Kheema with Vegetables

This post is dedicated to all of you carnivores out there. Have you ever found yourself with a die hard meat craving?? I mean, you feel like you need meat NOW and nothing but mutton will do...? I get into these fixes every so often and start acting like a crazy woman until I've actually eaten the mutton.

So, one day, I found myself in the aforementioned state but didn't really feel like making 10 different things. I thought about Amma making kheema sometimes and remembered having ground mutton on hand. Then, I thought adding a bunch of vegetables would make it into a complete dish to eat with leftover chappathis.

This dish turned out to be a winner in more ways than one. First of all, it was meaty enough to handle my meat craving. Plus, it was loaded with vegetables, making it a complete dish paired with rotis or rice. I used whatever veggies I had on hand that day, but you can use anything from beans, cabbage, mushrooms, eggplants, bell peppers, cauliflower (maybe), carrots, etc. Also, you can change the masala to suit your tastes, too. Go crazy!!



Ingredients:

Ground mutton - 1 1/2 lb
Baby eggplants - 3-4, chopped
Green bell peppers - 2 large, chopped
Frozen peas, defrosted - 1/2 cup
Potatoes - 2 small, chopped
Tomatoes - 3 medium, chopped
Onions - 2 medium, chopped
Garlic - 5 pods, chopped or crushed
Ginger - 2 inch piece, chopped or crushed
Green chillies - 8-10, chopped
Fennel (sombu) powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Chilly powder - 3 tsp, or to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Yogurt 2 tbsp
Pepper powder - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Lime juice - 1 tbsp
Oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the ground meat and brown.

2. Now, add the onions and green chillies. Saute until the onions have softened.

3. At this point, ginger and garlic are added and fried until the raw smell disappears. Then, add yogurt, fennel powder, coriander powder, chilly powder, and turmeric powder.

4. Fry until the mixture thickens and the masala smells roasted. Now, add the vegetables (eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, peas, bell peppers) and salt. Cover and cook until the veggies are done.

5. Finally, open and check for seasoning. Add the pepper powder and lime juice and serve this spicy, rich kheema hot with rice, pulav rice, or rotis. Enjoy!!

Aatu Kaal Soup (Mutton Bone Soup) and a Meme

It's been a few days since Uma tagged me for a meme. I'd been postponing it a bit, but I'm finally doing it.

Here are the rules for the Meme..

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them)
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Five facts about me...? Ok, here goes!

1. I hate bananas. I don't mean dislike. I mean cannot stand them, do not get them within 10 feet of me, the very thought of them creeps me out kind of hatred. I have no idea how or why this happened, but it's a very deep hatred (emotional scarring??!!). It got to the point that one day I was sitting in the exam hall and one of my classmates brought a banana for breakfast, but I didn't know it. Suddenly, while writing the exam, I could smell the stench of banana... It was so bad, I had to leave the room for a few minutes!

2. I am, shall we say, "vertically challenged?" I'm talking short, people. Very short. I mean, I can't survive one day in the kitchen without my footstool!

3. I have a tendency to put everyone and everything else before myself. Not sure if that's just a female thing, but I've always been guilty of it!

4. I am a hopeless romantic! I'd always been one of those girls with fantasies of Prince Charming on a white horse. Well, my husband doesn't know how to ride a horse, but oh, well!

5. Dogs creep me out, too! I've always been a bit scared of them. I mean, it's fine if they're not within reach, but the minute they can touch me, I'm a little scared. My poor in-laws had to lock up their dogs when we were in India on our wedding trip!

I guess that's plenty for now, huh? Let me pass on the love, now. I'm going to tag Anu, Laavanya, Dhivya, Lavanya Raj, and Sagari.

Now, for a comforting, warm, spicy soup!


This aatu kaal soup is one that I made using bones (with little bits of meat attached) from a goat leg that I'd bought. I had a really bad sinus thing going on a couple of weeks ago and this soup was just what the doctor ordered! The idea is basically using the bones to create a quick mutton stock and seasoning it up with awesome spices to make a flavor combo that really rocks! Hope you guys like this one as much as I did. :)

Ingredients:

Mutton bones - 2 lb, cleaned of excess fat
Onion - 1 medium, chopped
Tomato - 1 medium, chopped
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 3 tsp, or to taste

Dry fry and coarsely powder:

Whole black peppercorns - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

For seasoning:

Oil
Onion - 1/2 medium, chopped
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
Garlic - 3 cloves, crushed

Method:

1. In a pressure cooker, place the mutton bones, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chilly powder, onion, tomato, salt, and about 3-4 cups of water. Use more water to make a thinner soup or slightly less for a thicker consistency.

