Mutton Raarah-Rara Meat Inspired by Jiggs Kalra

Classic Punjabi Cuisine.
Spicy and succulent.
Hot!
After all that mango and chocolate , spicy Mutton Raarah-Rara Meat is so needed.

I am one of those who love their sweet before the meal, after the meal, between two meals-whenever!...that way you have the best of everything.Sweet and then the spice that lingers.
Now what is  amazing is the aroma that penetrates every object in your house. The knowledge that what you are making is akin to manna from heaven.
Everything else on the table goes untouched...and there are no leftovers.
Sad, that means you have to toil over the hot stove again.

Well, a woman's job is never done...even before the meal ends ,one begins to contemplate about the next.I actually love leftovers...
But this also tells you that you did a great job.
So a pat on the back from me!
This recipe is courtesy the gr8 Jiggs Kalra from his book, Prasad_Cooking with the Indian Masters.(with a few minor changes)
I may have names the book incorrectly in the past so will return and edit.
Simple, as few ingredients as possible and requiring a lot of muscle power. The best way for the chef to keep his muscles strong...make something that involves a lot of stirring.
One kilo for five people...thank god I did not make the rotis that day...otherwise it would have been rolling forever.

for the


Mutton Raarah-Rara Meat Inspired by Jiggs Kalra...

you need

1 kilo assorted cuts of  mutton
1 cup thick yogurt/curd
150 mils ghee/clarified butter/mustard oil
1 generous cup thinly sliced onions
5 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/3 cup fresh tomato puree
1 1/2 tsp salt(you may need more or less)
2 -3 tsp red chilli flakes/powder
5 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
4 black cardamom
10 green cardamom
2-4 bay leaves
for the tempering
1 tsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
3-4 whole dry red chillies

Experience is a fantastic teacher...wisdom! I've realised that if you marinate the mutton for 10 to 12 hours the  results are fantastic. So I did.
The mutton and the thick yogurt/curd mixed together in a glass bowl, cover and dumped in the fridge overnight.This is the morning after pic...looks a little worse for the wear I know.

That is all the spice you need. And the bay leaves are fresh off the bushel.

You should use ghee...the flavours are amazing with that. If you are young and restless and do not have to worry about cholesterol USE ghee....if you are catering to the tottering(tottering between health and good taste)...go for mustard oil or even olive oil. A neutral oil will not lend Anything to the dish.Heat the oil and pop the  cardamom etc and after they swell and explode ,add the onions and the salt.

That is the ginger and garlic and pound the living daylights out of them and collect around 5 tsp of the paste.

Once the onions are translucent, pop the ginger and garlic in. Just ensure that you do not do all This on high heat. Stir a bit and prepare yourself for the next step.

The ancient cooks of the Punjab seemed to love coriander. Almost all the recipes are coriander centric. Probably because this gives an earthy taste to the food and thickens the gravy. These are the dry spices.

Add half cup water to this and mix well. Now wait for the onions to cook to a brown crisp colour...don't burn them...and when the onion mix is done pour the spices into the pan stirring constantly. The chili will not burn and will cook the turmeric and coriander.

Once the oil separates add mutton, marinade juices and all. On high heat, stir till it comes to a boil .

On a low heat keep stirring...and stirring...this is after half an hour. Did I mention it was a long process??

And this is after about an hour, if you think the mutton is dry, add a couple of tablespoons of hot water.Keep stirring, keep stirring!

That is the tomato puree..

After about one more hour now add the tomato puree..and Keep stirring, keep stirring!

Check for the salt and spices...I added  more salt and chili flakes.

If you get tender mutton, the meat will have fallen off the bone by now...here in Ranchi ,no matter how much you cook the meat, it still needs a bit more. So one pressure with a cup full of water and now its ready. See the oil floating???

Now the pretty part. Dish out the mutton into a serving dish, heat the ghee(here use ghee!) and pop in the cumin seeds first , the chillies second.

Pour over the Mutton Raarah-Rara Meat. Mix lightly and ...

Serve hot. With Roti, Naan or Paranthas.
No these are not fresh olives, but Jamuns..fresh from the  tree in my backyard.

This was enough for one person.
A Satisfied Person.

Hats off to Jiggs Kalra and hi partners for a wonderfull treasure trove of recipes. He loves his ghee lots...but then he would not be Punjabi if he didn't. If you find the book, buy it....

If not stick to baketitude...

Never have any regrets.

So what are you baking today??? 

