Mutton curry made easy

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:53:03 GMT

"All boys are useless!"
I usually don't argue with my mom when she says something like that at home. As opposed to my younger sister... who, in stark contrast is definitely useful ... being totally useless leaves me with ample time to surf the net, watch TV, get some work done, speak on the phone... go out etc. Unfortunately, my mom doesn't give up easily... and the prospects of a six month stint in New York starting January had her hell bent on teaching me how to cook. "Even Babai learnt how to cook when he went to the States." Pretty hard to argue with something like that. If there is anyone in the family who could me more useless than I am... its my cousin Angshuman. After all... we both took up 'video-shooting' responsibilities during my cousin's wedding so as to avoid being involved in any 'real' work. In fact, whenever we're together, we do our best to disguise any possible traces of utility. His elevated position in the Totem of Utility ("TOU") therefore came as a disappointment to me.

So it was final. I had to learn how to cook. And we were going to start with Mutton.

Sunday morning saw yours truly legging it to Worli market to buy Mutton. For the uninitiated (“vegetarians") the process of cooking Mutton begins with the selection of the perfect "Raang." Perfection of course... lies in the words of the shopkeeper. Basically... just look up... if it looks decent... its perfect... go buy it. What follows now... is my recollection of how Mutton Curry ("MC") is made. Pay attention. Stuff like this helps you climb the TOU

Step 1 - Washing the meat. Good fun. Really. Its kinda hard to define Man's savage craving for handling raw meat. (You guys saw Rocky right?) So when its cut... and you're washing it... it feels like you're washing... meat. Fill tub of meat with water. Roll meat around for a while. Drain water.

Step 2 - Marinate. Sprinkle 3 teaspoons of Salt, 3 teaspoons of turmeric and 3 teaspoons of red chili powder over the 1.5 Kilos of mutton you have in the tub. Mix well. Those who don't follow the metric system may locate a calculator and convert figures accordingly. (Best of luck with that!!) Leave for approximately half an hour. Step 3 starts here.

Step 3 - Ok....this is tough. Take 8 onions. Put in tub of water for 15-20 min. Then start cutting them into small (very small) pieces and put in blender to get pink paste. I managed to cut two. It helps if you have someone to cut the remaining 6. People with access to cut vegetables are truly blessed.

Step 4 - Bring out yer old pressure cooker! One table spoon of mustard oil into the pressure cooker which is on a high flame. Watch carefully as Mom brings out cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves from different parts of the kitchen. Some garlic involved too. Try and figure out how you're going to do something similar on your own. Let it fry for a while... add onion paste... and keep frying/ stirring till the entire mixture is dark brown in colour. Now... add the mutton. Continue with the stirring... actually no... put on lid... and keep coming back now and then and keep stirring...

Ok... that’s where I lost interest and started paying attention to a phone call and stuff on the TV... so that’s just about as far as I can get you. I remember checking up on it at 15 minute intervals. Eventually... I was told that it was done. Turned out to be damn great. Tasted perfect.

Something tells me I'll have to do the whole thing again soon

Back in Bombay

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 13:48:51 GMT

Just got back to Bombay after a month in Aurangabad... and I guess you can figure out how happy I must be. Now I like smaller cities just as much as the next guy... but I tend to differ in opinion with the firm I work for as to the number of days that one should spend in in a city like that. While I'm of the opinion that one week a year is sufficient, the firm I work for expects me to spend no less than 2-3 weeks a month (on an average) as we have a client there who pays us a lot of money and more or less ensures that everyone of us in our department gets paid on time. As you can guess... the bosses in the firm have the upper hand as of now.

So while Aurangabad may have its merits... the one thing it really doesn't have is a restaurant at Marine Drive serving all you can eat ("auce")brunches on Sundays. Which is exactly the reason why I'm so glad I'm back in Bombay. So we went to one such auce today... and guess what! I realised that its families like mine that ensure that such events actually end up in a profit making venture for restaurant owners. Lets face it... my mom & sis who were extremely enthusiastic about todays brunch... ate the least. I will give them full marks for trying though. The soup went down well, and the first round was devoured.... but when it came to taking and finishing seconds... they flopped miserably. Now, I gotta be a little honest here... the menu consisted of sandwiches and salads so you its not the same as eating a lot of chinese food... but still, the schezwan beef salad deserved three rounds at least! My father did seem to do justice to the buffet... he ordered his first sandwich while we were still waiting for our seats (yup... there was a 15 minute waiting time ... place was packed) though I think he wasn't too impressed by the salads and probably skipped the desert, which brings us to yours truly... who kinda was like Sachin Tendulkar having a bad day. Soup, three rounds of salads a doomed sirloin fillet sandwich and all the desserts on offer. All I can think of is... only one sandwich!!! Man, I really shoud've been able to pack in some more! But hey, at least I can call myself the king of the Schezwan beef salad! So I guess I should've stuck to my mantra as far as buffets are concerned... find your favourite dish... and stick to it for a couple of hours or so... that way you're not out of an "all you can eat" event less than 70 minutes...

But Sunday buffets are just the week's left-overs ... right? Burp!

Now there's another breakfast joint at Churchgate that has to be tried next week. Apparently, they serve waffles and stuff. I've never had waffles. Hell... I've never woken up early enough on a Sunday to go out and have breakfast!

This is practice: Food and drink

Mutton curry made easy

Back in Bombay