Chicken Ghee Roast (Warning - It's Red Hot!)

Why am I giving you a recipe for a crazy-red-hot dish in the middle of summer? Have I lost my bonkers (and my taste buds)? Ahem ahem… that was a nice opening spiel, don’t you think? Now, getting down to business. If you think about it – all the ‘hottest’ food in the world comes from the ‘hottest’ places. Mexico, Indonesia, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland…all famous for foods that send you running, to pack your tongue with ice! Logically, you would expect these people to be sipping on watermelon juice and eating a cucumber salad and not trying to replicate the external temperature assault, internally! So why do they do it?

The wisdom of ages pours forth now (actually this is a result of being a closet trivia junkie!). Spicy food is your best bet to cool down. Capsaicin, the chemical in all spicy food is in cahoots with our central nervous system to help regulate the temperature in our body. It starts by increasing the blood circulation and dilating capillaries – resulting in more of a surface area to cool. And it also makes you sweat - which is a natural defense against overheating!

So this recipe is right where it belongs – in the middle of summer in a hot-hot country like India! I cheated and ate a cool mint raita with it, but you can be braver and go the whole hog. Happy Cooling down!

Lamb Chintamani - The Three Ingredient Wonder

This one is a revelation. I came across the recipe at Spices and Aroma and was instantly intrigued. A lamb main course using just three ingredients? Now that must be either really simple or really a joke. I had to satisfy my curiosity. So I immediately bookmarked the page to try it and asked the co-resident to go meat shopping. (He knows this awesome butcher near my mom-in-law’s house, rest assured we always get the freshest and best cut of meat). The recipe says Lamb but I like to use Goat Meat. It’s less fatty and somehow so much more flavorsome. The recipe is an authentic Kongunadu (Salem, Erode and Coimbatore) recipe using lamb and onions in equal quantities with some many fiery dried red chillies to liven it up! The result is an almost pickle like consistency that you serve with some hot white rice and loads of ghee. Now, most people add ghee to their sambhar and curries to reduce the heat, but the purpose of serving ghee with this dish is to also enhance the flavour. Ghee brings the whole dish together. So leave your calorie conscious self aside when you liberally pour ghee over your hot rice and lamb to savour it. I loved the dish so much that it’s going to be a regular at the family dinner table. Remind yourself to have loads of yoghurt to sooth your stomach if it complains… the tongue however will be begging for more more more!

Lamb Chintamani

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 40 mins

Serves: 4-6

What you need:

1 ¼ kilo Lamb/ Goat meat

1 ¼ kilo Onions – chopped

25 Dry Red Chillis

¼ cup Vegetable Oil

½ cup Water

To Serve:

White Rice

Ghee

Yoghurt

What to do:

Heat oil in a large pressure cooker. When the oil get smoking hot, tear the dry red chillies into half and add them to the hot oil. Let them sizzle and cook for 30 seconds. Throw in the onions and little salt. Cook on low flame for 10-15 minutes until the onions brown. Finally add the cleaned and cubed lambs and water. Mix well to combine.

Pressure Cooker Method: Cover the pressure cooker with the lid and cook for 8-10 whistles. Once the steam has settled down, open the lid and slowly remove the lamb pieces in a clean container leaving behind the liquid.

Turn on the stove to high and reduce the liquid to less than half the amount, or until they turn syrupy. At this point, mix in the cooked juicy lamb and cook for further 2-3 minutes.

OR 

Traditional slow cooking method: Cook in a large cooking pot. Follow the same steps as in the previous method. But instead of the letting it whistle, cook them covered for 45-60minutes stirring every now and then.

Serve hot with rice, ghee and yogurt. OMG yummy!

P.S. I prefer the Pressure cooker method, saves time and effort. And you don’t have to keep hovering over the stove and praying that the lamb is not burning. (Ok, it dosen’t burn in the traditional method, but who wants to spend an inordinate amount of time watching the pot?)