Kheema (Mutton mince) Momos

Momos, a nutritious, healthy and extremely simple recipe. These are steamed dumplings made of refined flour with stuffing of choice. The stuffing could be vegetarian or with meat, depending on ones preference and taste. They go well with a flaming hot, bit spicy and tangy tomato dip, the stuffing inside is kept mild just with seasoning of salt, pepper (or red chilli powder) and herbs. The oil or fat content is nil or almost negligible, depending on the filling used for stuffing the momos. Today I made the kheema stuffing a bit spicy using red chilli powder.

My first experience of eating these yummy bites goes way long back that I cannot seem to remember. During Delhi stay one could see them being sold at many road side corners of Delhi markets. They are served piping hot, direct from the steamer on to the plate and hence during the cold winters were the preferred choice of kids during the Bazaar visits.

However the memorable experience that I would like to share here is from our visit to Nepal. Every time I make or eat momos I am transported back to Nagarkot, a hilly place in Nepal. After a tiring journey from Kathmandu we had reached the beautiful location of Nagarkot, and after settling in the resort  ventured out to explore the place. Walking down hill along the narrow lanes amidst loud talking and accompanying laughter, suddenly the lights went off and it was darkness. Load-shedding of electricity is common in Nepal, we learnt from our tour. We stopped to eat some refreshments at a roadside homely restaurant that we found was open and settled ourselves on the chairs and sat in the light candle.  These types of homely restaurants are common sight in hilly areas with the household members helping around, this was one of that type of place.

The homely Restaurant where we ate momos in Nagarkot, Nepal.

The whole bunch of us tourists ordered Momos,  the wait for the order to be ready was almost for an hour, but worth waiting. The lady of the house started the preparation from scratch and our tummies kept growling. In candle light when our food order was served with a flaming hot spicy dip, it was the  most satisfying experience. The taste of the momos eaten that night still lingers. They were simple yet so delicious, and all were finished in seconds after being served on the table. Returning back home from the trip, I tried making the dip in my kitchen and since then have always made this tangy dip to go along with the momos.

Last night I made these Kheema Momos for dinner with the thoughts of my late dad in mind, in his memory, he loved mutton mince and would have loved eating this dish from my kitchen. Today I share this here as the first recipe of this New Year 2015 in remembrance of my beloved dad.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

KHEEMA MOMOS:

INGREDIENTS: For outer cover

Refined flour: 150 g (1 &1/2 bowl)

Water: 3/4 bowl (for making dough)

Salt: a pinch

STUFFING: Mutton Mince: 250 g (Boiled)

Oil: 1 Tbsp

Ginger Garlic paste: 1/2 Tsp

Garam Masala: 2 Tsp

Red Chilli Powder: 2 Tsp (as per preference)

Chaat Masala: 1Tsp

Coriander Powder: 1 Tsp

Salt: To taste

Coriander leaves: Few

Green Chillies:  ( 1-2 Optional)

Turmeric Powder: 1/2 Tsp

METHOD:

Take the refined flour in a bowl and add a pinch of salt to it. Adding the required amount of water make a medium soft dough. Cover and keep it aside.

Heat a kadai/thick bottomed pan and add the oil. Saute the finely chopped green chillies, chopped green coriander leaves, and then add the dry powders. To this add the boiled kheema, do not add the water or stock of the boiled mince meat. Keep stirring and make it a completely dry filling.

Make small round balls of the dough and roll the dough balls into thin round puris. Take spoonful of the kheema filling and put in the centre of the puri and seal the edges by bringing them together at the centre.

Grease the steam basket of the cooker with oil and arrange the momos inside the basket and steam in the cooker for 10 min.

Arrange the steaming hot momos on a plate and serve with the spicy hot dip. Recipe of the dip is posted as a separate post.

Enjoy the steaming hot momos as a starter in the meal or as light dinner dish. Happy cooking along with me this 2015!

