Mutton Yakhni

Succulent pieces of mutton are infused with cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves and a host of other Kashmiri flavours and balanced out in a thick yogurt based gravy.

Ingredients

• 1 kg meat, cut from breast of lamb
• 1 cup mustard or refined oil
• 5 cups of yogurt
• 4 tsp fennel (mauri) powder
• 2 tsp ginger powder
• 2 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 brown cardamom
• 3 green cardamom
• 2 tsp black cumin seeds
• 2 tsp corn flour
• Asafoetida (hing) liquid
• Salt to taste
Method

Wash the meat and drain the water. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker. Put bay leaves, cinnamon stick, clove, asafoetida (hing) liquid and the meat together and fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Add 3 cups of water and rest of the powdered spices, put on pressure for 10 minutes.
Beat the yogurt in a bowl, mix the cumin seeds into it and add to the meat into the pressure cooker. Keep stirring till mixed well with the meat.
Mix 2 teaspoon of corn flour in 3 tablespoon of water and add to the gravy to thicken it. Coarsely grind brown and green cardamom and add to the meat. Serve with rice.

Makhmali Kofta

Vegetarian koftas in a rich gravy. Smooth and soft, these koftas are made with khoya (mawa), therefore quite rich.

Ingredients

For Koftas
•     1/2 cup (100g) firmly packed  khoya or mawa (solidified milk)
•     6 tbsp  (45g) flour
•     1/8 tsp baking soda
•    Ghee (clarified butter) for deep-frying
For Gravy
•     1/4 cup (60 g) ghee
•     1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
•     1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
2     tbsp poppy seeds (postadana)
•     1/4 cup desiccated coconut
•     1 tbsp powdered coriander (dhania)
•     2 tsp salt, or to taste
•     1 tsp garam masala
•    1/4 tsp powdered black pepper
• 2 tbsp corn flour, dissolved in 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves, for garnishing

Method
Mash the mawa smooth, so that no grains remain. Mix the flour and baking soda, and knead into a firm and pliable dough. Shape the dough in to marble-sized, smooth balls.
Heat the ghee in a korai or wok, till a piece of dough thrown in comes up at once. Lower the heat and fry a cube of bread till light brown (to lower the temperature of the oil). Lift out the bread and add as many koftas as you can, so they don’t touch each other. Keeping the heat low, fry till a golden brown.
Lift out of the fat and drain. Increase the heat for a few seconds, and then lower it before adding the next lot. Keep the koftas aside, while you make the gravy.
Soak poppy seeds and dried coconut in some water for an hour and grind to a paste. Heat the ghee in a heavy based pan, and add cumin seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the ginger and sauté till light brown.
Add the poppy seed and coconut paste, coriander powder, salt, garam masala and black pepper and fry till the fat separates. Add 3 cups water, bring to a boil, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add the corn flour solution, simmer for a couple of minutes and add the koftas. Simmer again for 2 to 3 minutes and serve garnished with the coriander leaves.  n

Source: food.ndtv.com