Taar Korma, Made Easy For Home Cooking

Ingredients

1 kg mutton cut into pieces, washed and patted dry

1 cup ghee

8 cardamom

5 cloves

1 tsp cinnamon, broken

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2 cup tomato puree

1/2 cup yogurt, whisked

1/2 cup onion paste, fried

2 tbsp almond paste

1 tbsp sunflower seed paste

1 tbsp cashew nut paste

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp black pepper powder

1 tsp saffron, crushed and soaked in 1 tbsp warm milk

1/4 tsp cardamom, powdered

A pinch mace powder

Method

Heat oil in a pan; crackle the whole spices. Sauté ginger-garlic paste till almost dry. Add the lamb, red chilli powder, onion paste, yoghurt, tomato puree, salt.

Cook till the meat is tender. Remove the lamb and strain the gravy into another pot. Blend dry fruits and sunflower seeds paste with little water; add to the gravy, add more stock and cook for two-three minutes. Pour gravy over the lamb.

Mix in saffron, mace, nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder and cardamom powder. Cover, seal with dough and cook on dum for 25 minutes. Serve hot.

-- Shaeem Mohammad Quraishi/Lucknow

(The author specialises is Indian cuisine. Chef Shaeem began his culinary journey at The Ashok (ITDC) New Delhi, moved to Middle East thereafter, and has worked in luxurious properties such as Marriott, Millennium and Copthorne, ITC Fortune. Sarovar, Radisson hotel groups).