Murgh Methi Malai

Hi all, well this time i wont go into much details coz its past midnight n i gotta catch train for our capital city Delhi at 6 am. well Murgh Methi Malai is a famous Mughlai item-chicken cooked with whole spices, fenugreek leaves, cream n cashew nut paste.. sounds quite tempting n creamy huh ??

Ingredients

500 gm boneless chicken pieces

250 gm sliced onions

50 gm soaked cashews

2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

4-5 tbsp fenugreek leaves

50 gm cream

1 cup curd

3-4 green chillies

200 ml milk

whole spices (bay leaf, 2-3 cardamoms, 3-4cloves, 2" cinnamon stick, little bit mace, 1 tsp cumin seeds)

1/2 tsp pepper powder

salt, to taste

oil/ghee

1/2 red chilli powder

1. Marinate chicken with curd, salt, pepper powderand ginger-garlic paste for 1hour or just 20 to 30 mins.

2. Heat some oil and fry the onions upto light brown.

3. Grind the fried onions along with milk, chillies and cashews

it should be smooth paste

4. Heat some oil/ghee in a thick bottomed pan and add whole spices and wait till they splutter.

5. Add fenugreek leaves and marinated chicken along with its liquid content. Add cumin powder, black pepper powder and red chilli powder. Cook on medium flame until the pieces are almost tender.

6. Add onion-cashew nut paste and cook on medium flame for couple of minutes.

Gosht Durbari

This beautiful thing is another very fine example of Mughlai cuisine. Lamb marinated in spices and then slow cooked for hours has such heavenly and restaurant-like taste and flavour. Now one thing about cooking lamb is it has better results and darker colour when cooked in deep pot/vessel instead of pressure cooker (of course it is possible when you have quite lot of time but still the taste would be equally good with pressure cooking)

Now Durbar means Royal Court and Gosht Durbari is something that was consumed by Nawabs n Emperors. In those royal kitchens, Khansamas (Chefs) used to cook such dishes in Tandoor (Clay Oven) which used to take aprox 6-8 hours and even more time for beef dishes.

Ingredients for Gosht Durbari

1 kg lamb pieces
300-400 gm chopped onions
50 ml tomato puree
50 ml ghee/oil
fresh green chillies
coriander leaves
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

For Marinade/paste
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 bay leaf
4-5 cloves
2 brown cardamoms
2" cinnamon stick
2-4 dry red chillies
1 tsp peppercorns

Method.. ..
1. Mix all the marinade stuff and grind in mortar n pestle or food processor.

2. Rub it on lamb pieces and keep in fridge for couple of hours.

3. Heat ghee/oil in a thick bottomed pan and add the onions and ginger-garlic paste. Fry them on medium flame until the onions are light brown.

(Adding ginger-garlic paste here)

(This much brown is sufficient)

4. Add lamb pieces and cook on high flame for aprox 15 minutes

5. Add some water to prevent sticking things at bottom.

6. Add tomato puree, followed by some more water and cook on low flame until pieces are tender.

7. Garnish with chillies n coriander leaves n serve hot with rice/naan.

Korma Bahadur Shahi (Lamb Korma)

Bonjour mes amis..

Korma is a typically Mughlai, mild curry dish cooked with curd to make tangy, creamy gravy.. you can even use chicken, meat, lamb, beef or even vegetables for veggie korma.

Stuff needed for this beautiful thing.. ..

500 gm lamb

100 gm curd

salt, to taste

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

100 ml ghee/oil

2-3 prunes, whole

1 tbsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp green cardamom powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

1/2 tsp ground mace

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

almonds, pistachio, raisins (optional)

Method.. ..

1. Marinate the lamb pieces with curd, red chilli powder and lil bit salt.

2. Mix ginger paste with coriander, cumin, cinnamon, mace and cardamom. Also add some water to make paste.

3. Heat some oil in a deep pan and add onions.

4. Cook the onions till light brown.

5. Now add spice paste and cook till the oil starts separating.

6. Add lamb pieces along with its marinade.

7. Cook on high flame and keep stirring untill the curd gets somewhat thick, then add around 200 ml water, cover with the lid and cook on medium flame untill lamb is tender.

Here lamb is quite tender and ready to be served but i want to cook for lil longer to get the dark colour.

Dal Makhni

Dal Makhni a.k.a. rich creamy black lentils is the signature dish of punjab/north indian cuisine, as Punjab is one of the most foodie parts of india so their food is usually spicy and quite rich/creamy. it won't be wrong if i say that its the King of punjabi vegetarian dishes. it usually goes with naan/parathas/rice/pulao etc. according to our traditional way it was cooked for 4-6 hours on very low heat of a Tandoor. even these days its better to cook on low flame for couple of hours.

Ingredients

250 gm black lentils (Urad daal)

250 gm red beans (Rajma)

2-3 tbsp oil/ghee

200 gm butter

250-300 gm cream

whole garam masala (2 bay leaves, 3-4 green cardamoms, 4-5 cloves, 2-3" cinnamon stick)

1 tbsp cumin seeds

2-3 dry red chillies

2-3 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

3-4 medium tomatoes' puree

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1-2 tbsp coriander powder

Method.. ..

1. First of all we need to boil the lentil n red beans in a pressure cooker till its completely tender.

2. Now heat the oil in a thick bottomed pan and add cumin seeds.

3. Add whole garam masala and wait till it splutters.

4. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for lil while.

5. Add lil salt and turmeric.

6. Add tomato puree, followed by red chilli powder and coriander powder.

7. Add butter and stir thoroughly.

8. Add boiled dal and stir gently.

9. Add cream and stir throughly again.

10. Now keep stirring occasionally and cook on low heat till its somewhat thick in consistency. serve hot with naan, paratha, or rice