Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Laal Maas (Red meat curry) and Tikona Rotis

Lal maas is a popular dish from Rajasthan. The recipe for this has been lying with me now for a couple of years. I had kept it safely with me wanting to try it out. But soon forgot about it till the same recipe appeared in the newspaper a few days back. So I had to try it out this time. And it did taste as good as it looked. Though not as spicy and fiery as it looks. The nice red color is got because of the kashmiri red chillies used. I served this with tikona rotis. My husband came home for dinner and he thought I had ordered in. I have read somewhere that you can try the same recipe with pork too. Well if any of you try it with pork lemme know.
So here are the recipes (my slightly tweaked version) for lal maas and tikona roti.

Lal Maas


1. Mutton - 1/2 kg
2. Oil - 1/2 cup
3. Onions - 2 chopped fine
4. Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tblsp
5. whole spices - ( black & green cardamom - 2 each, cinnamon - 2 ", Bay leaves - 2,
whole black pepper - 1 tsp )
6. salt to taste
7. Whole Red kashmiri chillies - 6 - 8 ( I used 7 )
8. Coriander Powder - 1 tblsp
9. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
10. Curd - 3 tblsp
11. Tomato Puree - 100 g
12. Garam masala - 1tblsp
-- Soak red chillies in 1/2 cup water.
-- Heat oil. Add the whole spices. When it crackles add onions and saute till it turns golden brown.
-- Add ginger garlic paste and the cubed mutton and cook till oil comes out.
-- Grind the red chillies to a fine paste and add to meat.
-- Add all spices except garam masala and saute.
-- Add beaten curd and cook till the meat is half cooked. (Original recipes calls for slow cooking. I used the pressure cooker till 1 whistle.)
-- Add tomato puree and cook till done .
-- Finish with garam masala.
-- Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.
Tikona Rotis


This is the healthier version of the Tikona Parathas adapted from Jeeti Gandhi's book "Curry Leaves and Cumin Seeds".
-- Take your dough for the roti and divide into balls.
-- Take one and roll it into a circular shape as you roll for a normal roti.
-- Using a pastry brush apply a little oil or butter and sprinkle with little flour. Fold in Half so now you have a semi circle shape.
-- Repeat the above step and now you have tringular shape with a rounded base.
-- Roll this into a this larger triangle. Repeat the same with the remaining balls. Cook on a griddle till done on both sides.
This is specially for my niece RM and BIL who are very fond of north indian cuisine and also to tempt them to come to India soon.

love,
Gita






Friday, March 5, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM...

"M" is for the million things she gave me,
"O" means only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her heart of purest gold;
"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
"R" means right, and right she'll always be,
Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER,"
A word that means the world to me.

Mom was here with us on her birthday so I had to bake a cake for the occassion, well I am just a beginner as compared to my big sis - the pro. Anyway mom said that it was good....!!! We had a nice little cake cutting ceremony in the evening which mom wanted to avoid as she didn't want to remind herself that she is yet another year older.

The cake is the white butter cake from http://www.joyofbaking.com/WhiteCake.html.

I tweaked the wilton buttercream icing recipe a little. My modified version of the buttercream icing is :

1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk

Cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth whenever not in use.

--I used a flower nail to get level cakes as explained in http://cakecentral.com/articles/651/cake-baking-flower-nail-method-tutorial. Nice tip as it avoided formation of the dome in the centre. Hence very little sawing of the cake.

So once again "Happy Birthday" to our dearest mom...!!!

gita