Friday, September 12, 2008

Hyderabadi Dalcha


Whenever I decide to go on diet, something comes and blocks me and makes it impossible to carry on. After feasting heavily for 2 weeks in the cruise, I was determined to diet for the next few weeks. I had all that fresh and energetic enthu going on for the first 2 weeks. If you are a regular reader of my blog, I mentioned that I even began planning my menu for the week ahead. Well, I should say I am still sticking on to my menu plans for most of the part, but dieting "vow" had disappeared long back! This dish is the proof :)

It all started when I happened to taste a mutton fry dish in a restaurant recently and I somehow wasn't that impressed. The spices weren't blending well with the meat. I could smell the raw flavour and plenty of hard-to-bite chunks. I had a feeling that I make a better version of the same dish! Don't get me wrong about my pride, but I believe that making a meat dish is an art by itself. It requires adding the right amount of spices to suppress the raw meat flavor, but at the same time not letting the spices overtake the vibrant meat taste. Balance is the key, and apparently that restaurant dish didn't have that balance. Since then, for some reason, the thought of preparing my favorite mutton dish at home was whirling in my head. May be perhaps I just wanted to get-rid of that restaurant taste that was still lingering in me and replace with any of my favorite dish :) , although I kept postponing it because of my 'dieting' aspiration.

But last week, the moment I spotted some fresh goat meat in the grocery, I knew I was in trouble. Its hard to resist when I see those freshly cut goat meat with nice stewy bones. Moreover the after-effect of my restaurant experience insisted me to buy it right away and there ends my dieting drama!

Alright, moving to the recipe.. I have to admit that I didn't have high hopes when I saw this recipe in a cook-book long before. My first instinct was - Meat and Dal? Really? Then I went on convincing myself - Come on, its a popular dish and its been tasted and approved by many, so it has to be good. And, I was not wrong. I love the unique flavor of lentils and meat and enjoy it more with plain rice than briyani. I've made it quite a few times so far and it gets better everytime! The secret is adding the right amount of dal.

This entry goes for Mona's RCI - Authentic Hyderabadi Cuisine.


Ingredients:
  • Goat meat - 1/2 lb (with bones)
  • Chana dal - 3 tbsp
  • Tuvar dal - 3 tbsp
  • G.chillies - 4
  • Onion - 1 medium
  • Ginger/Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
  • Tomato - 1 medium
  • Chilli powder - 1 tsp
  • Pepper powder - 1 tsp
  • Corriander powder - 2 tsp
  • Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
  • Tamarind paste - 2 tsp
  • Corriander leaves - 1/4 cup
  • Curry leaves - a few
  • Cinnamon, Cloves, Cardamom - a few each
Procedure:
  • Chop the goat meat and remove just the bone pieces separate. Pressure cook the bone pieces with a little ginger/garlic paste, turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp black pepper powder.
  • Soak the dals for atleast 15 mins and pressure cook them together with some turmeric powder, curry leaves and half of the corriander leaves.
  • Heat oil in a wide pan, season with cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Once they pop, add chopped onions, g.chillies, ginger/garlic paste and fry for a few mins.
  • Add the remaining corriander leaves and curry leaves and fry for a couple more mins.
  • Add all the remaining powders along with tomatoes and fry until the tomatoes lose shape.
  • Add the remaining mutton pieces (raw), salt and fry for 5 mins.
  • Now add the stock from the cooked bones and let it boil for a few mins.
  • Finally add the cooked dal and pressure cook the mixture together until the mutton gets cooked completely (time depends on the pressure cooker).
  • Open the pressure cooker and add the tamarind paste and the cooked bone pieces, some water as required and let it boil for a few mins.
  • Garnish with chopped corriander leaves.

Serve hot with plain rice or briyani.

34 comments:

Cham said...

Ha ha, a bad taste of rest lingering for a long time, gal the rest dinner or lunch should have affected a lot :) I agree, meat should be cooked with right spice and right consistency.
I would die for dalcha and biryani! I add brinjal also but being friday night u make me crave for goat meat :)
Nice entry Suja!

Sujatha said...

That was a super fast response cham, as usual :) You amaze me, gal..

Yep, sometimes bad memories stick on with me.. and the only way to overcome that is to replace that with a good memory ASAP.. :)

Priya Suresh said...

Wow really too tempting..am a die hard fan of mutton dalcha n hyderabadi briyani..cant stop coming back to see those awesome pics..really want to pick from the pic...excellent clicks..

Vijitha said...

wow!! my fav!! looks really yummmy!! gr8 job...

ST said...

Looks good.Gr8 job.