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Mango Sutra!Egg Less Mango Cheesecake-No Bake

Another mango dessert?

Well yes!

And mark my words, there is more to come…as my fridge gets inundated with ripe, yellow fragrant, pulpy supposedly yummy mangoes….I peel, chop and zip pouch them in lots and pop them in the freezer.

Dessert time…after hot spicy mutton for lunch and a minor stash of cream cheese in my freezer…this was a had to do.
The martini glasses out for a little drunken walk...stuffed to their gills with Mango Cheesecake-No Bake .
The first time in a long while, I was hoping the guests were nice enough not to expect seconds...in fact I had bribed sweet child not to ask to sample the cheesecake...I had only 7 servings...
I almost died when sweet child demanded the last glass!
And when everyone left ,he went all Oliver Twist"y" and demanded a second..I could then understand what Mr Bumble (was it??) must have felt when Oliver said "Please Sir, I want some more."
Ye Gods...and I'm his mum!
This is my Drunken Glass...does not have a proper bottom..."Look Ma!No hands!"

This Mango Cheesecake-No Bake was so easy and so yummy...coming from a non -mango-phile like me that is high praise...(Considering that I only tasted what was left in the bowls) and I found it here.
I made a few changes, for obvious reasons...Ranchi, being the number one!
But ,save the fact that it was less....I have absolutely no complaints, in fact I'll give this a thumbs up!

If you have no access to cream cheese...no worries, try what I did for this cheesecake,.or use hung curd in the same quantity.

for the

Egg Less Mango cheesecake-No Bake ...

you need

200 gms digestive biscuits
75 mils butter
200 gms cream cheese
100 mils Amul UHT/ Non Dairy Cream
400 mils fresh mango puree
1 tbsp gelatin
1/8 cup hot water
1/2 cup caster sugar

Start with the digestive biscuits, and whizz them to a fine powder in the processor. I have found that finer crumbs allow you to use just a little bit less butter. And when you love sweet like I do...baby, any amount you save is a blessing!

,

That's the melted butter...I used about 65 mils.

Poured into the crumbs and whizzed once more. Now you can go traditional and use a loose bottom tart( loose bottom....and tart....do they ring bells???lolzz), but I wanted to go designer. ...so the glasses.I used a little less of the crumbs and had a bit left over. Dumped in the fridge to set .

Midnight, in my make up ,high heels and  dying to lay my head on my pillow. So as many shortcuts as possible.
The powdered sugar and cream cheese in the bowl. I had made this cream cheese and stashed it where else??but my freezer for future use. Seriously capacious, it is.

Just stirred them together to blend ion the sugar, I just squeezed the Amul UHT cream out of the tetrapack into this, You can, of course, beat the cream a little to make this lighter.Blend together.

Now the water, I used half the quantity of the 1/4 cup measure and sprinkled the gelatin over it. Once it was soft, I popped it into the microwave for 30 seconds.

That is the fresh mango puree(remove about 1/2 cup and set aside), into this went the melted gelatin(save 1/4 the liquid gelatin). Blend well,

Now all but the 1/2 cup of the gelatinous mango puree into the cream mix.

Well mixed...

Now, bring the glasses out and pour in the cheese mix.And pop back into the fridge.

Now the savings for the rainy day! The remainder mixed together.

Take it to the fridge...and pour enough mango puree to cover the cheese cake mix...This glass is a little drunk- cant stay straight!

Stashed in my fave place.

Good Morning..
A clear head and a pretty pudding!
Life is good.So is the jelly!

Before the  table was set.The base of the crumbs is not so thick..I layered it thinly as I though the the mango should rule!Mint Leaves go a long way!Only 7 servings remember!

Pretty amazing, amazingly easy and thankfully beautiful. I think I had nightmares about the cheesecake turning out runny and one glass being so rock hard, that my guests smashed the glass to get to the cheesecake. EEE!

Try this and feel the beauty of the king of fruits.

And  don't forget to stash mango in your freezer.


So what are you baking today???

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Ultimate Chocolate Chip,Oreo and Fudge Brownie Bar

“May your life be filled, as mine has been, with love and laughter; and remember, when things are rough all you need is ... Chocolate.” 
― Geraldine Solon, Chocolicious

Forgive me Lord, for I have sinned..
I have induced chocolate  chip cookies and brownies and Oreo's into an unnaturally symbiotic relationship...

