Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Gosht Beliram..



Holi, the festival of colors is the time to welcome spring in India. It may be named different in different parts of India, but the enthusiasm, enjoyment and fun is ubiquitous.

As a child I have so many wonderful memories of holi or দোল(dol) as we call it in Bengali. For us, holi was equivalent to a day of being drenched in color. We were allowed to wear one of our old dress, yeah quite contrary to those filmy white dress parade, so there's no need to wash that horribly colored unrecognizable thing at the end of it. And we too used to become unrecognizable, with red on one cheek and green on the other, golden hair and blue-black hands. It was not only goody goody powdered color thing, we used play an extensive 3-4 hrs of water drenched 'get the parents panic attack' type of holi. I had few pics of those time, but funny enough sometimes me too get confused who is who on those all bluish black faced (with only white glittering teeth) group photos.

How can be an Indian festival be complete without foods? The festival of holi has it's own special ones. The most important and a must have is a drink, the thandai. A fragrant milkshake with dry fruits, melon seeds, saffron, rose petals etc and etc. But the most important ingredient in the thandai is freshly ground hemp. And of course it has its own claim when drunk in abundant.

Other than thandai, sweets are very common. We used to begin our day with hot cup of tea and fritters(onion pakora/ alur chop etc). But for lunch goat meat and rice was must in our house. My mother used to make a delicious mutton curry. So to keep up with all those memories I made a meat dish for this year holi.

It is called Gosht Beliram, named after the famous historical chef Beliram of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's kitchen. Thanks to Mr. Atul Sikand and Moushumi for this wonderful recipe. I went for  the richer version, marinating the meat with fried brown onion paste. If you like a lighter version go through my friend Moushumi's blog Rainbow and cloudbusters, I'm sure you will enjoy both the recipe and her engaging write up.

Things needed to make Gosht Beliram:

  • Goat meat (large chunks): 1 kg/ 2 lb 
  • Yogurt: 500 gm/ 1 lb
  • Onion(very thinly sliced): 1 cup
  • Garlic(minced): 3-4 tbsp
  • Ginger(grated): 2-3 tbsp
  • Deghi Mirch powder: 1 tbsp
  • Dry red chili powder/Kashmiri red chili powder: 1/2 tbsp
  • Cumin powder: 1 tbsp
  • Coriander powder: 1/2 tbsp
  • Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp (optional)
  • Crushed coriander seeds: 1 tsp
  • Crushed black peppercorns: 1 tsp
  • Bay leaves: 3-4
  • Green chilies: 4-5 (optional)
  • Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
  • Salt to taste
  • Sugar to taste
  • Mustard oil/Ghee/clarified butter to cook


Steps of making Gosht Beliram:


1. Dry roast coriander seeds and black peppercorn, roughly coarse both the seeds and keep aside.

2. Fry the thinly sliced onion to red brown color, drain out from oil and keep on a paper towel. Let it cool down and make a smooth paste.

3. Clean and wash the mutton pieces, pat dry. In a bowl (preferably a large glass bowl with cover), add yogurt, fried onion paste, garlic, ginger, deghi mirch powder, dry red chili powder or kashmiri red chili powder( whichever you are using), turmeric powder(if using), cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, mix all these ingredients well. Add the meat pieces in this mixture and coat all pieces with the mixture well. Cover and keep in the refrigerator overnight.

4. Take out the marinated meat from the refrigerator 1 hr before cooking. Heat mustard oil in a heavy bottom pan. When the oil is hot add bay leaves and crushed coriander seeds and peppercorns. Add the marinated meat, cook till the meat is done. Keep stirring in between. No water is added in this dish. But if you find the meat is too dry or scorching at the bottom then add little hot water. When the meat is fully cooked add ghee and garam masala powder, mix well. Serve hot with rotis.




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1 comment:

  1. This recipe totally goes in my "recipes I will try VERY soon" folder! So amazing, and your photos are incredibly beautiful.

    Lovely Blog, thanks for creating such beautiful stuff!
    Best,
    Poorna
    http://presentedbyp.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete