Mutton ChaaNp - Our Eid Special

There are some dishes that will linger in your taste buds long after you have eaten them. One such dish for me is the Mutton Chaa(n)p that they make in Shiraz and Aminia here in Kolkata. The flavours are subtle,the lush gravy that coats the lamb ribs with that taste of kewra and meetha attar that you mop up with fluffy tandoori rotis ,makes you crave for for. This Eid I had decided that I would try to recreate this dish in my kitchen.  I was not sure if the flavours would turn out right as I was following a very easy recipe. The key was to marinate the lamb for as long as possible for it to soak up the flavours from the garam masala, kewra and rose water. My local meat man was very sweet to first show me a sample of how he makes the 'chaaNps' before I could decide if I want it or not.He asked me if it was going to be Eid special and gave me that big grin when I said yes!
So there I set out to make my first ever Mutton ChaaNp (Lamb ribs in a silky nutty gravy with fat oozing out from all sides) - chaap pronounced with that little nasal twang! Kindly excuse the not so great pictures here as I was a task for me to set the night time mode right on my camera and that dish waiting to be devoured was making it worse.

BTW I was having this little chat with one of my uncles who is a great cook himself and rustles up amazing dishes in his kitchen. He told me that a Chaap recipe would have poppy seeds and cashewnut paste in it but somehow I had made up my kind that I wont use any and just let the yogurt, onion paste and the kewra essence do up its magic. And I am happy to say that it turned out exactly the way I had imagined the flavours to be. So now you note the recipe, you will be surprised how easy it can be.

Ingredients:

Mutton ribs/chaanp - 500 gms - approx. 6-8 pieces

Yoghurt - 200 gms

Onion - 1 large - made into a fine paste

Ginger paste - 1 tbsp.

Garlic paste - 1 tbsp.

Mace and nutmeg paste - 1 tbsp.

Garam masala powder - 1 tbsp. ( cardamom,cloves and cinnamon grounded into a paste)

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Kewra essence - 1 heaped tbsp

Rose water - 1 tsp

Ghee - 4 tbsp

Method:

Wash , clean and dry the mutton chaanps/ribs. Marinate with some salt and lemon juice and keep aside for half an hour.

By this time the mutton will release the excess water, drain that and keep aside.

In a big bowl, mix together the yoghurt,onion paste,ginger-garlic paste,red chilli powder, mace-nutmeg paste,garam masala powder, kewra and rose essence and some salt. Give it a good whisk.

Now add the mutton pieces into this marinade and let it marinate for atleast 6-7 hrs or even better if left over night.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the ghee. Dunk in the mutton pieces with just the marinade coating it into the pan. Cover and let it simmer for 25 to 30 mins. By now the mutton would have cooked tender and soft and slightlt coated with the yoghurt gravy.

Remove and keep aside. Now add the remaining marinade into the same pan, add a little ghee if reqd and let the gravy simmer till done. Oil oozing out from the sides of the pan.

Pour the gravy on top the mutton pieces.Garnish with some onion rings.Serve it with home made tandoori rotis and some green salad.

Recipe for Tandoori Rotis :

Ingredients:

Wheat flour/atta - 2 cups

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Salt  - 1 tsp

Yoghurt/curd/Dahi - one cup

Milk - enough to bind the dough.

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients into a soft dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and keep aside for 2 hrs.

Make small balls of the dough and roll in out into thick rotis.

Heat a heavy bottomed flat pan/tawa. Put the rolled dough in it and cover with a lid. Keep the flame on high. In 2-3 mins remove the cover you will find bubbles being formed on top of the rotis. Now dunk the roti into direct flame..same way you make your regular rotis till done. Slather with ghee and serve with the mutton chaanps. Heaven I tell u!!


Notes:

• I used only ghee but you can use half ghee half refined oil.
• Make sure the mutton is marinated for longest possible time as it brings out the best flavours then.
• You could also marinate the mutton with some raw papaya paste as that works as a meat tenderiser. I didn't and still the mutton cooked beautifully.

 

Lamb Curry with Sweet potatoes - An experiment that turned out great.

                                                                                                                                                                                

 

I am not going to start with my usual story of why I was missing in action because by now the whole world knows that I was on a month long vacation! It was my son's summer vacation but I was the most excited one to be getting away from the heat wave that the city was facing at that time. Few days in my favourite city Delhi, then a few in  the picturesque and peaceful town of Kasauli and then finally few weeks at my mom's den.What more did I want..I was a happy soul. Ate a lot ,slept a lot, shopped a lot and spent a lot of time with my loved ones..I have come back with a lot of energy to get into everyday chores and be happy and busy.

 

Now this dish Lamb curry with sweet potatoes  is something I made before I went away but did not have the time to share with you all. It so happened that I was watching a show by Rachel Allen and it was an episode on robust meals and she made this lamb curry. Sweet potatoes is something we so use in our cooking but maybe would never really put it in a lamb curry. In my heart I felt that it would turn out good and I should give it a try. After all we Bengalis love our meat - Kosha Mangsho , Mongshor Jhol - we love all of that. This turned out to be a successful experiment so here I am sharing it with you all. Its different but it is nice. Very clean flavours, a little tang from the yoghurt and soft meat from the slow cooking. I skipped adding sugar as I was using sweet potatoes and it went perfectly with steamed rice.

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Lamb/mutton - curry cut - 500 gms

Onion - 2 medium - thinly sliced

Ginger - 1 tbsp.- grated

Garlic - 1 tbsp.- grated

Cardamom pods - 4-5 crushed

Roasted cumin powder - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Sweet potatoes - 2 medium - cut into big chunks

Fresh mint leaves - a handful - finely chopped

Yoghurt/Curd - 1 cup

Red chillies/green chillies - 2-3 - finely sliced - adjust acc to taste

Salt - to taste

Refined oil - 2 tbsp

Warm water - 1 cup

Toasted almond flakes - for garnish

Method:

In a heavy bottomed pan heat 2 tbsp. of refined oil. Once done add the mutton pieces and sear on high heat for 10 to 15 mins. Its important to keep it on high flames so that the moisture is sealed in. Remove from pan and let it rest.

In the same pan add the grated ginger,garlic and the crushed cardamom. Saute lightly and add the finely sliced onions. Fry on low heat till slightly golden in colour. Tip in the seared mutton and all the dry spices - roasted cumin powder ,turmeric and Kashmiri chilli powder. Mix well with the mutton.

Next add the chunks of sweet potatoes.Add a cup of warm water,add salt,cover and let it cook for almost 45 mins on low heat. By now the meat would be soft and tender and the gravy would thicken.

Whisk the yoghurt well and add it to the pan.Also add the chopped mint leaves.  Mix well while adding the yoghurt so it doesn't split or curdle. Sprinkle the chopped chillies on top.
Remove from heat, garnish with toasted almonds and serve hot with rice.

 

My 50th post with some Mutton Shaami Kebabs

Its been quite a blogging journey for me. What started out as an attempt to record and share recipes is now slowly turning into something a more professional and structured and it makes me so proud when people tell me how they love my recipes , how they are so easy to make and more so when they actually cook my recipes. My endeavour has been to share with my readers recipes that are very dear to me, those I have learnt from my family and those which I find easy to make. My family needless to say is my biggest inspiration and it is them who push me to do better with my life. So even after a long hard day what drives me to get into the kitchen and whip up yummies for them is this motivation. Till before this post I didn't even realise that this was going to be the 50th post of the blog!!!!!
Anyways now coming back to the post, today I am sharing with you my favourite mutton shaami kebab recipe. Have been wanting to post this recipe for long now but somehow it never happened.Ideally I should have made something sweet to celebrate my 50th post but nevertheless this recipe is as royal if not more. Very few ingredients required here but they are simply the melt-in-your mouth kinds.

Ingredients:

Mutton mince - 500 gms

Chana dal - 1 cup ( washed and soaked in water for half an hour)

Garlic - 3-4 pods

Salt - to taste

Warm Water- 1 cup

Egg - 1 no

Oil - for shallow frying

For the spice mix:

Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp.

Cumin seeds - 2 tbsp.

Dry red chillies - 4-5 whole (depending on your spice levels)

Peppercorns - 1 tbsp.

Mace - few strands

Nutmeg - 1 whole

Elaichi - 1 tsp

Cinnamon - 1 small piece

Cloves - 1 tsp

Dry roast lightly all the above ingredients and grind into a powder. This can be stored for further use also.

Method:

In a pan add the mutton mince,chana dal , whole cloves ,salt and 5 tbsp. of the spice mix.
Add the cup of water , cover the pan and let the mixture simmer till all the water has evaporated.

Remove from heat and let the mixture cool down. Once done grind the mix into a fine paste.

Add the egg and mix well.

Make into flat pate and let it rest in the refrigerator for 15 mins.

Heat oil in a shallow pan and fry the kebabs.

Serve with parathas and  interesting dips. I served them with easy dips - mint-coriander and hung curd. Another good option is a pineapple relish.