recipe of shaljam patta gosht | mutton curry with turnip leaves

Shaljam patta gosht was served at my Banaras ka Khana festival last year at ITC Maurya. Since this time we showcased the Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb of Banaras and teamed up with Rana Safvi to bring some food from Muslim homes as well, this homely recipe of shaljam patta gosht was included as I always prefer serving seasonal foods from the region in my food festivals.

Shaljam patta gosht is made almost similarly in many Muslim homes, Some people like to add a hot ghee tadka with ginger julienne and red chillies or green chilies over each serving and some have it as it is after the slow cooking. Use of garam masala is rare for this everyday recipe but some add whole spices too. Some people have started cooking it in one step pressure cooker process but I feel the slow cooking suits this delicate recipe better. My recipe is based on my trials after talking to a few Muslim friends from Banaras and other places close by. 

Shaljam or shalgam is the humble turnip that many people hate for reasons beyond my understanding. I find it a very flavourful vegetable that has a delicate flavour and pairs well with many other ingredients really well. So while shalgam matar ki subzi remains my favourite and the Kashmiri style gogji nadur keeps repeating in my kitchen, bhien shalgam matar ki subzi is loved as much but I am yet to perfect my shalgam gosht.

The shaljam patta gosht is an everyday meat curry that uses leaves of turnips. It will be appropriate to mention that turnip leaves are many times more nutritious than the more common spinach and has one of the highest amounts of iron and calcium. Normally I would get it from Tijara farm as getting turnips with leaves is next to impossible in Delhi.

The other day Atiya Zaidi tweeted about shaljam patta gosht and I couldn't resist but look for turnip leaves in our weekly market. While I couldn't find any turnip leaves as usual, my quest was so intense that I saw a sack of medium sized fresh turnips being opened and the sack was sealed using the leaves from the same turnips as a cushioning material. I requested the subziwala to give me those leaves and he relented after initial hesitation. There I was, the leaves were very fresh to be cooked with my shaljam patta gosht.

ingredients 
(3-4 servings)
500 gm mutton on bone and some fat
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
2 tbsp mustard oil
300 gm turnip leaves chopped finely*
5 whole dry red chilies
3 tejpatta 
salt to taste

*The turnip leaves should ideally be from baby turnips but I have always used the leaves from medium sized turnips as I never find baby turnips, thankfully the shaljam patta gosht has always turned out great. If using baby turnips you can use the turnips chopped along the leaves too. 

ingredients to make a fine paste together
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chili powder
 
procedure 

Heat the mustard oil in a pressure cooker pan and add 1/2 cup chopped onions along with the whole dry red chilies and tejpatta. Fry them on medium heat till they get brown. Make a paste of the ingredients listed under paste while the onions brown.

Once the onions are browned, add the paste and get ready for some slow bhunoing for 20 minutes. keep the flame low and keep bhunoing the masala till it gets dry and sticks to the bottom leaving the oil on the sides.

Splash 1 tbsp water in the masala and bhuno again to deglaze, so it slows down the bhunoing process and brings out the complex flavours of the simple spices used.

Bhunoing is the key to the taste of many such mutton curries as our elders have stressed upon.

When you see the masala getting a deep shade of brown and aromatic, add the mutton pieces and keep bhunoing for 20 minutes more on low flame. Keep turning the meat along with the spices so the fats are rendered into the masala slowly and the meat absorbs the spices well.

Add the turnip leaves, mix the leaves well with the meat and let them release their juices. Once the leaves are wilted you can bhuno the meat mix for 5-7 minutes more. I often get the leaves steamed to make them limp so that I can refrigerate the in my borosil boxes, so I use steamed leaves from the fridge.

Add 1/4 cup of water (no more please), salt to taste and cover the lid. Keep the gas flame low and let the meat cook on very low flame till pressure builds up on its own, it takes about 40 minutes in a 2.5 liter pressure cooker. Once the whistle blows up you can switch off the gas and let the pressure release before opening the cooker.