Anonymous said...

i have not read your post yet, but couldn't wait to comment, as soon as i saw the recipe name. I was thinking of this recipe just last night. I have not eaten it in a long time and it brings back lot of memories when i hear dalcha. This was always one of the dishes on Dasara, at my grandmaa's place, besides biryani.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the recipe. I was wondering last night, which aunt to call up to get the recipe for dalcha... and i found your blog and the recipe this morning. I will try it very soon... we too are going on a diet right now... well, ours isn't exactly a diet but are trying to eat healthy food and goat meat is not on our healthy food list... as soon as we get off our eating healthy food phase, i will try out your recipe... :)

Finla said...

If i get this dish i would happily eat the whole bowl, diet or not, as they look so delicious

Anonymous said...

Oh not again sujatha... please dont tempt me... i just love this recipe like anything... please send me some... little would do bcoz i am dieting... please please pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee........gr8 snap as well....loved second pic.. mouth watering...

Laavanya said...

Hope you feel better Sujatha... It is very disappointing when the dish from a restaurant doesn't meet our expectations... but I'm sure your family enjoyed this preparation of yours! :)

Anonymous said...

I love any curry with mutton. I love Hyderabad cuisine too. Very tempting recipe and pictures.

lubnakarim06 said...

An all time favourite recipe to me. Goes hand in hand with biryani. Looks welcoming.

vandana rajesh said...

Yummy is all that I can think of right now.Nice pic looks really irresistible

Indian Khana said...

Wow looks so yummmyyyyy...

raaji said...

never heards if this recipe...sounds new......

raaji said...

you have been tagged...checkout my blog post dated 14th sep for details.......

Sum Raj said...

i dont have goat meat ..phir bhi this looks yummy with rice..

Srikitchen said...

its a new recipe for me!

Unknown said...

hehhee..Yeh I know hard it is for foodie lovers while dieting..There is no such thing called diet for us right?

Am here after a long break..

The mutton recipe looks really inviting..u have added tamarind also..which is new to me...

and the thokku recipe awesome...

Who clicks photos for u dear?They are brilliant...

Me started blogging in my new blog..Do chk it out sujatha...

http;//ramyaacooks.blogspot.com

Sujatha said...

Nice to see you back Ramya! Dieting is far from reality to me :)

I click the photos after cooking, Thanx for your sweet words! But i'm no where close to the experts who send their photos for CLICK event :)

I did check your new template, Ramya! Looks beautiful.. keep it going :)

raaji said...

sure sujatha.....looking forward for your MEME

Unknown said...

hi dalcha looks so perfect and i i missed a lot from your khazana because of my vacation that apple dal is very new for me have try that one tomato tokku mmm mouthwatering

Indranee Batabyal said...

This looks like an authentic Hyderabadi recipe:)Should taste great.I have something for you in my blog...sorry couldn't tell u earlier, because I was away from blogging. Enjoy and cheers!

Anonymous said...

Sujatha, Thanks for sending the entry. Dalcha is one the authentic dishes of Hyderabad. It looks heavenly.

Anonymous said...

YOUR THOKKU IF TOMATO LOOKS YUMMY I SUGGEST PLEASE VISIT MY BLOG/WEBSITE THAT FOCUSES ON DISHES OF ANDHRA.THIS IS A SITE RUN BY A STUDENT PURSUING GRADUATION AND THIS IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION I REQUEST YOUR COMMENTS ON IT.
THE URL IS www.southernspice.co.nr

Pete said...

Huh huh, muttons, my favourite! Taste great with my steamed rice! Drooling!

Yasmeen said...

Sujatha, Dal with meat is a tasty idea.Being a Hyderabadi i never made this tasty dalcha . Now i have your recipe to try,thanks:)

Prema said...

very interesting recipe...first time here.yummy collections...
do visit my blog if time permits,
http://premascooking.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Just came across your blog while looking for a good Dalcha recipe. Thanks for that! I also came across this website: http://www.khanapakana.com/recipe/templates/cooking-recipe.aspx?articleid=C6A074FF-88DA-4754-A0D1-D54CB72A6026&zoneid=11
Looks like they are using your photo with a Dalcha recipe and the source they have mentioned is different. Thought you should know!

Regards,
sunmit

Sujatha said...

Thanks for letting me know,Anonymous. I have asked the site owner to remove the picture as soon as possible.. Lets wait and see.. Thanks again for your concern..

Naandhan!! said...

I made your dalcha for lunch and served it with pulao. It was absolutely excellent. Thank you.

Sujatha said...

Thanks for letting me know, Naandhan!!! I'm glad you liked it..

Anonymous said...

My boyfriend who absolutely worships my cooking recently challenged me that no one other than his friend's lucknowi mother can cook an authentic dalcha. I decided to prove him wrong even though I have never tried making dalcha prior to this, so this recipe will be my first step towards that...

Vinay said...

Nice..ma'am...me and wife was looking for the recipe of Dalcha..ur's is the best one...added to my favourites.