Nihari
beef, indian, stews, veal
2 lb bong meat*
1 salt
1 garlic paste/powder
1 onion
1 sufoofs(powder)
1 de corriander(dhaniya)
1 fennel
1 ginger
1 turmeric
1 cooking oil
1 flour
*[calf(the muscle) muscle meat - perhaps i should xpost this to scindian as well]... (I think he means shank- JW)
well, kids, here it is - Naufal's recipe for mega-gorgeous nihari ... with little effort and way better taste than that Instant Nihari Masala insult that gets sold at Patel's Spices-R-Us (apologies to masala users and Patels). This recipe in no way is intended to teach anything to anyone ... if i intended to teach you something then i would have made it a serious post (if you do learn something, do NOT admit it on SCP or I'll be the one receiving flack for that). This is just a public service post for the good of common masses. Criticism/ suggestions welcome only if you're cute like Teri Polo and are willing to send your pics. to prove that.
Throw 0.25 (of a large) finely chopped onion with decent amt of oil in the pateela and cook till it turns yellowish/greenish. Place the meat in the pateela (you don't have to completely defrost it, I usually don't - leave the meat in fairly large 2.5x2.5 pieces) and cook a little till it defrosts. Meat is gonna leave some water when you cook and while its doing that, add the following spices:
* chili - 1.5 teaspoons * corriander/dhaniya - 4.0 teaspoons. * garlic paste - 1.5 teaspoons. * ginger powder (soNth) - 1.5 teaspoons. * salt - hasb-e-zaiqa/blood_pressure (Moin, be careful here). * turmeric - 0.75 teaspoons. * fennel powder - 1.0 teaspoons (this is what you smell when you smell nihari and weep with joy).
well, its not a 1/2 hr one like the rest of my recipes ... but you won't have to baby-sit it like Shahid Karim baby-sits Janjua either. Now, cook/bhoon..bhoon..bhoon ... basically, you wanna completely cook the mixture till the spices/masala is cooked ... you'll know that when oil starts jumping/burning your hands, the spices turn pasty and clearly separate from the oil as little thick pieces of paste. Once you reach this point, cook for a minute more (the flame should be fairly high, btw) and then add about 1.5 cups of water - actually this is a rough approximate depending on how much shorbaa you'd like (just don't over do it or you'll be drinking nihari-flavored tea).
Now comes the waiting part. cover the pot, lower the flame to slow cook, and go count Moin's posts, Mariam's boyfriends/relatives and Janjua's stupidities. By the time you finish, the meat should've been tender. A good test is to slight poke it and it should so tender that just a litttle poke would break it. BE GENTLE - if its done then you'll ruin the beauty by your poking around. Keep cooking until you reach the objective. You're almost there. Taking some more finely chopped onion and
fry it till turns dark-brown - maintaining good distance from the pot, pour the
fried onion and oil into the pot (if you're new at this, you might wanna have something b/w you and the pot). YOU ARE OFFICIALLY DONE.
Prepare any toppings that you want - ginger, cilantro, lemon etc. EAT. note: This nihari may not have the same RED color that you see normally - this depends on the chili you used. If aesthetics are important, then just add some paprika and voila !!
This recipe is provided as is .. no warranties or responsibilites if you hose yourself or your loved ones or your kitchen. As always, if its good then I get the credit - if it chokes, then you did something wrong and should be blamed for it.
Naufal. naufal@alumni.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (Naufal A. Khan) soc.culture.pakistan
Yield: 1 servings