Enjoy!

ashu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kibbeh- Recipe of the Month.

KIBBEH a dish that was first tasted in an Arabic Restaurant with lot of curiosity, a bit hesitantly as  I was not sure of the variety of meat that it was made of. Reassurance from the waiter that it was indeed lamb meat made me give it a try.

Early start of this year brought home the sad news about my dad’s demise. It was a dreaded news that I  would always worry about every time I left my motherland. Dad’s absence leaves a vacuum within, as apart from being my dad he was a great friend too. It was always a cherished moment to discuss about anything with him, to share my dreams and aspirations. The sad part is that I cannot share my blogging experience with him and I miss his thoughts on each and every post that I have written so far.  As he was fond of lamb mince, I have been posting and sharing my lamb mince recipes every month with you all, as making these dishes in my kitchen are my moments with him, his memories, cherishing all the good times that we spent together. To continue with this journey I bring here my Recipe of the Month, a middle eastern dish-KIBBEH.

To share a bit about my cooking experience of this dish. I made this dish for my hubby’s birthday this year, a new first time trying out of the recipe.  I searched the internet for information on how it is prepared, and gave it my own personal touch. As no chilli was added the first time, my first mental note was to add the chilli to the list of ingredients the next time I made it. This time when I was making it for the recipe of the month post, I have added the spice and chilli that I use at home and gave the dish my own personal touch. The final dish was devoured as soon as I kept it on the plate. It is a fantastic recipe, try and give yourself the gratifying moment!!

KIBBEH-MY RECIPE OF THE MONTH:

KIBBEH- This is a dish found in Middle Eastern countries. The main ingredients are Bulgur wheat (cracked wheat), lamb mince, onions. This is a deep fried dish, that has a soft filling of meat along with pine nuts. The onion in the dish imparts a sweetish taste, lamb the meaty taste, and the pine nuts  impart the nutty taste, all together making it a very different and unique tasting experience.  I have added chilli flakes and garam masala to make it a more spicy hot taste, more perfect for our taste.

INGREDIENTS: 

Bulgur wheat-3/4 bowl (75g),

Onion-2 Medium-sized,

Lamb mince-300 g,

Pine nuts-50 g,

Cumin -1 Tsp,

Chilli flakes- 1 Tbsp,

Garam masala- 1 Tsp,

Pepper powder- 1/2 Tsp,

Salt- to taste,

Cooking oil- For frying.

METHOD:

1. Soak the Bulgur wheat in water for 20-30 min.2. Drain the water from the soaked wheat and press it hard to remove all the excess water. Water should be completely removed from the soaked wheat.

3. Roughly chop the onions. Grind the soaked wheat, chopped onion, cumin, half of the chilli flakes, and 150 g of the lamb mince in a mixer pot. It should form a dough-like mixture. If need be one can add ice cubes when grinding the mixture.

4. Heat a fry pan on the gas stove. Add 1-2 tsp cooking oil and then add cumin. After that 1/2 finely chopped onion and sauté. Then add the chilli flakes, garam masala (ground spice powder), salt and the lamb mince. Mix all the ingredients  and cook till the meat is done. (All water should be dried out)

5. Dry roast the pine nuts lightly in a frying pan. When the meat is almost cooked, add the roasted pine nuts to it, mix well , and use this as the filling.

6. Brush the palm with water and take a spoonful of the dough-like mixture, form a ball. Using a finger make a pocket in the dough ball for adding the  pine nut and minced meat filling.7. Close the pocket after adding the filling and pressing with both hands give it a shape as show in the picture.8. Make all the Kibbeh and keep in a plate to fry.

 9. Heat oil in a Karahi and dip the Kibbeh into the oil, taking care not to spill the oil on the hands. Deep fry them to get a nice golden brown colour and a  crispy look. 10. Serve hot with any sauce of choice.

It is always a pleasure to serve food that my family loves to eat.  Wishing you all happy trying out this recipe of mine and I would love to hear your thoughts and your cooking experience of this recipe.