Note that the cooking time can vary depending on the quality of meat, the flame strength and the size of pressure cooker so adjust accordingly. New cooks often err on this aspect and end up with under cooked or overcooked meat but that's how we learn.

You would see loads of leaves covering all the meat but trust me that is where the taste is. This cooking process ensures that the fats and gelatin from the bones melds well with the leaves and the turnip leaves flavour the meat with their own signature aromas.

Shaljam patta gosht tastes even better the next day so make double the amount you need for one meal. This is one mutton curry that can be eaten 3-4 times a week and is worth cooking in bulk and stock in the fridge.

turai keema recipe with coriander greens and coconut milk

Turai is the ridge gourd that is a summer squash in India. In southern India this gourd is available for a longer duration as there is lesser marked winter over there. Another common gourd in summers is the sponge gourd (nenua or chikni turai) that has a smooth skin and a little different flavour, another gourd that I found recently is called Ramturai which looks a bit stout and is heavier than these tow. We really have a great variety of gourds in India.

I prefer eating loads of gourds during summer as these watery vegetables are good for this season. The simpler way of cooking these gourds is along with sliced onions or radish slices or with some fried and crushed badiyan. These gourds are cooked with either chana daal or kala chana too and many people have written to me that these are their favourite summer subzis. I think kids don't care for such mushy curries but adults somehow start loving them. The body tells them what feels good and not just the palate.

I sometimes cook ridge gourds with mutton keema (minced mutton), we call it turai keema to have with chapati for our dinner. And I keep changing the turai keema recipe as per convenience, the vegetarian turai recipes are so diverse we love them as they are.

This summer I tried a turai keema with coriander paste and coconut milk added and loved it so much we had it twice last week. One reason is that we both have been traveling a lot and simpler home cooked meals feel comforting. I want to make them more and more simple for the sake of convenience, it works wonders if you know what you like in terms of flavours.

ingredients..
(3 large meal servings with chapatis and one side dish)

ridge gourds 400 gm
mutton keema 200 gm
coriander greens chopped 1 cup
garlic cloves 3
green chillies 2
ginger root grated 1 tsp
pepper corns 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
coconut milk (cream) 100 ml
mustard oil 1 tsp
salt to taste

procedure..

Make a green paste using coriander greens, ginger, garlic, green chillies, pepper corns and cumin seeds. Keep aside.

Peel the ridge gourds, wash and cube them in small pieces.

Heat the mustard oil in a pressure cooker pan and dump the keema in it. Scramble and fry for a couple of minutes to make the keema loose so it doesn't clump together in the curry. Add the green paste and stir fry for a minute.

Add salt and cubed ridge gourds. Mix well, add 2-3 tbsp water and cover the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook till the whistle blows. Let it cool and open the lid.

Pour the coconut milk, simmer for a few minutes to get required consistency. Serve hot with chapatis.

We had it with ragi roti and plain red chilly smoked baingan ka bharta.

The baingan ka bharta is just flame grilled round brinjals mashed along with chopped onions, chopped green chillies and salt. Served with a dash of raw mustard oil this bharta or chokha is a great vegetable dish that can replace a salad. To smoke it with red chilly I just brush one red chilly with mustard oil and burn the chilly over gas flame a little. Then insert the chilly into the mashed chokha and cover for a while. It gets nicely smoked with a chilly whiff.

This turai keema with coriander and coconut milk is very subtle sweetish aromatic dish that one can enjoy even in peak summer. I like it a bit thin but you can adjust consistency as per requirement or choice. You can add more coconut milk or cream and make it a bit rich but we liked it lighter and mellow without much chilly heat.

Let me know if you try this recipe. I might cook this with regular mutton on bone sometime at leisure. Mutton on bone needs longer cooking time and I cook it sparingly these days.

Lasun mirch wala keema | a mutton mince curry with chilly and garlic

Lasun mirch wala keema is not as intensely garlicky or intensely hot as the name suggests. So relax. This a creamy curry with pleasant notes of garlic and green chilly peppers where you get sweeter taste of chillies more than the heat. This mutton mince curry with loads of garlic and green chillies is soul satisfying type of food if you believe me. It replaces our soup dinners in winters many times and we fall for kadak mixed grains roti with it, although we eat more of the curry and less roti, the curry is so addictive good.