And now, I am hooked!
All my controlled eating for the last one month has just been washed down the drain...just the whiff of this Ultimate Chocolate Chip,Oreo and Fudge Bar and I was lost.
OK the pix are not that great, but I wish you could smell the warmth emanating from this plate.
I have never been so enamoured by anything I baked in a long long time....
And now ,as it rains(after the most miserable spell of heat in Ranchi)I sit with the small portion I had tasted for myself and nibble at it with the tiniest of tiny bites.
Ah pleasure...
I made Mango Cheesecake yesterday and as I served dessert, I realised that Nothing, nothing has the power to tempt me as much as Chocolate.
And if you adore chocolate as much as I do...

Remember Chocolate is your best friend.
I tasted something similar in Delhi and when I googled for this I found all about it here.here.
The whole day my house was full of the aromas of baking warm chocolate and butter and more chocolate...sweet dog just went nuts...hovering everywhere in the kitchen...licking off all that fell from the kitchen counter.
The mess maker decided to assist the baker in these endeavours...and a lot of the uncooked batter went straight into the tummy.
But I'm sure that is what happens when your kids bake with you.


This was a soul satisfying experience...and what I tasted in Delhi was nowhere close to what we managed.


Drag your kids or your spouse or for that matter your best friend into this...the making will e as much fun as the baking and  the final product will be soooo worth it.
I don't like to brag...but this is worth bragging about.


for the


Ultimate Chocolate Chip,Oreo and Fudge Brownie Bar...


you need


35 Oreos


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough...
1 cup/225 gms butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla essence
2 cups chocolate chips(I cut a slab of semi sweet chocolate into small pieces)
1 tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt


Cream the butter and the sugar.It works better with superfine sugar..but here out of sheer lack of foresight we just open our sugar jar and use whatever is available.

One egg at a time beat them in with the vanilla.

Sift the dry ingredients together.

Fold the flour into the butter mix .I thinned the cookie dough with 2-3 tbsp milk because it looked a wee bit dry to me.

Now, decadence!

The chocolate.

You can eat away at this stage...yum, yum, yum!

OK what you should have done was line a 9 by 13 Pyrex dish with paper or foil. If you do not have a Pyrex dish then 2 square 8 by 8 tins are good too. But make sure you line the tins or dish.And buttered it.

Spread the batter over the base.

Now open the Oreo’s and spread them all over the base...likes so. The promise of this dessert was so strong that only one Oreo was devoured by sweet child.

Now turn on the oven to 180C/350F.

For the

Fudge Brownies

You can go for pre made or elevate the bars to Cordon Bleu status.

I did...premade here is crappy, totally not worth the effort or the cost.

I do it the real way.

300 Gms semi sweet chocolate

1 cup/225 Gms butter

4 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup sugar (I used ½ cup)

2 tsp vanilla essence

6 eggs

1 ½ cup flour

½ tsp salt

Place the chocolate and the butter in a pan and place over a simmering bowl of water or a Bain Marie...double boiler.

Stir till it melts and add in the cocoa powder.

Take it off the heat and stir to cool the mix. In the meanwhile sift the flour and salt together.

When the chocolate mix has cooled...yes you can taste it now...absolutely divine!

Add in the eggs one at a time, beating them in well.

The sugar goes in now or before the eggs...whatever makes you smile.

Once that is done add the essence and then just simply fold in the flour.

Voila...C’est fini!

Pour over the Oreos.

Sweet child wanted his individual portion...so we made a separate bowl to satisfy his royal highness’ chocolate craving.

Oktent a piece of Al Foil over the dish and pop them in for 30 minutes.

By now your kitchen will be the place to be.

Remove the foil covers and the dishes go back in for another 40 minutes.

The brownie mix will be woozy, shiny and drunk looking...and firm around the edges.

The cookie mix will look cooked.

And when you put a pick in the Oreo will have surrendered and will not offer any resistance...

Though you may have a bit brownie mix sticking to your pick...but that will be done by the time this cools.

Cool!

Turn out, turn over and slice and serve with a blob of vanilla ice-cream and fudge...or just eat cold...

Heaven is made of this.

And you are hooked..the smell of this ultimate bar..lingers on me now!

Where the cookie starts and ends and where the Oreo is and where the brownie lives...it’s all like harry potter and No 13 Grimmauld Place. Blend in!

Temptation...I love you hot, cold with or without the ice cream...

This time the pictures did no justice...make the chocolate chip cookies or the fudge brownies..but when you do it together...

WOW!

So what are you waiting for??? 

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