. I had to search hard to find the Muslim version. I found two useful videos and combined them to make my own version of it. We wanted to make the Muslim version because we are used to using onions and garlics in our food.
One night before making the recipe, I was so excited. I am not kidding when I am saying this but I had butterflies in my stomach. I was nervous but excited at the same time. When I reached my grandma’s place, Chachi had already finished cleaning the mutton. She was equally excited as I was. Here is how I made the dish.
Mutton Rogan Josh (for 1 and half KG meat)
Grind 3 tbsp saunf, 1.5 tsp cumin seeds, 4 black cardamom, 6 green cardamom, 1 mace and a few small cinnamon sticks into a fine powder and keep it for later.
Ingredients: (for 1.5 kg meat)
7 – 8 medium onions
1.5 kg meat
15 garlic and 1 big ginger piece – paste
2-3 bay leaves
2-3 cinnamon
5 green cardamoms
4 black cardamoms
1 mace
2 tbsp kashmiri lal mirch
2 tsp red chilli
1.5 tsp ginger powder
1.5 tsp coriander powder
Salt
Powder that we ground
1.5 cups of dahi
Kesar
2tbsp maida
Oil
Recipe:
Put oil and fry the chopped onions.
Then add the whole spices and let them crackle.
Add the ginger garlic paste, the meat and salt and fry it well at high flame.
After the meat changes colour add little water.
Pressure cook for 10-12 mins until the meat softens.
In the meantime, take some water in a bowl (big bowl – 2-3 cups water) and add 2tbsp kashmiri lal mirch powder, 2tsp red chilli powder, 1.5 tsp ginger powder, 1.5 tsp coriander powder, salt and the ground powder (that you did earlier)
Add this water in the cooker and cook it on high flame. After some time, cover the cooker with a plate. (5-7 minutes)
Take 1.5 cups dahi, add kesar and 2tbsp maida and mix well.
Take the cooker off the flame and add the dahi.
Now cover the cooker with a plate and cook on low flame for 5-7 minutes.
Gravy would be ready when the oil comes up.
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