Green chillies come in all shapes and sizes, with different heat levels and we use them for differently in our food. We are spoiled for the chilly peppers varieties now a days, Jalapenos, Anaheim, Serrano, Poblanos and Cayenne are some of the varieties visible in the markets. I usually get a small bag of all of them and keep using them to make pickles, stuffed chillies etc. But I mostly like them to be used in my soups or stir fries depending on how hot they are and how much flavour they pack for the recipe. So when I need the rich chilly flavours and lesser heat I use the Anahiem or Jalapenos or a mix of these two.

Go for the larger and wider chillies if you want the sweet flavours of chillies in your recipes, especially if you live in India and the chillies are not labeled by their names in the local markets.

This lasun mirch wala keema recipe I was planning to cook this winter and yet something or the other kept distracting me from this keema recipe. I make a nice mirchi gosht too but this lasun mirch wala keema is a totally different bouquet of flavours. Just a few spices are used and a nut paste makes this dish a rich meal without many side dishes. You wont need much when this lasum mirch wala keema is in the menu.

ingredients
(2-4 servings depending on side dishes)

keema (mutton mince) 300 gm
garlic cloves 50 gm
mild variety of green chillies 80-100 gm
melon seeds 50 gm
cashew nuts 20 gm
whole coriander seeds 1 tsp
cinnamon stick 1 inch piece
green cardamoms 2
chopped coriander greens and stems 100 gm
ghee 1 tbsp or 15 gm
salt to taste ; 1 tsp will be good enough

procedure

Soak the melon seeds and cashews in hot water for 10 minutes and make a fine paste. Keep aside.

Mince the garlic and slice the green chillies. Keep aside.

Heat ghee in a thick base pan, preferably a handi and tip in the whole spices in it. Wait till the spices get lightly aromatic, taking care not to brown them. Add the minced garlic and sliced chillies at once and keep stirring till it all looks translucent. Do not brown the garlic or chillies, we want them to be just a bit translucent.

Add the keema and the chopped stems of coriander greens. Save the chopped coriander leaves to be added in the last phase of finishing the dish. Stir fry for a minute and add 2 cups of water, bring to a soft boil and then simmer for about half an hour, preferably covered but take care not to let it spill.

Add the nut paste and coriander leaves. Adjust the gravy consistency by adding some water if required, or simmer without the lid to reduce if you feel like.

Simmer again after adding the nut paste till the fats float on the surface. This is the time the dish is ready. Serve hot with any Indian style bread, roti or naan.

We generally don't need any accompaniments with this lasun mirch wala keema. It is an indulgence to be enjoyed in singularity.

gosht dopyaza or mutton dopyaza (UP style), a simple home style mutton curry...

Dopyaza was a dish made using a lot of onions (apparently double the onions than meat) at my place and it had a few vegetarian versions too. Alu dopyaza was most common as an additional curry and parwal dopyaza was made during summers when we all wanted something spicy yet light. Paneer dopyaza was the easiest paneer curry that tasted yum with just about anything. The good thing is, the basic cooking procedure and spices are the same in all these dopyaza type recipes. Only cooking time changes with the main ingredient used. I must add the nomenclature of a dopyaza is probably disputed as some people say dopyaza is a curry where meat and vegetables are cooked together and there is no link with the amount of onion used. In our family, it was a pyaz (onion) connection only that we knew. So doguna pyaz...double the onion it is for us.

