Thursday 27 August 2015

Mutton Yakhni pulao

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It's been a busy summer, not in a relaxing, I'm-not-doing-anything sort of summer, but a working summer with Chaiparty gaining full on momentum. We did our 4th themed supper club last Sunday and must say we have slowly gotten the hang of cooking and hosting without too much wastage, mismanagement, and goof ups. Of course there is still loads more to learn, but we are really thrilled at how we have pulled through so far. Do check out our Facebook Chaiparty page for pictures and updates.

We also went off to Spain for a week and stayed in the quaintest, rural-est of places and I loved it. Of course the insect bites and the unbearable heat meant half of the time was spent in the pool or at the beach, but it was a good break and we had a blast.
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Cooking wise, not a lot of experimenting has been happening, but I'm still cooking! This yakhni pulao was the after effect of a week long no-cooking scenario and after being sick of eating out, i decided to get into the kitchen and cook, and no less a rich pulao. I have tried this with beef and thought it was somehow much more flavourful then. It wasn't bad this time, very flavourful and such, but i remember the beef being a favourite at that time. Its a recipe that is supposed to be slow cooked, but me being me, decided to cook the mutton in a pressure cooker and then continue with the rest of the process. That cant have been the reason why the beef prep was better, because i did that the same way- in the pressure cooker.

Anyways, this is definitely one of those indulgent pulao's, but one definitely worth trying.

Recipe adapted from here (serves 4)
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Mutton- 500 gms
Yoghurt- 1 tbsp
Cardamom- 5
Cloves- 5
Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds- 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon- 2 ,1 inch sticks
Bay leaf- 1
Black peppercorns- 1 tsp
Onion- 1, roughly chopped
Ginger- 1 tbsp, crushed
Garlic- 6 cloves, crushed
Salt- to taste

Ghee- 1 tbsp
Onions- 1 medium, thinly sliced
Basmati rice- 2 cups, washed and soaked in water for about half an hour
Water- as needed to make 
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Into a pressure cooker add the mutton and all the ingredients listed up to salt and marinate for about an hour or so. 
Add 3 1/2 cups of water to the marinated meat and pressure cook for about 20 minutes, or till the meat is completely cooked. 
Remove the mutton pieces from the mix using a slotted spoon. It doesn't matter if the onions have disintegrated and the garlic and ginger sticks to it. Don't bother removing them, it only adds to the flavour.
Drain the stock using a sieve and discard the spices. You should have around 3 cups of stock. Add quarter cup water to the stock to make it 3 3/4 and keep aside.

Pour the ghee into a heavy bottomed pan and add the onions.
Fry on medium heat till they turn brown, around 15 to 20 minutes. They don't need to be crisp, just caramelised.
Into that add the meat (along with the onions, ginger garlic and whatever is clinging to it) and the drained rice and saute for a minute or so. Don't over do this, or else the rice would break.
Reduce heat to low and add the stock to the rice and meat and give a good stir. Check for salt and add more if needed.
Close the pan with a tight fitting lid, covering all sides with a wet cloth if you think steam would escape.
Cook for around 15 to 20 minutes, resisting the urge to open the lid.
Once the time is up, turn off the heat and leave the rice to rest for about 10 minutes without taking off the lid.
Fluff the rice, garnish wtith some fried onions and serve with raita and poppadom.
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Notes: You know your rice cooking times, usually its around 15 minutes for me, but 20 is safe.
My ratio of rice to meat was not that right, I'd probably use 1 1/2 cups of rice next time.
Of course if you want to do it the right way, slow cook the meat till tender, in a heavy bottomed pan. Keep checking in between to see that water levels are not too low and that the meat is not getting over cooked.
If you don't want the onions disintegrating, keep it whole with and x slit at the base. Same with the spices if you dont want to keep biting into them tie them all together in a muslin cloth and use

Sunday 9 August 2015

Trip to Suffolk Part 2- Blythburgh Free Range Pork

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Day two started off pretty early with a hearty breakfast at the hotel, and off we went to Blythburgh farm where Jimmy and Alastair Butler met us. We piled onto a dusty farm tractor of sorts and they drove us through their farm, stopping by in between to talk us through the whole process of free range pig rearing. Jimmy and Alistair are clearly very passionate about what they do at Blythburgh - to produce great tasting pork- and works a great deal to prove how the pigs are reared makes a huge difference to how they taste.
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We got a chance to see and carry some new born piglets, the most adorable ones, and spent a significant amount of time watching the pigs in their comfort zone. They explained how they are born outside and spend their entire lives outdoor in the fresh air, with freedom to roam around, resulting in the pigs growing at a slower rate. This in turn assures that the free range pork is more flavourful and succulent, which you dont get with the mass produced pork.

That said, the farm also has large and airy tented barns (as seen in the 1st image) with loads of bedding straw for the pigs when they need the shelter
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We then went on to St Margarets farm where Gerard King from craft butcher Salter & King was waiting for us to do a pork butchery demo. This was most certainly a very interesting sessions with the very charming Gerard carving his way through a carcass,  showing us different cuts of meat and explaining how to cook them. He gave us some very interesting recipes, the rolled pork belly stuffed with chorizo is still fresh in my mind and i cant wait to get hold of some good pork to try it out. His shop is in Aldeburgh and he sources all his meat from free range, organic or small scale farmers who are passionate about what they do.

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We all then sat down to a glorious lunch put together by Pauline Butler where we got to taste delicious pulled pork among other dishes and more Suffolk cheese, cider and other produce. The pork produced by Blythburgh is vastly appreciated for its good quality and is popular among both celebrity chefs and home cooks alike.

It was a lovely 2 day trip full of learning and inspiration and i cant stress how Polly and Lucy of Food Safari did a fabulous job making us feel at ease and arranging this press trip. Of course if it wasnt for the fun bunch of food enthusiasts and bloggers, this wouldnt have been half as fun :)

With thanks to Food Safari for inviting me on this press trip.