CURRY AND SPICE: CHINIGURA CHAL O MUTTON ER ONE POT MEAL

You know a kind of nostalgia caught hold of me while I was watching the associated videos related to preparing this tehari style mutton biryani made popular as they claim in an Old Dhaka Market Place eatery "Hajir Biryani." Why? I was born in India but! Roots has a major role to play in our lives I guess. The natives call the original outlet "Nazira Bazaar er Hazir Biryani." I see it is an old establishment of above eighty years. I went through few videos to get the feel of the place which resembled Kolkata's Boro Bazaar or Bagri Market or Sealdah Baithak Khana Bazaar area; if you are not regular to such places, you just get lost. I follow a page in FaceBook, "Dine Out With Adnan" just to stay put with the kind of a place & food my forefathers were associated to. I have found similarity in mentions done by this gentleman to what our father and maternal grandfather used to say. I did not meet my paternal grandparents often; else would have heard their version too.

Though a resident of Comilla, our father was regular to Dhaka; in fact when he visited Bangladesh in 2000; he mostly stayed in Dhaka more than in Comilla. Can you imagine our father left Bangladesh after his 12th boards, thereafter he visited in 2000 and lived there in his friends' home; both muslim & hindu. The muslim homes were so careful about cooking his food in utensils not used for beef. For my men or the brother, it is not a problem. The father fulfilled all his wishes before leaving this earth. How communicative he was that his childhood buddies there kept him in their homes? Though the father is there in Kolkata since the start of his college, he remained that "raw, warm" like his original place, in fact all in his family. Because the maternal grandfather was in India on job, our mother was born here and dadu got transferred to different places in Eastern India; she or her siblings do not have any such interest in Bangladesh or may be they did not inherit their mother's warmth & hospitality? Our grandmother was one of the kind when it came to gifting, feeding people. My mother did but as a duty, not from the heart.

Only two years back, when mashimoni & meshomoni visited Bangladesh and met all the relatives; I heard the mother expressing her wish to go. Mashimoni & Meshomoni are not my father that they would stay put with Muslim families; for that you need a bigger space within which our father had. Only that he did not know the way to his wife's heart; the wife too tended to compare him to the men around and her father who did gardening, sweep the main gate every morning at 5am, took shower and picked up flowers for the grandmother to use during the morning prayer. Anyway, she admits that our father was a very good human any woman can trust. If our father had been alive, I definitely would have asked if he had eaten "Nazira Bazaar er Hazir Biryani"; that his daughter has attempted to replicate it in her kitchen as CHINIGURA CHAL O MUTTON ER ONE POT MEAL. He was not really fond of Biryani; just ate if served the way he ate pizza too; his heart was set in "maach er jhol bhaat, muri-chirey-aam-kola-dudh-kathal-lichu, pithe, payesh, naru, moya."

I think the Bangladeshi chain that sells a similar biryani with the small grain Chinigura or Kalijeera variety of rice in this island bears a similar look and taste. Because their mutton smells, I have stopped getting it for long now. Both the youtube videos I followed heavily for the recipe admits that they recreated the dish depending on their experience and taste bud; the owner or the successors of any famous dish would never give every details of the recipe to the mass. There will always be some secret ingredients they use which is handed over to the cooks alone. The two videos I followed doing this Rice & Mutton dish are "COOKING STUDIO BY UMME" and "RECIPES BY SHEZA'S MOM." They have lots of cooking videos in youtube and I think I will watch more of those.

Doing this plate of rice & mutton CHINIGURA CHAL O MUTTON ER ONE POT MEAL following the owners of the above mentioned video channels; I subtracted few of their ingredients, provided my inputs. Like Sheza's mom prescribed using MSG as a finishing touch, ever since India called it unsafe when we were young, I stopped having it. Our mother continued to use a little bit in noodles, I made her stop I guess. I do not know if the island's eateries use it, I do not. The speciality of "Puran Dhakar Nazira Bazaar er Hajir Biryani" is the use of mustard oil alone and a short grained fragrant local variety of rice. I have used a bit of ghee towards the end. They have directly added the meat to the wok which I never can, I marinated it overnight; moreover I used sheep meat. One used red chilli powder, I did not.

The video channels I consulted for the recipe and to have a look of the original eatery, how it packs the Biryani in dried jackfruit leaves are :

RECIPES BY SHEZA'S MOM
COOKING STUDIO BY UMME
ADNAN FARUQUE

I am pretty sure the Bengalis in the island will find this recipe worthy rather than queueing up for that "rice with smelly mutton."

INGREDIENTS :

SHORTGRAINED FRAGARANT RICE / CHINIGURA CHAL / KALIJEERA CHAL / GOBINDOBHOG CHAL : 1 COFFEE MUG
MUTTON : 500 GM [SMALL CUT, BONE ON]
SLICED ONION : 2 SMALL TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 6-7
WHOLE GREEN CHILLI : 4-5
GINGER PASTE : 2TSP
GARLIC PASTE : 2TSP
WHITE PEPPER : 15-16
CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 ONE TO 2INCH
NUTMEG : 1/2 OF A SMALLER SIZED
GREEN CARDAMOM : 4-5
BLACK CARDAMOM : 1
MACE : 1
CLOVE : 6-7
STAR ANISE : 1
BAY LEAF : 2-3
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
LEMON JUICE : 5-6TBSP
WATER : 3 COFFEE MUG
MILK : 1COFFEE MUG
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 2TSP
GHEE : 2TBSP
MUSTARD OIL : 1 SMALL TEA CUP [ YOU CAN USE ANY]

PROCEDURE :

I washed the mutton well and marinated it well with some salt, the lemon juice & turmeric powder. I refrigerated it overnight, say for 12-13 hours and took it out 1hour before cooking. 5-6 hours of marination should be fine.

We have the sliced onion & slitted green chillies ready, washed.

We have ground the spices too as fine as possible.

The rice has to be washed and soaked for 1/2 and hour and then strained and kept for another 45 minutes.

Heat the mustard oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and temper with the bay leaves.

Then add the sliced onion and fry until golden brown.

Add the ginger+garlic pastes and some salt. Stir fry at low heat for 2 minutes.

Add the meat with the marination, the slitted green chillies and half of the freshly ground spices.

Fold in well, stir at medium heat for 3-4 minutes and reduce heat to the minimal. We will now cover it with a lid with no hole. I closed it with a clove as learnt.

The meat will release water. Refuting the instructions, I did open the lid and gave a stir every five minutes. I fear burns.

The released water will dry after 30-35 minutes. We will then open the lid and add 2 coffee mugs of water.

We will cover cook again at minimal heat until the water dries up again, so 40-45 minutes it may take.

Once done, we will take off the meat pieces leaving the remaining oil and spices in the vessel.

We will add the rice now and mix well. I was not so particular about frying the rice grains till they sounded or adding it totally dried. I am never too particular in my kitchen. I can never take cooking classes, I do not understand ounces, lbs.

I just mixed and stirred the rice & meat for 3-4 minutes adding a few whole, green chillies to it.

I had prepared a mixture with 1 coffee mug of water + 1 coffee mug of milk. I added it to the vessel and gave a stir.

We will cook it uncovered at low heat. When the rice can be seen, add the rest of the spice mix, the cooked meat pieces and a little bit of salt. Gently mix and continue cooking uncovered.

Once the water dries 85%, add the ghee & sugar; gently fold in.

Now place a frying pan under the vessel and cover it with the lid. Reduce the heat to the minimal. Let it cook in "dum" for another 20 minutes. We are done. Keep standing for 7-8 minutes after switching off the gas oven. Thereafter serve it.