Kathal ka dopyaza is a much loved recipe here on the blog though I cook that rarely. Bhindi dopyaza is a dry subzi that I still make quite frequently and I just checked again to my horror that I haven't posted it yet. Chicken or murgh dopyaza was most common non vegetarian option back home as it cooks faster than mutton probably. I wouldn't know exact reasons as I used to hate all non vegetarian food back then. Yes, I am a convert now and see how :-)

This mutton dopyaza recipe would make a few of my friends happy as they have been asking for more non vegetarian recipes to be posted. I am guilty of infrequent posts and rare non vegetarian recipes already, found these pictures in the old albums and decided to post the recipe quickly. The recipe is slow cooked, so takes about an hour and some more to cook but you don't need to do much preparation for this curry especially if you are chopping the onions in the food processor.

This is a gravy type curry but the gravy is not uniformly creamy. The onion caramelize during the slow cooking process and cook to become a smooth coating around the meat. The fats separate after the long cooking time and the spices lend their aroma to every single fiber of meat. This is the uniqueness of this recipe, the onion rich gravy that is a bit sweetish yet heavy with the aromatic spices. Heat can be controlled by adjusting the quantities of chilies, black peppercorns and ginger. All three provide a depth of heat in this curry, where onion has lend enough sweetness to round up the spices.

ingredients...
(2 large servings)

goat meat/mutton 300 gm (I prefer shoulder pieces on bone)
sliced red onions 400 gm (or 4-5 large Indian red onions)
5 dry red chilies broken or more to taste
ginger julienne 2 tbsp
sliced garlic 1 tbsp
2 black cardamoms
3 green cardamoms
6 cloves
2 tsp black pepper corns, or to taste
2 inch piece of cinnamon broken
a thin sliver of mace
salt to taste
mustard oil or ghee 2 tbsp

procedure...

The dry red chilies lend a very nice flavor to this onion-centric curry so the use is very important. Do not replace red chilies with green chilies in this recipe and I suggest you use more red chilies than you think will be enough, as the amount of onion neutralizes the chilly heat quite a bit. If you don;t want the heat, just empty all the seeds and discard, the aroma of chilly will be nice that way, without making the curry too hot.

Crush the spices lightly, not disintegrating them in the process. You just need to macerate the spices while cooking, so a light handed pounding will be enough.

Heat oil or ghee in a thick base pan or kadhai.
I normally use my handi shaped pressure cooker pan and do the cooking without using the pressure lid. It is a slow cooked dish so takes about an hour and half, be prepared to do some more chores around the kitchen in the meantime.

Add the red chilies, ginger and garlic to it and wait till everything gets aromatic and the color changes a bit. No more than 30 seconds and then tip in all the onion and the whole spices that you have crushed lightly. Add the salt too and keep stirring on medium heat till the onion starts getting pinkish.

Add the meat, mix well, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir and mix, cover and cook on lowest flame. Keeps stirring after every 10 minutes and place an iron skillet (or tawa) below the cooking pan if you think the curry might stick to the base. It has never happened with me so relax, it's not a possibility if you are using the right pan.

The curry is done once the fats are separated and the meat is cooked through. The onions are almost homogenized by now and make a nice gravy without a drop of water being added to the curry.

Serve with any chapati or paratha or naan. We had it with mixed grain kulcha and a pumpkin and mint stir fry salad. The kulchas were ignored royally until we needed a few bits of it to polish off this dopyaza gravy. This curry is so aromatic that you would start feeling hungry as soon as it arrives at the table, and would would be guilty of tasting a few chink of eat if you are cooking it. A statutory warning.

Do let me know whenever you try this eastern UP style dopyaza. Some people call a similar recipe Ishtoo but they add some more spices in it and make it a bit runny. Ishtoo is made when someone needs a soup like curry during a flu or cough and cold or during rainy season. But no seasonal constraints for healthy people who can have it any time. 

mutton curry UP home style...

Meat curries in UP mean mutton curries essentially in Hindu homes. Made spicy using home ground spices or whole spices sometimes, simmered in heavy bottomed pans for hours in leisurely times and pressure cooked when the meal needs to be quicker if not instant. But the flavors of the spices remain the same for most conservative food snobs of the state. They wont 'like' a mutton curry enough if it is not done 'their' way. I know because my dad is one of those snobs. And he was the one who used to cook mutton curry at home and later when I started eating meats, taught me as well.

