Junglee Maas- Jungle Mutton Curry

Junglee Maas simply means wild meat. It's a delicious preparation that belongs to the Rajput legacy of Game Cuisine. They say that this dish was invented by the Maharaja of Sarwar. Sarwar was the former capital of Kishangarh, a princely state of Rajasthan. Apparently there are Sarwar (or Survar) Muslim Rajputs in Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan.

Story behind Junglee Maas: Back in the day, the Maharajas (kings) loved to go hunting in the wild. Other than being a royal sport and hobby, hunting provided them with practical experience for war. Included in their hunting convoy were their khansamas- the top royal chefs, who tagged along with them, carrying minimal food ingredients and water. After setting up basecamp, and a good night's rest, the kings would head out on their hunting expedition early next morning, while the chefs stayed back, getting the kitchen ready, wondering what surprise game meat would be presented to them in the evening that they'd have to transform into a delicious preparation fit for the kings. The catch of the day could be anything from blackbuck to chinkara, wild cat, etc. The kings liked their meat to retain the gamey taste. They didn't appreciate it if the meat was doused in a ton of spices. Well, with access to limited ingredients, the khansamas couldn't really do much anyways in terms of spice. Come evening, the tired and famished kings returned to basecamp. The hunted animals were taken away to the kitchen area, where the chefs and their helpers cleaned up everything, rubbed the meat with salt, and then slow cooked it in ghee until the meat turned nice and tender. The dish was finished off with crushed dry red chillies, some more ghee, and salt to taste. This method of cooking retained the gamey taste of meat, that the kings ate with great relish. And thats how junglee maas came about.

Over time there have been alterations made to the original simple 4 ingredient recipe. In addition to ghee, red chillies, and salt, you can add cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, garlic, etc. Some recipes suggest using mustard oil, rather than ghee. Any kind of meat can be used- the more exotic, the better.

Here's my version of junglee maas. I use more spices to camouflage the gamey taste of mutton. Hey, what can I say- maybe I am not as junglee as I thought I was! ;)

Yield: enough for 3 adults

Pre-cooking time: 30-45 minutes

Cooking time: 1-1.5 hours

Ingredients: 

Mutton- 1 small tray

Onion, sliced- 1 medium

Bay leaves- 3-4

Red chili powder- 2-4 tbs
*Adjust quantity according to your desired level of heat

Coriander powder- 2-4 tbs

Cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp

Green Cardamom- 3-4 pods

Cumin- 2 tsp

Garlic paste- 1 tsp

Lemon juice- 1-2 tbs

Oil such as mustard or olive- 1/2-1 tbs for marinating

Cooking oil or ghee- 3-4 tbs

Water- 4-5 tbs and then some for cooking

Salt to taste

Method: 

Marination: 

Marinate the meat with red chili powder, mustard or olive oil, garlic paste, green cardamom, and lemon juice. Mix it all well, show it some love, cover it, and let it be for 30-45 minutes.

While marination is happening, in a bowl, make a little paste of red chili, and coriander powder with water. Add a pinch of cinnamon to this paste.

Cooking: 

1. In a thick bottomed pot or pan of your choice, pour in some cooking oil or ghee or a combination of both. Get the heat going, temper some cumin seeds, and bay leaves. Add thinly sliced onion and fry until brown.

2. Add marinated mutton. Allow one side to brown a bit for 5-7 minutes, flip it around, and brown it again for another 5-7 minutes. 

3. Pour in the red chili coriander and cinnamon paste, and give it all a stir. 

4. Now add some more water, enough to cook the meat in. Add salt to taste. 

5. Bring it to boil, cover, and simmer for 1 hour, checking intermittently to make sure there's enough liquid to allow the meat to cook. 

6. At the end of 1 hour, check to make sure it's all cooked nice and tender and tastes good enough for your palate. Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with rotis, paranthas, naan, or rice.

I served this yummy mutton curry with a side of junglee saag- simple swiss chard stir fry with salt and pepper.