Tip: One could make and keep the Kibbeh in an air tight box and freeze to fry later as required. This way they will be handy and readily available to be taken out from freezer and fried as required.

Enjoy!!!!

Stuffed Lamb Mince Tikki

When we have foodies in the house, inspiration for making new dishes is always in abundance. This dish was one such idea of mine, mixing some left over pizza toppings to make the filling and a new dish got created and served to the family, which was well received.

Today, I present this as my RECIPE OF THE MONTH- STUFFED KHEEMA TIKKI/PATTIE:

 

INGREDIENTS:

Lamb Mince- 250 g

Cheese: Shredded cheese (I used Mozzarella)-2-3 Tbsp

Bell Pepper- 1/2, finely chopped

Olives- 1 Tbsp

Sliced Jalapeno Peppers-1-2 Tsp (I used the pickled ones)

Breadcrumbs: 1 Bowl (100g approx.)

Semolina-2 Tbsp

Green Chilli & Mint & Coriander paste-1 Tbsp

Oil- 2 Tbsp

Salt- To taste

FILLING/STUFFING: Bell peppers/shredded cheese/Jalapeno peppers/olives- All vegetables finely chopped. Mix all these together in a bowl.

METHOD:

1. Take the finely chopped bell peppers, olives, jalapeno peppers and shredded cheese in a bowl and mix it together. Keep this mixture ready to use as the stuffing.
2. In another bowl take the mince meat and add the green paste, the breadcrumbs, semolina & salt.
3. 
4. Mix all the ingredients in the bowl to form a meat dough, it should be firm.
5. Divide the meat dough into 8-10 small lemon-sized balls and then press firmly on the palm to flatten it out. Give it the shape of a basket to add the stuffing to it.
6. Scoop a spoonful of the filling into the mince meat basket and close it. Firmly press with both hands to form a round ball.
7. 
8. Roll the ball in breadcrumbs and lightly press to give it a tikka or pattie shape. Take care the filling in the pattie is tightly packed so that it does not open up in the fry pan when cooking.
9. 
10. Heat a non-stick pan on the stove, add 1 tbsp oil. Put the pattie/tikka on the pan, cook on both sides till it is golden and crispy in appearance.  If required, a little oil can be added to the pan after turning over the patties.
11. 
12. It is best to cook on a medium-to-slow flame,  this will ensure the meat gets cooked.  Cooking on high flame results in the outer coating getting cooked fast, while the inside is still uncooked.
13. Remove the cooked pattie from the pan onto a kitchen tissue so that the excess oil gets soaked up in the tissue.
14. Serve the hot pattie with tomato ketchup or chilli sauce.
15. 

 

If you love cooking and trying out your hand at something new, then do try this out. I am always excited to try experimenting with ingredients and making something grand so that the family has to say ”Wow, this looks amazing, can we try”! Eagerly awaiting to know your thoughts and comments on this dish.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Kheema Palak

In continuation with my earlier kheema preparations, today it is time to post kheema palak (lamb mince with spinach) recipe. My dad loved the lamb mince cooked with spinach and I have seen my mom cook it so often, but I have adapted it to my taste.  I do use spinach sometimes when cooking meat or chicken. We can give the gravy a nice aroma and flavour just by adding a few leaves to the masala paste when grinding the ingredients, and also a different colour.  As I like the natural colour of the vegetables, I tend to incorporate most of it in my dishes.

Spinach or any greens should not be cooked on high flame and also not cooked for a longer period. In this recipe, spinach is cooked only till it gets bit tender. With each bite we should taste the ginger and experience the spinach and onion crunch. The stock is added to make the dish little moist, it should not be watery thin. INGREDIENTS USED: 1 Bowl of finely shredded spinach

2-3 Spring Onions

4-5 Garlic cloves -finely chopped

1 small piece ginger- julienned

2-3 green chillies- finely chopped

250g- boiled lamb mince

1 bowl stock of boiled mince

1 small tomato- gas flame cooked, and pureed

Turmeric/red chilli powder/salt- as per taste

oil- 2 Tbsp.