2. Cook all of the above on low heat for 30-45 minutes. This is basically a mutton stock.

3. Once the pressure has subsided, open the cooker. Add the coarse powder (black pepper, jeera, and fennel) and allow to boil to the desired consistency. Now, reduce the heat to low.

4. In a separate pan, heat oil. When hot, add the fennel seeds and let brown and splutter. Then, add the seasoning ingredients and fry until the onions have softened. Pour this into the soup.

5. Once the whole thing comes to a boil, turn off. Enjoy by itself or with hot rice to make a quick and satisfying meal!

Aatu Kaal Soup for you!

Update: Also check out Shaheen's version here.

Kola Urundai Kuzhambu (Meatball Curry)

So, this is basically a fairly simple South Indian style meatball curry that I modified from a recipe I found on the website pachakam.com. It has just a little bit of coconut for richness and some tamarind for a mild tang in the background. It's not extremely rich and tastes awesome over hot cooked rice!

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

Mutton - 1 lb
Egg - 1
Salt to taste

Grind the following to paste (for meatballs):

Fried gram dal (pottu kadalai/dalia) - 3 tbsp
Poppy seeds (gasagasa) - 1 tbsp
Green chillies - 10, or to taste
Garlic - 4 cloves
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Onion - 1 medium, cut into large chunks
Coconut, grated - 1/4 cup
Cloves (grambu) - 5
Fennel seeds (sombu) - 1 tsp

For the gravy/kuzhambu:

Tomatoes - 3 medium, chopped
Tamarind - gooseberry size, soaked in water and pulp extracted
Salt to taste

Masala to grind for Gravy:

Onion - 1 medium
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Cloves (grambu) - 3
Fennel Seeds (sombu) - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1/2 tsp
Corainder seeds - 1 tbsp
Red chillies - 8, or to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp


Method:

1. Grind the masala ingredients listed for meatballs into paste without adding water.

2. Mix this masala paste with the ground meat, egg and salt to taste. Form small meatballs out of this mixture. If the mixture feels too loose, you can add some gram flour (besan) to firm it up a bit.

3. Grind the masala ingredients for gravy.

4. Heat oil in a pan. Once it's hot, add the ground paste from step 3 and fry until the raw smell disappears.

5. Add tomatoes and fry until softened. Then, add tamarind pulp , enough water to make a gravy, and salt.

6. Boil for a few minutes to let the raw tamarind smell cook away.

7. At this point, lower the heat to medium and add the meatballs to the gravy. Lower the balls in gently so that they don't break as you add them.

8. Let the meatballs simmer in the gravy until they are cooked. The gravy should thicken as the balls cook. If it has become too thick, add a bit more water.

9. Serve over hot cooked rice and enjoy!

Pudhina Mutton (Mutton with Mint)

Aaaahhh... Pudhina mutton... Just thinking of it makes me drool! I have to say that this is my all time favorite mutton dish. Amma has been making it for years. She made it on a whim the first time. I guess that was her mistake because every time we had mutton in the house, I'd ask her to make only pudhina mutton. It got to the point that she got tired of making it and would beg me to let her make something else. My poor mother!

Well, I finally got her to give me the recipe so I can stop bugging her for it all the time. It's really an easy method with a huge payoff in terms of flavor. I'd describe the taste as very "green." What I mean is that the predominant flavors are mint, coriander leaves, and green chillies. They give the masala a very fresh and vibrant flavor. It's also very different from the usual mutton fry recipe you might be used to making.

So, without any further ado, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

Mutton - 2 lbs, cleaned and cut into small pieces
Beaten curd - 1/2 cup
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Onions - 1, sliced finely
Lime juice - few drops
Salt to taste
Oil

For grinding into smooth paste:
Coconut - 1/2 cup of grated coconut (thengai thiruval)
Green chillies - to taste
Jeera seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
Black peppercorns (milagu) - 1 tsp
Mint leaves - 1 cup, packed
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup, packed
Garlic - 4 cloves
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Cook mutton until soft in pressure cooker with little turmeric powder and salt for 5-6 whistles (more or less depending on your mutton). Let pressure release. Keep the mutton cooking water left in the pressure cooker for the next step.

2. Heat oil in pan. Add masala paste and fry until raw smell goes away. Then, add water remaining in pressure cooker with mutton and curd. Let boil until the mixture thickens a bit.

3. Now, add the cooked mutton and let simmer for 10 minutes on low flame. Add more water if necessary and add more salt, if needed.

4. Separately, fry sliced onions in some oil until golden brown. Add this to simmering mutton.

5. Lastly, add garam masala powder as you are turning off the heat. Adding a few drops of lemon or lime juice will really enhance the flavor of this dish!

6. Serve this with any roti, pulav rice, or biryani.