Ballimaran Dilli, Dubai UAE

Away from Dubai’s fancy and high end restaurants, you will find a few restaurants dishing out hardcore Indian and Pakistani foods like a Mutton Nihari, Bheja Masala, Payas amongst other spicy flavourful dishes.

We were recommended to try out Ballimaran Dilli specializing in Indian Lucknowi cuisine, in Dubai’s Karama area and which was pretty difficult to find at first. Its located on 6A street but better to call and take directions, tel.no. is 04-3972224.

We were eager to try out the Sheermal and the Lucknowi Galouti Kebabs and that was the main reason for our trip. The waiter who attended on us was an old chap with pretty good experience of the stuff available and recommended we go for the Mutton Nihari and with it some Kulchas plus our choice, which was Sheermal topped with Galouti Kebabs and a Lucknowi Dumwala Mutton Biryani.

We were absolutely disappointed with the Sheermal Bread topped with the Galouti kebabs as the Sheermal was a very flat tasteless bread with a kind off rubbery texture without any flavour. The kebab was soft, smooth and mildly spiced but the texture was too soft and pasty for our liking.

However the star of the show was the Kulchas which was one of the best breads I have ever eaten. It had a golden brown crispy crusty top with buttery soft layers of goodness. The Nihari was excellent and nicely spiced and the kulchas were absolutely divine when dipped in the Nihari. 

This was the saving grace of our lunch outing as the Lucknowi Dum Biryani was disappointing as it lacked any flavour and as is the case, biryanis made in restaurants rarely qualify to make the list of recommendations.

We didn’t have space for anything more to experiment but I would definitely recommend the Kulchas and Nihari.

Freej Soweileh – Lamb/Mutton Machbous - Kuwaiti Comfort food

I've always been wanting to write about this dish for a long time but probably haven't had the best words to describe it. This is one of our favourite dishes from many years in Kuwait and here's my take on it.

I’m sure most of you in Kuwait have visited this restaurant, but if you haven’t, then this is a must do. Freej Soweileh is an authentic Kuwaiti restaurant serving Kuwaiti food in addition to other Arabic dishes. However the star dish of this restaurant is the Lahamb Machbous or Lamb/mutton Machbous. Kuwait's own amalgamation of rice and meat flavours combined.

Now this is what you would call comfort food. We prefer to get a mega serving of this dish in the comfort of our home, sit in our comfy clothes and gorge on this dish.

I haven’t had anything like this anywhere. The quality of meat is so tender that it melts in your mouth. The long grains of rice slowly passing down your throat, giving you that satisfaction, that magic feeling, making you content. This dish has been cooked by someone who is an expert and has been conjured with some magical ingredients with a method that I have found that no one can replicate. Ofcourse if you have eaten this at Kuwaiti homes, only then you will find superior flavours. However, with no such options any more, Freej Soweileh is our only such source and a great one indeed. I had the priviliege of tasting this dish in my early years when I was employed with a Kuwaiti army man and who would have food coming everyday from his home. Partly one of the reasons for me being so chubby. I have tried many restaurants who tried to replicate this dish, but till date have not found any who could match the same taste. The flavour is so distinct that those who have tasted it will know how I feel. Every time we eat this dish, it has the same taste and consistency.

Other than the Lamb Machbous, they also serve Chicken machbous which for some reason can never match the taste of the Lamb flavours. The fish (Pomfret) Machbous is also pretty good but somehow the quality of the fish is not upto the mark simply because the fish used is frozen. Fresh Pomfrets cost a bomb and I doubt it will be feasible at the price they charge. However it is a very good dish. The machbous is served along with a dish of Dakous which is a tomato based gravy. This may be added to your rice which gives you that free flow down your throat..... Ummm yummmm.. I’m drooling. Also served are condiments like a roughly ground fresh green chilly in oil, a red chilli mix and a garlic and carrot pickle which is sour and delicious.

The other noteworthy dishes are the lamb Kebabs and the Kibbeh which are both stunning. However, we keep off the appetizers as we go only to enjoy the machbous. You can have some soup which is served in a bread bowl and some baba ghanouj which is served in a deep fried crisp dough dish.

I guess this dish may happen again on the weekend. You guys who haven’t tried must if you are in Kuwait.