Method:

Heat oil in pan, add the cumin, green chillies, garlic, ginger, and when this is cooked add the chopped green onion.

Then add the pureed tomatoes, mixing all the contents of the pan, then add the spinach to the pan and toss. Next add the turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Finally add the boiled lamb mince and mix everything. The meat should get evenly coated with the seasonings and all the other ingredients of the pan.

 Next add the meat stock, this is to keep the taste and make dish bit moist. Adding water will not bring out the desired taste as is obtained by adding the meat stock.

After adding the stock, simmer the sabzi for few minutes and then put off the flame.

Serving Options: This is a side dish, which is not spicy, so one can include it in menus which have a spicy gravy as the main dish. This can also be served with a vegetarian meal that includes dals, lentils, and other vegetables. One could even use it as a sandwich filling, but then cook it as a dry sabzi with all the liquid reduced or by not adding the stock at all. The eating choices are so many, decide how you would like to eat it. Preferred choice at my home is with hot fulkas or parathas (Indian bread types).

Have fun cooking and enjoy your meal.

ashu 🙂

Kheema Parathas

This is also one of the recipe that is extremely quick and easy to make, a not much effort needed types of recipe that could easily become your family favourite, hence maybe worth trying it out. Whenever I am cooking mince meat dishes or for that matter any recipe, I find it so amazing that the same meat or vegetable can taste so different by simply changing a few ingredients, or cooking it differently, and one can churn out so many dishes out of that one main ingredient. I like cooking food using fresh herbs, and try to keep the ingredients added list as small and simple, wishing to make the final result a tastier and more appealing one.

In this recipe, the meat is simply boiled and water is completely drained out of the cooked mince to which ginger, garlic, chillies, cumin, and spices are added and a filling is made, this is then filled inside a wholewheat flour dough ball, rolled, and baked crisp on a hot griddle.

I usually ask the butcher, at the supermarket, for removing all the visible fat layer present from the meat and then to make the mince, just to cut down on the fat. By adding these readily available at home ingredients, the recipe turns out to be one that is simply irresistible. The pictures below would help in understanding the cooking instructions better.

Ingredients:

For the minced lamb filling:   Minced meat 300 g

Onion 1 medium-sized, chopped finely

Garlic- 6-8 cloves

Ginger-small piece

Green chillies 2-3 (according to ones preference)

Cumin- 1tsp

Garam masala- 1tsp

Red chilli powder- 2tsp (as per ones taste)

Turmeric and salt.

Green onion leaves for garnish.

For the outer coating – Wholewheat flour dough.

Wholewheat flour – 2 cups

Water- as needed to make a medium soft dough.

Oil- 2 tbsp.

Method:

Coarsely grind the ginger, garlic, and green chillies together.

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and finely chopped onion and fry till onions are pinkish and then add the ground ginger garlic mix and fry.

Add turmeric, red chilly powder, salt, fry for 1-2 min and then add the boiled, water drained out, mince meat (kheema) and mix. Sauté, and make the filling completely dry.  Add the garam masala powder. Remove this filling from the pan onto a plate and cool. Use the spring onion greens for garnish.

Prepare the wheat flour dough.

Roll a small round puri of the dough ball, add the filling, and again roll to make a paratha. Bake this, on medium flame, on a griddle/pan, then smear it with oil, pressing on both sides and making the paratha crisp.

Now as you have reached the last snap, I am sure the snaps are mouth watering and you would love to try out the recipe to taste these irresistible Kheema parathas. These can be served with yogurt and mint chutney.

Note: We can sprinkle some chat masala too on the parathas as soon as we remove them from the tava.

Enjoy cooking.

ashu 🙂