 Spice blends are different in all Indian states and we immediately locate the origin of a dish by the whiff of the complex bouquet of spice blend used in a particular dish. All spices are Indian but they create a infinite range of combinations and permutations. Isn't that a wonderful thing to experience living in a country that is known for spices. Spice blends are like perfumery. The more robust spices are the base flavors and the delicate aromatic ones make the tasting notes that hit the palate first. The meats and vegetables add to the bouquet and we get a unique meal in every little home across the country. The homes where homemade spice blends are used I mean. Many packaged spice blends have made the curries taste similar in some homes though, still the amount of fats used, the additional seasoning makes a difference. So if you didn't pick up the MDH or Everest blends for mutton curry, trust me to get a nice home style mutton curry with this recipe.

The addition of potatoes is mine as I have seen a few friends of mine loving potatoes in a mutton curry, and the husband loves them too. My dad would shrink his nose at the potatoes I know. Skip them if you don't want them.

Note that the final taste of this mutton curry depends on the curry powder blend too which is homemade in my case. Try and powder the spices in the same ratio and combination when you are making a UP style curry. Ready made packed curry powders are different.



ingredients...

(2-4 servings, depending on the side dishes served along with it)

mutton, curry cut (on bone, preferably from shoulders but any bony cuts would work fine) 300 gm
a large potato with skin, scrubbed clean and cubed
ginger julienne 2-3 tbsp
sliced garlic cloves 1.5 tbsp
thinly sliced onions 1 cup
turmeric powder 1 tsp
everyday curry powder 1 tbsp
special garam masala 1 tsp
salt to taste

mustard oil 1/3 cup
cumin seeds 1 tsp
tejpatta 2-3 leaves*
whole red chilies broken and seeds removed about 10 or to taste

chopped coriander greens 2-3 tbsp or to taste



procedure...

• Heat mustard oil in a wide and thick base kadhai. Tip in the cumin seeds and wait till they crackle. Add the chopped ginger and garlic, saving 1/2 tbsp ginger julienne for garnish and let them fry for 30 seconds. Add Tejpatta, whole red chilies broken and seeds removed, and then add the sliced onions immediately. Add 1/2 tsp salt (more to be added later) and fry the onion till browned well.

*I added 4 cloves and one black cardamom at this step as well, the husband doen't like whole spices in his curries so I keep the whole spices minimal most of the times, You might like to add a stick of cinnamon too.

• The mutton will be added at this step, mix well with everything and keep turning the pieces to let them cook from all sides. This bhunoing process will go on for about 25 minutes on low flame so the mutton pieces keep browning slowly, absorbing the flavors of the ingredients. You might need to quench the dryness with a tbsp of water every now and then but keep the mixture dry all this while. Since the flame is low, you can do a few chores in the kitchen while the meat is cooking.

If cooking in a pressure cooker, this bhunoing step will be minimised to 10 minutes.

• Add the cubed potatoes and the powdered spices along with 2 tbs of water so the powdered spices do not get burnt and aromatic oils get absorbed into the half cooked mutton pieces. Keep the flame low and keep bhunoing for about 10 minutes more. Add salt and about a cup of water, cover the kadhai with a well fitting lid and let it simmer for 20 minutes or till the mutton gets completely cooked, the meat should be ready to fall off the bone, but should not be already detached from the bone.

If pressure cooking, just bhuno the spices and cook for another 20 minutes. Potatoes should not be added when pressure cooking as they disintegrate and interfere with the taste of the curry when pressure cooked.

• Adjust the consistency of the curry, add more water or dry up on higher flame if required. Check seasoning and adjust. Add the green coriander leaves and serve hot. The ginger julienne make a nice garnish, they taste great in the curry as well.

As I told you, I am not too fond of the potatoes in this mutton curry, the husband loves them ans I add them sometimes just to add some carbs to the curry when required. They do not hamper the taste of the mutton curry if added in small amount.

