Shaan-E-Raan

Most of these lawn and clothing brands came up with there Eid collections weeks before Ramazan even started so I think there would not be any harm if I do an Eid recipe before Ramazan.

I am not sure if I would be able to do recipes for the blog in Ramazan as I would had a ton of stuff to do including preparing for Iftar and then going to the gym at 11 p.m. and then preparing for Sehri. My brother should be thankful for having me.

My wildest fantasy as a person who cooks occasionally is to roast a dinosaur leg but because they are not anymore I have to make peace with a lamb/mutton leg.

YES, I am making a lamb leg roast which is not your usual roast that you get made from different restaurants. This is called Shaan-E-Raan and is of Mughal decent.

As you know the Mughals were into a lot of Shughals and they were so Royal they had a helper/slave for everything. So these Mughals had chefs which were more nice and humble than I am. These chefs used to cook them elaborate meals every single day, talk about freaking patience man.

You should DEFINITELY try this on Eid and make this for your family. It is a bit lengthy but the difficulty level is medium here and if you can make anything from this whole blog you can definitely make this as well.

Ingredients:

1 lamb leg around 1.5 to 1.75 kilogram in weight

1 cup yogurt

1 cup crushed papaya

1 cup butter

salt as per taste

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon red chili pepper powder

1 tablespoon crushed and roasted cumin

1 tablespoon crushed and roasted coriander

1 tablespoon red chili pepper flakes

2 tablespoon meat tenderizer aka kachri powder

1 tablespoon ginger paste

1 tablespoon garlic paste

 

Make sure the mutton leg has deep cuts almost everywhere as it will help the marinade to properly infuse it's taste in the meat.

We will start off with rubbing half of the salt, black pepper, red chili pepper, crushed cumin and crushed coriander properly on both sides of the mutton leg.

Rub properly even inside the cuts. I know this sounds funny and intimate.

Now we mix the rest of the half spices with yogurt, crushed papaya, crushed red chili flakes and butter.

The marinade is ready now.

Put the mutton leg in a deep rectangular baking dish.

Apply the marinade properly on the mutton leg on both sides.

Keep it rubbing for at least a couple of minutes specially in the deep cuts on the mutton leg. I KNOW THIS RUBBING SOUNDS FUNNY but I promise this is the last time.

Cover the dish with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge over night.

I KNOW I KNOW MY FRIDGE IS SO CLEAN. Fridge should be a cuss word because it sounds so rigid like HEY YOU FRIDGE !

TIME TO WAKE UP AND COMPLETE THIS.

Very quickly I would heat some oil in a pan and slice a half of an onion.

Put the onion in a pan and let it cook until it changes it's color.

Time to uncover the marinated mutton leg.

Add the mutton leg to the pan.

Cover and cook it for 6-7 minutes on low heat.

Next we add a cup of water to it and let it cook for 3 hours on low heat. (1.5 hours on both sides)

Uncover the pan after one and a half hour. Turn sides and cook it again for the same time.

Put the mutton leg in the hollow baking pan again.

Preheat the on 250 F and let it bake for 30 minutes.

Take out the mutton leg from the oven after 30 minutes and drizzle some fresh lemon juice on it. I said 'sprinkle' in the video but ignore my ENGREZI. 

In the meantime let's cook the masala.

Ingredients For Masala:

2-3 onions finely chopped

3-4 tomatoes finely chopped

1 cup of yogurt

1 teaspoon of roasted and crushed cumin

1 teaspoon of roasted and crushed coriander

1 teaspoon of red chili powder

1 teaspoon of black pepper

salt as per taste

1 teaspoon ginger paste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Put oil in a pan and fry onions until they are soft and translucent.

Add ginger and garlic paste into it and fry for another 1 or 2 minutes.

Now add tomatoes in it with all the spices and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add yogurt and half cup of water in it and cook it on low heat till the oil separates.

The masala for Shaan-E-Raan is ready.

It was kind of hard to set up such a big dish but I tried my best.

Ladies and gentlemen the leg above all legs, the meat above all meats and the roast above all roasts I give you Shaan-E-Raan a Mughlai specialty mutton leg roast.

Chicken Cashew Curry

My love for dry fruits is far more superior than any form of love in this material world.

I can eat dry fruits all year long without asking for anything else.

I can sleep with dry fruits, I can have a nice conversation with them, they are good listeners and some of them are also good/essential for nice health.

I can slay anyone who gets in between me and my dry fruit.

One of my favorite dry fruits is the Cashew Nut. YES, this is another cashew nut recipe and the last of it because I am all out of them.

This is called Chicken Cashew Curry and this is a combination of Indian and Mughal cuisine but who the hell cares for the heritage of we are just here to eat.

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes

1/2 cup of cashews for paste and some more for garnishing

3 tablespoons of yogurt

1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste

1.5 onion diced

1 green chili

half a bunch of coriander chopped (more for the recipe and some for garnishing)

2 lemons juice

2 tablespoons tomato paste

salt per taste (a teaspoon for marination and for gravy according to taste)

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon paprika (optional BUT PLEASE DON'T SKIP IT)

2 tablespoon white sugar

1 cinnamon stick

3 green cardamoms

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

3 tablespoons of yogurt

2-3 tablespoon cream (optional BUT PLEASE DON'T SKIP IT)

3 tablespoon butter

Let's get down to businesses

First you have to put chicken in a bowl and marinate it by putting 1 teaspoon salt, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and lemon juice.

Set it aside for 30 minutes.

While the chicken marinates lets get done with some other stuff.

First of all you need to take out your blender and wash it properly, who knows how dirty you are and Aysha Mumtaz might pay you a visit to seal your home kitchen.

Blend together fennel seeds, diced onions and green chili. Put just a little bit of water to make a smooth paste. DON'T USE MUCH WATER OKAY?

Take this out in a bowl.

Now don't worry about cleaning this just add yogurt and cashew nuts also a some water and blend them together to make your second paste.

Now after 30 minutes put 3 tablespoons of butter in a non stick pan with a DASH of oil and start frying the onion paste with cinnamon, cardamom pods, coriander powder and garam masala on medium heat for about 6-7 minutes.

Please do not do this step in a hurry because this is the base of your gravy and the most important part of this recipe.

Now add the tomato paste and fry it for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken now, turn the heat on medium high and fry the chicken until it is partially cooked.

Then add the yogurt and cashew paste with some water to make the gravy less thicker. 

Season it with salt, paprika, sugar and simmer it until the chicken and the gravy is fully cooked.

Last but not the least, just simmer in some cream and add chopped coriander. Cashew Chicken is ready to serve.

The problem with desi cuisines is that they are very hard to present at least for a guy like me. So, just like this time I tried my best.

Ladies and gentlemen, take our your plates for Cashew Chicken Curry.