Coming to my second post of Lina’s North Indian curry challenge, I’m sharing Rajasthani Laal Maas. I think the North Indian cuisine is not only popular in India, but is pretty well known all over the world! Yes, I’m talking about the much-known butter chicken, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, palak paneer and so on! But it’s been interesting to learn about this particular dish that I present today! Laal Maas is a popular delicacy in the state of Rajasthan in India! Well if you ever visit Rajasthan, also known as the princely state of India, you will be transported to an era ruled by the Rajputs. The ornate and beautiful palaces and the intricate work will definitely leave you spellbound! Believe me, It’s an experience not to be missed. Now if I told you I’ve had this opportunity to visit this beautiful place, and didn’t taste the very popular and renowned Laal Maas, I would definitely be the subject of ridicule. In my defense, I visited Rajasthan a couple of years ago, when I practically did no cooking, pretty much ate homemade food! All that interested me was exploring the place and shopping for all the beautiful ethnic artifacts and handicrafts! Sharing some old pics from my trip to Rajasthan 🙂 So how do I adapt a recipe without even tasting it? As usual, there are so many versions all over the web! Luckily I was fortunate enough to have this recipe from Mr. Jaspreet Nirula, who had shared this on our foodie group on Facebook. His recipes are beyond excellent and I didn’t have to change anything, just followed it to the T! The only thing I did here was used Kashmiri chillies, usually, chillies known as Mathania chillies are used for this dish, which isn’t available here at all! Along with this I also added some Kashmiri red chilli powder for the red color! This dish has been heavily spiced to offset the odor of the game meat. Although game meat is hardly used now, the flavor essence of this laal maas curry is still the same.
Nevertheless, I absolutely loved this Rajasthani Laal Maas and I’m so glad I gave this a go. I feel this is quite similar to the Goan vindalho (vindaloo as its more popularly known) everything is pretty much the same, just variation of techniques and another important ingredient, that’s yogurt which is practically never used in the Goan cuisine! It’s always interesting to learn about the other cuisines, so similar and yet so different, all ultimately just leading to one thing, and that’s sheer deliciousness!
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE RAJASTHANI LAAL MAAS | LAAL MAANS
1.First prepare the red chilli paste – warm ¾ cup water and put whole red chillies in it. Let it be in it for around 7-8 min. Now in a blender, add garlic and the red chillies along with the water and make a fine paste. Heat a pan, add oil and saute this paste on medium heat stirring continuously until oil leaves from the sides. Set it aside.
2.Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pot, add whole garam masala along with cumin seeds and let it crackle for a minute. 3.Add the sliced onions along with the finely chopped ginger and stir until the onions are golden brown. 4.Now add lamb/mutton pieces, along with some salt and cook it for around 10 minutes on medium heat. 5.Lower the heat and add beaten yogurt and mix in thoroughly. Keep stirring for around 4-5 minutes. 6.Now add the red chilli paste, red chilli powder and mix well. Keep mixing this for around 10 minutes more. 7.Now add water (just enough for the lamb/mutton to be cooked), bring it to a boil and then simmer, cover with a lid and cook on low heat until the lamb/mutton is tender. Adjust the seasoning and serve hot with rice or any other Indian flatbread.
HOW TO MAKE LAAL MAAS | RAJASTHANI LAAL MAANS?
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