This is a robustly spicy mutton curry, you get the top notes of clove, green cardamon and cinnamon, tejpatta makes an appearance in the aromas as well. Browned onions and the black pepper, black cardamom and cumin make it robust and deep in flavors. The spiciness of this mutton curry is deeply satisfying in a meal. You would feel like having more of the gravy and all your spice craving will be sated once you have it. Just don't load up your plate with too much roti or rice as it would make you feel heavy and dull after the meal.

Another UP home style mutton curry is made in a different way. First boiling the mutton and making a yakhni, then bhunoing the boiled mutton with spices and proceeding to simmer the curry with spices. I have posted this mutton curry in the post where spice powders and their therapeutic uses are discussed. It is long post and you would have to scroll down to find that mutton curry at the bottom.

mirchi gosht | mutton cooked with a chilly garlic seasoning

This mirchi gosht recipe is a keeper. Just because it is a very simple dish of goat meat cooked with 3 ingredients and takes about 40 minutes to cook, but I recommend slow cooking this stew if possible. Even the pressure cooked quick version is so delicious we end up having it quite frequently.

Mirchi gosht is a fiery mutton dish which is almost like a roast. A mutton recipe when you have to make do with frugality. When you need minimal ingredients and minimal cooking. And when you are not dying of heart attack to hear about ghee and some more ghee. I like this recipe for it's minimalist, almost frugal ingredient list, preparation and cooking time.

It doesn't mean this mutton recipe is any lesser. It suits you when your idea of mutton deliciousness is not garam masala and onion and everything else that a rich gravy involves.

At the same time it is a very hot mutton curry, to be served with a cooling raita and a nice and light spiced pulao with some cubes of potatoes... potatoes sound quirky in a pulao but you would know what they actually taste like when you eat.

So the only ingredients in this mutton curry is lots of green chillies and lots of garlic and well , lots of ghee .

I cooked 250 gm of mutton and used this much garlic and green chillies . These are hot chillies and the garlic id the pungent Indian variety.

Both these are liquidized to make a smooth paste first of all.

3 tbsp ghee and the paste of garlic green chilies is mixed with the mutton pieces along with salt to taste . Using a pressure cooker pan for cooking the mixture is stir fried for 5 minutes.


Then a cup of water is added and the contents are pressure cooked for 25 minutes.

It looks like this when you open the pressure cooker lid. Bubbling ghee and a hot sniff from the chilies  Garlic gives a pungency to the sniff too but the real garlic flavor is prominent when you taste the curry.

Empty the contents of the pressure cooker pan into the serving dish, taking care to scrape every little bit of burnt or stuck material. You can't afford to waste tasty bits of the curry made with such frugal ingredients...

The mutton pieces are melt in your mouth soft and the hot gravy sticking to the meat is something you can't resist, even if you are drinking water to quench your irritated palate again and again...

As I said the rice served with it serves as a nice aromatic balancing dish, the alu pulao or alu tehri.

Soaked basmati rice is cooked with some whole spices and potatoes fried in minimal ghee and cooked with enough water till done.

To make this mildly spiced pulao with potatoes you need to dunk in lots of cumin seeds in some ghee in a kadhai. Add crushed peppercorns, lightly crushed black cardamom, a green cardamom, a cinnamon stick and a few cloves. 

Then add some cubed potatoes and fry everything together for 3-4 minutes. Add the soaked rice, mix well and add enough water to cook and salt to taste. Cook till done and serve hot with this mirchi gosht.

I used 3 tbsp of rice and one medium sized potato for 2 servings. A large bowl of cucumber and raw onion raita feels like heaven with this hot mirchi gosht.

You would love it if you like hot curries and love garlic. And if you do not intend to die of a psychological heart attack.

Ghee is not the one to blame. Ghee is actually a healing type fat you can read here.

Garlic is healing and so is the green chilly. Did you know that?

All the ghee in this curry gets separated when cooked. The leftover ghee can be used in a very innovative manner along with some of the leftover pieces. I made a nice mutton dalcha with the ghee and the leftover mutton pieces. You would love that too.

Enjoy...