Btw, Sep 28th is Ranbir Kapoor's birthday, and I wrote about his favorite foods on Quora. He loves junglee maas!! Do give it a read: Ranbir Kapoor the Foodie

Interesting: 

[1] Sarwar

[2] Rajputana Cuisine

Back to the Basics: How to Cook Rice?

Rice and me- we go a long way. I have been eating rice for over forty years now. I have been cooking rice, feeding it to my family and friends, even some random strangers, over the span of twenty something years. I have blindly followed the cooking method that my elders used. My grandma used to scoop out rice from a big aluminum container into a stainless steel tray or a plate. Then she would go the brightest spot in the house, or out in the yard in sunshine, sit on the floor or ground, and begin to pick out things from the rice. Those things were pebbles. Some white, some black, some very tiny ones that only the keenest of eyes could detect, and some in-your-face kinda pebbles. Also living creatures. Sometimes tiny black colored insects, and some other times tiny green or white colored worms. She'd casually pick them all out, and throw them. Yeah, just like that! After that tedious preliminary round, she would transfer the rice into a pot, and pour water into it. Then she'd swish the rice around in the water with the help of her fingers, and once the water turned cloudy, she'd drain off the water, only to pour more water into the rice, and repeat the washing process, until finally the water turned clear. Finally she would place the pot into a pressure cooker, and after three 'whistles' from the cooker, rice was ready to be eaten. As years went by, things started improving, and they started putting fewer pebbles into rice. I saw my mom bypass the preliminary step of pebble picking from the rice. She'd still wash the rice several times before cooking it though. And then, when I became the cook, I pretty much did the same, except with a few modifications- I used an automatic rice cooker, and I washed the rice only a couple to maybe three or four times before plugging the rice cooker in and letting it do it's thing. Now sometimes, in case of brown rice, forbidden rice, etc., I simply followed package instructions and completely omitted the washing step. I mean that's what the instructions said! The instructions didn't mention any rinsing or washing, or anything. The rice turned out pretty tasty, the way it should. No questions asked.

UNTIL ...

Last year or something, while swiping through the news app on my phone, I saw an article about rice. And that rice contains arsenic. Arsenic is a toxic element found naturally in air, water, and soil. It can cause different forms of cancer, and heart disease. And guess what? Food crops love to absorb this wonderful arsenic, and rice in particular, tends to absorb a lot more. The article suggested that we wash rice at least eight to ten times before cooking it. Okay, so I started doing that.

UNTIL ...

Yesterday while trying to answer a question on Quora I went on the FDA website, and found out that I have been doing it all wrong. Not to forget, I am a medical miracle!

Per FDA, when we rinse or wash rice, we are basically stripping it off of all the good stuff- iron, thiamin, niacin, and folate, while retaining the arsenic. So in order to get rid of arsenic by as much as possible, the suggested way of cooking rice is to cook it like pasta: Cook 1 part rice in 6 to 10 parts water, and drain off excess water.  Granted that this will take a little more effort on your part, but this will at least ensure that you aren't consuming more arsenic than you already have (!!) and aren't feeding it to your loved ones. For your not-so-loved-ones it's okay to resort to the rice cooker technique. ;)

So last night, dear friends, I thought I spent more time in front of the stove, cooking rice the pasta way. But in reality, it took only 10-12 minutes for the rice to cook once the water started boiling. Once cooked, I simply used a sieve to separate out cooked rice from the water. And I dumped the water down the drain. The result was some yummy rice, not sticky at all, and much whiter in color than it normally looks.

Non-toxic rice ;) 

And that's how you cook rice.

Do check out the article on FDA:  Arsenic in Rice and Rice Products

Is Shah Rukh Khan a Foodie?

The other day, someone who follows my blog (yeah, there is one sweet gal who actually follows this blog!) asked me- why haven't you posted anything of late on your blog? And I told her- well, it just so happens that although I've been cooking, it's all the same stuff ... and well, let's be frank- I'm kinda losing my mojo here!!

