Keema Kaleji and Some Heart-to-Heart

So yesterday P was working from home. Which meant I could wiggle my way out of parenthood and take some time off. Without feeling guilty about it. It felt awesome going Downtown by myself without a baby carriage and a diaper bag. Travelling light, my iPod blasting some raunchy Bollywood songs, and a large bubble tea to sip took me to new heights! And it did not even feel dizzy up there. It felt free.

I enjoy being with LMN immensely. But I crave for some downtime. There is always the next thing waiting to be done. If I make the mistake of ignoring it, I see a huge backlog of chores looming large over my little head. The cleaning ladies come and go, but the permanent role as a parent never lets me take a break.

I have great respect for people who have more than one kid. Managing one baby with shared responsibilities with the spouse has me overwhelmed many times! I wish I had more abilities. More patience. And definitely more sleep.

And some easy-to-cook recipes, which happen on their own while I am playing with the baby, and making moo sounds. Like this mince goat meat with liver recipe. Quite a popular dish in and around Delhi.



Ingredients for Keema Kaleji are:

400 grams mince meat (I always use goat’s)
300 grams liver, cut into bite-size pieces (goat again!)
1 large red onion finely chopped
2 tablespoons garlic paste
2 tablespoons ginger paste
3-4 whole green chillies
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon garam masala powder (I dry grind cardamom, cloves and cinnamon)
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
1 small nutmeg, freshly grated
4 tablespoons canola oil
2-3 bay leaves
Pinch of sugar
Salt


Its important that you cook liver fresh, without freezing. My butcher lady, Maria cut the whole liver for me, which made life easy.

Start by heating oil in a thick-bottom pan. I used my trusted cast aluminum karhai.

Sprinkle the pinch of sugar as soon as the oil heats up, add the cumin and the onions and sauté on high till the onions become translucent. Now add the garam masala powder and the bay.

 

Cook the onions with the garam masala till they turn dark pink, but not brown. You know that particular color while shallow frying onions!

Now add the mince meat and the liver all at once. Crank the heat up and mix the meat well with the onions.

The secret behind a perfect meat recipe is to sear the meat, that not only gives you a beautiful color to your meat but also locks the flavours within the layers. Cook the mince meat and liver on high, mixing all the time. Once its brown, add the ginger-garlic paste, red chilli and turmeric powders, mix, and keep cooking till juices and oil start coming out of the meat.

Add the nutmeg at this point. Mix. Cover and cook till the liver is done. The mince meat would have already been cooked by now.

Season with salt. Throw in the whole green chillies for some special effects. And finally do what you ought to do before finishing any dish – a taste test.

I love having my Keema Kaleji with phulkas or parathas. Tonight we indulged and ate it with lachcha parathas and a bowl of salad.

Hopefully, I can have some more “me time” this weekend too. I have promised to watch a movie in the theatre all by self! That way I think I can pull off playing the role of a mother with a little more style (read without complaining!).

Mutton Stew

This mutton stew is sure to keep you warm in the upcoming winter. Its got a rustic character to it because of the way the ingredients are cut. I love this stew with some freshly baked bread or Kaiser roll.

The earthy flavours of this Mutton Stew make it a household favourite of ours. I add big pieces of goat meat, whole baby potatoes and shallots and chunks of carrots for it to cook slowly and some of it to disintegrate into the liquid creating a great balance of the natural sweetness from the ingredients.

You can make this stew with chicken, but goat meat beats the chicken variation any day!

Ingredients for Mutton Stew are:

500 grams baby goat meat, cut into 4 inch pieces, fat and bone in (you can add a couple of pieces of liver too)
7-8 baby potatoes
1 large carrot, cut into big chunks
6-7 shallots or baby onions, peeled
1 medium size tomato, roughly chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons atta/whole wheat flour + extra if needed
15-20 whole black peppercorns + extra black pepper powder for seasoning
2 black cardamoms
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons canola/vegetable oil
Salt

Heat the oil and the butter in a pan or pressure cooker. Add the meat pieces and sear them on both sides on high heat. Make sure you do not crowd or cover the pan, that way the meat will not sear and will start releasing moisture. The idea behind searing the meat is that it will trap all the juices and flavour right inside the meat without releasing them.

Remove the meat from the pan and keep aside. In the same oil, add the black cardamoms, bay and peppercorns. Sauté for a minute and toss in the potatoes, onion (or shallots) carrot and garlic.
Mix everything together without moving them around too much. Let them brown a bit on all sides.

Now add the atta or the whole wheat flour directly to the vegetables and lower the heat. Mix well. This will create a rue for the stew which will help to thicken it when it cooks.

Add the seared meat to the vegetables. Give it a good mix and add salt and enough water to cover all the vegetables and meat. Now add the chopped tomatoes.

Pressure cook till the meat is done. I let 3-4 whistles go off for my stew. (If the liquid of the stew is still too runny, add some more atta mixed in a little water and add to the stew.) Season with black pepper powder and serve hot with your favourite bread.