Mughlai Platter

Mughlai cuisine consists of dishes developed or popularized in the medieval Indo-Persian cultural centers of the Mughal Empire. It represents a combination of cuisine of the Indian subcontinent with the cooking styles and recipes of Central Asian and Islamic cuisine. Mughlai cuisine is strongly influenced by the Turkic cuisine of Central Asia, the region where the early Mughal emperors originally hailed from, and it has in turn also influenced the regional cuisines of Northern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to little extent.

The tastes of Mughlai cuisine vary from extremely mild to spicy and are often associated with a distinctive aroma and the taste of ground and whole spices. A Mughlai course is an elaborate buffet of main course dishes with a variety of accompaniments.

If you love Korma, Keema, Kebabs, Pasanda, Haleem, Kachri Keema etc., then you are unquestionably a dedicated fan of Mughlai recipes. These are a few of the most famous Mughlai dishes made in India.

• Paneer Malai Tikka
• Galouti Kebab
• Biryani
• Mint Chutney

Paneer Malai Tikka:

Ingredients

• Paneer cubed 500 grams.
• Fresh Cream (malai) ½ cup
• Thick yogurt ½ cup
• Garlic 1 teaspoon
• Ginger 1 teaspoon
• 2 Green chilies paste.
• Lemon juice 2 tablespoon
• Roasted cumin powder 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Take cream and curd in a bowl and mix them.
2. Add garlic, ginger, green chili paste, roasted cumin powder and salt into the curd-cream mixture and mix.
3. Marinate paneer cubes with this mixture. Keep it in refrigerator for 4-5 hours.
4. After 4-5 hours remove it from refrigerator and add lemon juice.
5. Grill it for 7-8 minutes. Serve it with onion.

Galouti Kebab:

Ingredients:

• 400 gm shoulder of lamb/goat
• 80 gm sliced onion
• 3 inches ginger
• 10 gm garlic
• 3 teaspoon rose water
• 50 gm crushed green papaya
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 150 gm ghee
• 4 green cardamom
• 40 gm cashews
• 6 pinches salt
• 2 pinches black pepper

Procedure:

1. Grind together ginger, garlic, raw papaya skin, cinnamon stick and green cardamom.
2. Heat ghee in a pan and fry onion slices till they turn golden in color. Keep them aside. In the same pan, fry cashew nuts.
3. Grind all the ingredients, except the ghee, till they turn into a smooth paste. Clean the meat so there is no sinew and fat left on it.
4. Mix both the pastes with the meat along with salt and chilli powder and allow them to rest in the refrigerator for six to eight hours. Add the lamb fat and pass it through the meat mincer twice. Now add the left-over ghee and rose water to the mixture and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
5. Mince the mixture again for another six times. (This will ensure the mechanical tenderizing of the meat with enzymes from the papaya skin that will make your kebabs supersmooth).
6. Now, heat ghee in a shallow but thick bottomed frying pan and drop the meat mince on it in little quantities. Press lightly with a spatula to form a round shape. Allow the kebabs to cook for three to four minutes and gently flip them to cook the other side for two more minutes.
7. Galauti Kebabs are ready. Serve with green chutney or tomato ketchup.

Mutton Biryani:

For the Meat:

• Mutton 500 gm
• Yoghurt 2 cups
• Tomato 2 chopped
• Onion sliced 2 large
• Ginger & Garlic paste 3 tablespoons
• Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon
• Red chili powder 1/2 teaspoon (Adjust to your taste)
• Cinnamon stick 1 long
• Cloves 4 to 5
• Green Cardamom pods 5 to 6
• Mace or Javetry 1/4 teaspoon
• Nutmeg or Jaifal 1/4 teaspoon
• Salt and sugar as per taste
• Mustard oil 4 tablespoons
• Potato 2 large halved

For Rice :

• Basmati rice 2 cups washed and soaked for 30 minutes in cold water
• Cinnamon stick 1 long
• Cloves 4 to 5
• Green Cardamom pods 5 to 6
• Black Cardamom pods 2
• Kabab chini or Cubeb 6 to 8
• Ghee 2 to 3 tablespoons
• Saffron 1 pinch dissolve into 1/2 cup water
• Salt

Cooking The Meat :

• Marinate the Mutton with all the ingredients except Mustard oil, written under the heading for Meat and keep refrigerated for over night or 8 hours.
• Now take a pan and heat oil and fry the potato and keep aside. Now pour the marinated meat into the pan and cover it for 15 minutes.
• Open the lid, and there will be lots of water which came out from the meat. Higher the oven and evaporate all the water and stir fry the meat with the fried potatoes till oil oozes from the meat.
• Now turn off the oven and take the potatoes out from the meat and keep aside.
• Take a pressure cooker and pour all the Meat along with the gravy into the cooker and add 1 1/2 cup of water and pressure cook up to 2-3 whistle.
• Turn off the heat and leave the cooker for 15-20 minutes. After the certain time open the cooker and again place on oven to evaporate the excess water of the meat.
• Make the mutton dry and keep aside for later use.

Preparing The Rice :

• Take pan and boil 4 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of oil, some salt and Cinnamon stick, Cloves, Cardamom pods, Black Cardamom pods, Cubeb.
• When the wter will start boiling add the soaked rice and cook till the rice is 70% done. Take a big Pasta Strainer and strain the rice.
• Now take large pan and brush some butter inside it. Spread half of the rice into the pan. Layer the cooked meat and potato & some Khoya or Mawa and spread rest of the rice on the top of the meat. On the last layer of rice sprinkle some Garam Masala powder, Rose water, Kewda water, Saffron soaked water (you can make a paste of the saffron water)  Fried Onion & Ghee and cover the pan with lid and seal it with atta dough.
• Now take a large flat pan with water place on the oven and place the biryani pan on the flat pan , turn on the oven on medium and cook the biryani on lower medium heat for 30-40 minutes.
• After 40 minutes turn off the oven but do not cut the seal. Before serving cut the seal and serve hot, yummy Kolkata Style Mutton Biryani.

Mint Chutney:

Ingredients:

• Mint Leaves 1 cup
• Cilantro Or Coriander leaves 1 cup
• Green chili 2
• Ginger 1″ long piece
• Garlic 3 to 4 cloves
• Lemon Juice of 1 lemon
• Black Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Procedure:

1. Clean & wash the Mint & Cilantro leaves & chilies.
2. Take mint, cilantro, chili, garlic, ginger, lemon juice & black salt in a small spice grinder and grind to make a smooth paste.
3. That’s it. Serve with any snacks, chaats, grilled meat or veggies.
4. But this chutney should be consumed within 2-3 days of produce.
5. Enjoy…