Uzi's Aligarh Gosht Rice

Our trip to Aligarh a couple of years ago to see the Numaish, a sensory overload type of mela they have every year was very exciting but what lingers and remains in my mind about that trip was the food we got to eat at Uzi's home, made by her long time lovely cook Ruby. So when the cooking bug bit, (finally..) i knew that her recipes had to be tapped. I have no idea how close this is to the original but its a lovely light one dish meal, best eaten with papad, raita and kutchumbir...really looking forward to our next Aligarh trip to tuck in to ruby's food again :)

The only thing I would add before putting this recipe down is that it is very low on spice, i added green chilli's to give it a little zing, so depending on your spice levels you can add as you like

Mutton 1 kilo
2-3 large Onions ( cut in to big chunks)
1 Inch ginger (grind)
A whole pod or more of garlic ( the more the better/ grind)
4 Tejpata
10 or 15 pepper corns
4 Big elaichi

wrap the following ingredients in a little linen cloth and make a sealed potli/bundle
1 teaspoon dhanya sabut
1 teaspoon sauf
1 teaspoon zeera

Put all the above ingredients plus 2 teaspoons of salt in the pressure cooker with the meat,
add 4 -6 small cups of water ( such that the water is is just about covering the meat)

Give it a whistle or two and lower the flame, leave it on for 5-7 min and then take it off the gas.
Let it cool and open when cool.
Take out he little potli of spices

In a Big pan/kadai put some oil and the following
2 tejpata
4 small elaichi
2 Big elaichi
4-5 long
2-3 pieces dalchini ( Cinnamon)
Zavitri a little

Green chill to taste

Fry the bits of meat lightly with the masalas and after all done put back in the pressure cooker. Leave the water in the cooker as is.

Then take two cups of rice which you can soak for a half an hour ( 2 cups for 4 glasses of water, basically however many cups of water was put in earlier to cook the meat, half the amount of rice) and put in to the pressure cooker and cook on an open fire till water dries op/rice cooks

Separately in enough oil fry lots of onions ( 5-6 ,cut long) till brown and crispy to sprinkle on top.

Bon appetit..:)

Indo Canadian cuisine

So we had a wild festive party last night, and for the occassion I made many a batch of mulled wine, 2 apple pies, Guacomole, Channa masala, a coconut rice (which is our south Indian family recipe), but I gave the coconut rice a twist and added Canadian wild rice to the basmati rice. Well there was chicken tetrazzini that Jane made, and a whole bunch of cheeses and short eats. I was up till 3 am cleaning up the place, but now it's time to give you the recipe for the Coconut rice which is so simple to make, and which is one of my favourites.

Virinde Chor (Coconut rice)

Ingredients:
1 onion
1 sprig curry leaves
Whole spices like cinnamon, cardamom and cloves
1 cup Basmati rice
2 cups coconut milk
a pinch of turmeric powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste

In a pot, pour some oil, and add the whole spices to flavour it. Put in the chopped onion and curry leaves, and fry till golden brown. Wash the rice, and add to the pot. Pour in the coconut milk, with salt and turmeric, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once it boils, lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot with a lid and cook for 12 minutes or until done.

It's a simple dish, but quite wonderful. Enjoy