Dhuan Gosht: Absolutely smoking!

Dhuan Gosht

Literally: Dhuan=Smoke; Gosht=Meat

I tried this one last night and it was a hit. The beauty of the dish is that it’s healthy and a real quickie. All you need is good quality mutton or lamb and a few ingredients which are easily to be found in Asian kitchens.

Ingredients

1 kg                      Mutton pieces (I am using lamb)

½ kg                     Hung yoghurt

½ kg                      Onion

4 tbps                   Mint leaves, chopped

4 tbsp                   Fresh coriander, chopped

2 tbsp                    Garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp                   Root ginger, grated

2-3                        Green chillies (adjust to your taste)

½ cup                   Bell pepper (Green & red chopped into 1 inch chunks)

1 tbsp                   Corriander powder

¼ tsp                    Turmeric powder

1 tsp                     Garam masala

½ tsp                    Red chilli powder (optional)

2                                                                   Green cardamom, bruised

1 inch                   Cinnamon stick

1 tbsp                   Ghee

½ cup                   Water

                             Salt

                             A little chunk of charcoal (size of a small lime)

A piece of aluminium foil, large enough to hold the charcoal piece

                            

Method

1.                 Take half of the onion, finely chop them. Tip in the mutton pieces to a large thick bottom pot (I am using my 5 lit pressure cooker). Add the chopped onion, bruised cardamom, cinnamon stick, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder, ginger and the garlic. Add ½ cup of water, add salt to taste; put on the lid and cook until meat is tender. It took me 10 mins of cooking time in the pressure cooker, plus cooling time, say 7 mins.

2.                 In the meantime, let’s get cracking with the last bits and bobs: with the remaining whole onions, slice them into thin disks and separate it layers. To this add the pepper chunks, fresh mint and coriander and green chillies. Divide this mix into two as parts. Ensure that the yoghurt is thick. I have got some lovely creamy variety with me today; however, I do have a trick to thicken yoghurt, which you may use. Just take a muslin cloth, tip in the runny yoghurt into it and tie the muslin up. Let the water drip from it. This process might take a few hours. So, if the yoghurt that you are using is not thick enough you might have to do this well in advance. The result is what we all know as hung curd or yoghurt.

Coming back to our recipe: Beat the thick yoghurt to a nice creamy consistency and again make two parts of the same. Place the charcoal on the gas fire hob and let it burn.

         

3.                 Check the mutton pieces. Cook uncovered for a few more minutes just to dry up the meat. Reduce the flame to low. Add a tbsp of ghee and fry the mutton pieces until oil separates. Switch off the heat. Check for seasoning.

4.                 Now, carefully ladle out the 1^st layer of yoghurt on the top of the meat. Next up: sprinkle half the onion-mint mix. Top it up again with yoghurt layer and repeat with the onion mix. Last in will be the garam masala.

5.                 Place the aluminium foil in the centre of the dish and very carefully place the smoking hot charcoal on the foil. Quickly spoon in a few drops of ghee on the hot charcoal and put the lid on the pot immediately. The point of doing this is to let the meat absorb the smoky aromas. Keep covered for ateast 10 minutes. Once the smoke disappears inside the pot. Uncover, take off the charcoal piece and serve your deliciously smoky meat with rotis.

So, there we are. Let me know how you did with this recipe. And Thank You for your emails and comments. I am humbled really. Yes, I am making a list of the requests. I will be posting more recipes very soon. So, watch this space for more.

Till then stay well and happy cooking……………

Maverick CookJ