To change things up a little bit, I made an account on Quora and started answering questions about food there. It's actually working out quite alright, and it's very entertaining. In fact, it is hilarious to see some of the most ridiculous questions up there. It's amazing what this human mind can come up with. Ridiculous questions, and equally ridiculous answers. Truly a m a z i n g! So far I have written 20 answers, and the last three have received quite a lot of views (for my standards). I did actually have to do quite a bit of online research to answer those questions. I mean, this whole Quora stuff is serious business! No, really! You gotta spend a lot of time researching, and making sure what you put up there actually makes sense, AND you gotta make sure you include all the citations. I'm telling ya- for serious writers, it is actually a good platform, at least to get your name out there. I believe one can even get paid for asking questions! I'm not sure how that works, but yeah, you can make some money enough to buy you a burger for sure. Good deal, if you ask me!

Question: What are Shah Rukh Khan's favorite foods and dishes? Would you consider him to be a foodie?  

Original Post on Quora: SRK's Favorite Foods

My Answer: 

What could Shah Rukh Khan’s favorite foods and dishes possibly be? Hmm! Interesting question, and since I claim to be a foodie, and I like watching Indian movies, and, err, I quite like SRK, I thought I might as well attempt answering this.

Ref: https://goo.gl/images/pTy3xb

Well, I don’t know SRK personally. Neither do I follow every bit of news about him. But simply based off of films I have seen starring SRK, and a few odd interviews here and there, I have an inkling that he probably likes simple home cooked meals, especially something cooked by his mom. Now for the sake of answering this question, I obviously had to resort to good old Google. And funnily enough, I found an online article on the Indian Express that exclusively discusses SRK’s favorite food! And btw, my assumption was spot on! The article clearly states: “but when it comes to food, Shah Rukh Khan likes it simple. And, (if) it’s home-cooked – even better.” I told you so! ;)

He has fond food memories of meals cooked by his dad and mom. His dad cooked “wonderful raan.” Raan is a Pathani mutton dish that incorporates the toughest cut of lamb, which is cooked into a delicious falling-off-the-bone tender dish in a mélange of spices, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, malt vinegar, etc. He loved his mom’s Hyderabadi mutton biryani and “khatti dal.” It’s a Hyderabadi lentil preparation that is spicy, tangy, and delicious. Apparently he loves chicken, especially tandoori chicken. And he claims he can eat it all year round, every single day! Here’s what delights me- he loves spicy food! Now we’re talking!

When it comes to vegetarian food, SRK’s favorite is “aloo gobi,” i.e. potatoes and cauliflower stir fry, which also happens to be my childhood favorite. My kids love aloo gobi too. In fact, I make this awesome stir fry quite regularly.

SRK likes pasta, and can apparently cook it too. His favorite happens to be one “Tagliatelle Con Aragosta.” This pasta preparation made with tagliatelle- a long cylindrical shaped pasta, incorporates lobster, asparagus, onions, and tomato puree. Looks pretty good to me. The link to a YouTube video where this Chef (too bad his name isn’t mentioned) at Mezzo Mezzo at the JW Mariott Mumbai, in Juhu, demonstrates how to make this pasta dish: SRK's favorite pasta dish

While we are talking about SRK’s favorite foods, I’d like to quickly mention that he is a coffee addict. He can drink up to 30 cups of black coffee a day!! Yikes!

As for whether or not I consider SRK as a fellow foodie- I’m not too sure I’d consider him to be a die-hard foodie, considering the fact that he prefers eating at home, and North Indian dishes in particular. A true foodie, in my humble opinion, is one who is open to all kinds of cuisines, and loves checking out different foods regularly. AND one who doesn’t care about whether or not people are watching them eat! Our man, SRK, has said himself that he is a shy guy, and would much rather eat in privacy. See this video (Start to ~ 0:54): Shy SRK

All in all, from whatever I found online, the gist is that “King” Khan is quite the homey kind of guy who loves his black coffee and enjoys a nice home-cooked meal. If it’s Pathani or a Hyderabadi style meal, he’d enjoy it even more, probably reminiscing fond memories of his childhood, and his beloved parents.

Ref: https://goo.gl/images/q5rP6u

There are a couple fun videos I've included in the original answer. Do check it out: SRK's Favorite Foods

BTW, I call myself Appi on Quora. In case you are up there, do follow me! ;)