Slow Cooked Meat in Indian Spices

The High Cook

2022-08-28

What do you need?

  • Meat: Shank portion of Goat, Lamb or Beef, in order of preference. Must include bones. More, the merrier.
  • Cooking medium:
  • Ghee, Mustard Oil, Sunflower Oil, Rice Oil, in order of preference.
  • Spices:
  • Kashmiri Red chilli powder: This adds red colour to the gravy. It is not hot/spicy.
  • Cardamom: Whole and powder
  • Mace: Little bit, whole
  • Fennel seeds: Whole / powder
  • Ginger: Powder / paste
  • Cumin: Whole and powder
  • Red Chili Powder: Flakes and powder. For the hotness.
  • Cinnamon: Whole and powder
  • Coriander: Whole and powder
  • Clove: Whole and powder
  • Bay leaves: Ground, if possible
  • Garlic: Paste / powder
  • Black pepper: Whole and powder
  • Nutmeg powder: Little bit
  • Salt: Any that you prefer
  • Turmeric: Powder
  • Herbs (Optional):
    • Ginger
    • Coriander Leaves
    • Lemon: Fragrant one, if possible
    • Fresh chili peppers: Cut/sliced. Reduce the quantity of Red Chili Powder, accordingly
  • Spice Mix (Optional):
    • Garam Masala
  • Thickening agent:
    • Flour: Corn or Wheat
  • Special Utensils
    • Pan: Thick bottom, with cover, big (4-6 l), suitable for slow cooking

How to cook

Mix evenly, all the dry spices in a bowl. Quantity of Nutmeg powder should be less. Say, half a teaspoon (small spoon) for 1 kg of meat. 2-3 pieces of mace. Quantity of turmeric should also be less, but not as restricted as nutmeg and mace. It should be around 1/2 to 1/4th that of say, cumin or coriander powder. Add rest of the ground/powder spices as per your choice/taste. Usually, for 1 kg, I do not see any reason to add more than 2 tablespoons of any of the spices. Except for salt and kashmiri red chili powder. Salt as per your taste and type of salt used, and kashmiri red chilli powder based on the level of redness that you desire. For the whole ones, 1/4 th to 1/2 that of the powder.

Heat the cooking medium in the pan, in high. Once oil heats up, add the meat, bones and the mixture of spices mentioned in the last paragraph. Add the pastes (around 1- 2 tablespoons). Keep stirring well so that the spices mix evenly and the meat pieces start changing colour, on all sides. Fresh chilli pepper can also be added.

After frying, add generous amount of water. Lower the heat. Cover and cook for 5-6 hours (depending on the desired tenderness of the meat or softness of the bones. Bone marrows can be delicious!). Once the meat achieves the desired tenderness, mix (well) the thickening agent in a glass of water and add the mixture slowly to the pan while stirring well. Then cook for sometime in high heat till the gravy reduces and thickens. Keep stirring during this time. Then add Indonesian fried onions, mix and let is simmer(low heat) for sometime (5 - 10 mins). The food is ready.

Kxnyshk, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Serving Tips

Serve hot, in a bowl with gravy. Indian and middle eastern breads go very well as the side dish. Garnish with garam masala, few freshly cut thin ginger slices, bits of slightly crushed coriander leaves and little bit of lemon juice (use the pleasant smelling variety if possible).

Eating Tips

Eat as breakfast, lunch or dinner (in any combination). Bigger whole spices are not pleasant to eat, but it remains in the gravy. This makes the food more authentic. The person eating usually removes them while eating. Small spices, like cumin or fennel seeds are eaten.