MUTTON KEEMA DIYE SHOBUJ MOTOR ER GHUGNI

I am dilly-dallying since the morning about when to sit with my blog. I do not put myself into a fixed routine anymore, not possible if you are living with two weird stuffs at home. I do not remain what I had been pre-marriage; neither our mother could remain that much of a disciplinarian. To be so, the rest of the people around have to be co-operative. It is not so in either of the cases. Most of the days; I go out for a walk at 2 pm; come back and have a late lunch around 4 pm. All these I can do only because I have a full time help. Else, I would have got stuck at home. Had  I been in Kolkata; I would not have been able to exercise this amount of freedom. Going out anytime is out of question there; I was not this free when I had a full time chauffeur too; okay our baby was tiny then. Now too if I go back; my life would again undergo a sea change. 

Leave that; listen to this story of the two frozen minced mutton packets that were lying in the freezer; each weighing 400 gm. Having them, I continued buying fresh mutton; portions from the front leg of the sheep meat does taste good, if slow cooked for long. Last week, I felt I must use up the frozen stuffs first. So, I prepared this  MUTTON KEEMA DIYE SHOBUJ MOTOR ER GHUGNI with dried green peas and half of one packet of the minced mutton. The rest of the one and half packet was used to make SHAMI KEBAB. I have updated the blog post with new pictures. I had one Cristine made sandwich and me made oats cake this morning with tea. I dislike sandwich!

The excess of the kebab the man has to eat for lunch. I think we will have "magur maach er jhol, mochar ghonto, tok dal" for lunch and "ruti o fulkopi, gajor, motorshutir torkari" for dinner. I work extra time on a Saturday just for this; a relaxed week. Our mother could not learn this from me. "Mani no one cares, no one will value what you do in today's world; our skills are worthless; you are doing a thankless job! You must be in motion; I will hate to see you sitting idle all day; but execute it like a normal human." Yesterday night only I gave a vocal tonic for 11/2 hours. She wants to do irrelevant talks with me but does not use the WhatsApp call facility. I do not know why I gifted her a smart phone. "Mani, tomai amai dekhley keu bolbey na amra lekhapora shikhechilam konodin; tumi phone chalatey janona, ami computer." Yes, I curse her, I curse myself for not been able to be at par with the rest; not having a voice. "jar golar jor joto, prithibi tar haath er muthoi tototai; eei shar kathata ami onekdin agei bujhechi." 

Anyway, dried green peas or yellow peas curry had been very regular in my parental home; perhaps the grandmother too used to do it. Our mother either did a vegetarian version or with minced chicken or with minced mutton like this MUTTON KEEMA DIYE SHOBUJ MOTOR ER GHUGNI. She never did let us eat ghugni from the vendors visiting our neighbourhood or from the stalls in a fair. I could have them when I was there in the maternal grandparents' home during vacations. I have so many memories associated with that place. Just early morning, the place visited my dreams; me and T caught a rickshaw from the station and on the way saw our friends Saubhik & Mousumi; they had also come there with their theatre group to perform. I insisted them to visit the grandparent's home as  used to happen 30-40 years back during the grandmother's era; even our daddy's friends used to visit that home. My weird dream ends watching dadu having his evening tea in their dilapidated "baithak khana ghar" alone; Tommy, the Alsheshan sitting near his feet. We were too young when Tommy died; I remember how he was loved; how ferocious he was for the strangers, how indulgent our rules & ritual bound grandmother was when it came to Tommy who ate vegetable & mutton rice stew for his meals. 

Gradually things changed, it is really hard to be together as a big family under one roof. Today, I will also not be able to welcome a guest visiting without a notice; both the maternal grandmother; the paternal grandparents handled guests with a smile every day. Things will change; what I expect from my own is harmony; live your life but harmonise with your own. I have my own reasons not visiting a place that I considered my prime once; so much so that our father had to slap me when I was in class 7. I got out of control hating the Kolkata life; I wished to go back to the Mary Immaculate School even if Sister Marylyn died, watch Soumitra Chottopadhyay's "abritti" in an open ground, visit to the Ghurni. After that "Thappad", I gradually grew up; understood people there have their own life now; the grandparents were aging and I am a guest there, not a part of that family; my home is my parents and brother; in Kolkata! I cannot discriminate, determine who of my maternal uncles or aunts are nearer to me; they all contributed to who I am today. Particularly; I am absolutely not in the habit of gathering news about what is going on in other homes. It is their turn now to visit us here; we will do our utmost to make their visit memorable. I owe them; when our mother was busy with her college; they even cleaned up my waste; yes true.

INGREDIENTS :

MINCED MUTTON : 250-300GM
DRIED GREEN PEA : 100-150GM
SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
GARLIC PASTE : 1TBSP
GINGER PASTE : 1TBSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4TSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP + 1TSP
CORIANDER SEED : 1TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 2
CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 TWO INCH STICK
GREEN CARDAMOM : 2-3
CLOVE : 3-4
BAYLEAF : 1
TAMARIND JUICE : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
LEMON JUICE : 4-5TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 4TBSP
CHOPPED ONION & GREEN CHILLI TO GARNISH!

PROCEDURE : 

I had washed the green dried peas, soaked them in water for 6-8 hours. I had then drained the water and taken them in a heavy bottomed vessel, filled it with 5-6 coffee mugs of water, added little salt and turmeric and put it for boil.

We will boil covering about 80% of it, else the water overflows. Pressure cooking does not give me the right consistency of the matar. The boiling part may take 45-50 minutes.

You can see, I have marinated the minced mutton with the lemon juice, salt and turmeric at least 2 hours before starting to cook it.

When the dried green peas get boiled, they look like this.

We will dry roast 1tsp of cumin & coriander seeds, 2 dry red chillies in a pan and blend them to a dry, coarse powder.

In the same pan, we will heat the oil; temper it with 1/4tsp of the cumin seeds + cinnamon sticks + green cardamoms + cloves + a bay leaf.

Then, it is time to add the washed & sliced onion, use two medium sized onions.

Once the onions get brown, we will add the ginger + garlic pastes + the remaining turmeric powder.

We will stir fry it for 2 minutes and add the minced mutton keema. We will fold in well.

We will cover cook it at low heat for 20-25 minutes. We will check in between so that it does not dry & burn. Usually it releases water, if not keep sprinkling water every 5 minutes.

After 20-25 minutes; add half of the ground spices to the wok and fold in well. Stir for 3-4 minutes.

We will add the boiled dried green peas now and along with it 2 coffee mugs of water. Give a stir and cover cook for 12-15 minutes.

We will open the cover and add the washed and slitted green chillies. We will cover cook again for 5-6 minutes.

We will open the cover and add the cinnamon & cardamom powders. We will fold in well and cook uncovered for about 3-4 minutes.

We will now add the tamarind juice, give a stir and switch off the gas. For the juice; we will soak 2tsp of tamarind pulp in a medium tea cup of water, squeeze it and strain.

We will transfer the content to a serving bowl. We will garnish it with the remaining coarsely ground spice powder, chopped onion & green chillies.

We can have it with luchi, porota, pao; feels heavenly! We had it with spinach flatbreads, spring onion+eggplant+potato stir fry!