A sweet desset called Luqaimat is also served along with arabic coffee

A short quick glimpse of the Kitchen

Nihari (Mutton / Lamb Shanks Gravy)

As our daughter had returned back from India for holiday, we made one her favorite dishes. Mutton Nihari! Usually it is easier to buy Nihari from a restaurant as the cooking process is long, however it is very difficult nowadays to get this dish as very few restaurants make it and those who do, have not been able to master this dish and provide it regularly with the same consistency.

In the old days the meat was usually cooked with all its ingredients on slow fire for hours till the fat melts and the meat literally falls off. But nowadays due to our busy lives and to save time, a pressure cooker is ideal to quicken the cooking process. The meat should be pressure cooked just enough as you will need another hour of cooking the meat with the gravy so that the masala blends well with the meat.  We used full lamb shanks but meat with bones can be used, preferably from the leg. Bone marrow gives it that additional kick and makes it a superbly flavoursome gelatinous gravy.

You can use a ready-made/ packaged Nihari masala from the store, which actually makes sense due to the no. of ingredients involved or use the recipe as given below.

For the Nihari masala – Grind the below spices to a fine powder

2 Bay leaves

1 ½ tbsp Fennel seeds

¼ Nutmeg

1 blade of Mace

10 to 12 Black peppercorn

6 to 8 Green cardamom

5 to 6 Cloves

1 ½ tsp Cumin seeds

2 sticks Cinnamon sticks

1 Black cardamom

1 Star anise

7 to 8 Kashmirir red chilies

1 tbsp Roasted chana dal

½ tbsp Poppy seeds

Other Ingredients

1 kg Mutton with bones / Lamb Shanks

6 to 8 tbs Oil / ghee may be substituted

4 medium sized onions – finely chopped

3 tbsp ginger/ garlic paste

1 tbsp red chilli powder

Water as required

Salt as per taste

2 tbs Wheat flour mixed with little water to thicken the gravy

1 tbsp Lemon juice

METHOD

Pressure cook the mutton with enough water and salt (a few full spices can be added for flavour) till the meat gets soft enough and tender. Separate the stock and keep aside.

In another vessel heat the oil and add the onions till nicely brown, add the ginger paste along with the chilli powder and ground Nihari masala. Fry well. Add the mutton stock with some water and let it simmer on slow fire for an hour. Check the taste once done and add salt if required.

Make a mixture of wheat flour with some water and add this to the gravy. Stir well to avoid lumps from forming. Add lemon juice and simmer on slow fire till the gravy is thick and the fat floats on the top.

Garnish with ginger, coriander leaves and green chillies.

Serve hot with your favourite naan or roti. We also had it with rice and it was awesome

Mutton Dopiaza

Do Piaza - Do means two and piaz mean onions in Hindi, and the term describes using double quantity of onions in the cooking process. This curry is Spicy, delicately sweetened with Piaz and the red colour extremely appealing to the eyes. Can't wait to taste it, Yummmy.

Ingredients :

1 Kg Mutton with bones
9 medium onions
8 baby potatoes (optional)
3 tsp red chilli powder (reduce if you don't want it spicy).
1/2 cup yoghurt (whisk & keep it aside)
4-5 tbsp oil
6 plump cloves of garlic chopped
2 tbp ginger chopped
2 red dry chillies
2 bay leaves
2" cinnamon stick
1 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
12 cloves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 big tomatoes finely chopped
1 tbsp butte
3/4 tsp sugar
salt to taste


Wash the mutton and put it in a pressure cooker with 1 tsp salt and half cup of water. Cook the meat untill tender, keep it aside.

Cut 3 onions into halves. Chop 2 onions finely. Extract the juice from the remaining 4 onions by grating them and squeezing the juice. Discard the pulp.



Peel the potatoes, keep it aside.



Mix the chilli powder with 2 tbsp water to a thick paste, keep it aside.

Heat oil in a deep pan and fry the onions till golden brown, remove and keep it aside.

In the same oil, add ginger & garlic.




Once browned lightly add the bayleaves, cinnamon , cardamoms. Then after 2 minutes add the peppercorns, cloves and red chillies and fry for another minute.



Now add the chilli paste & turmeric & stir continously. Add the meat, potatoes, tomatoes, butter, yoghurt & sugar. Cook for 10 minutes stirring ocassionaly so that the spices don't get burnt.

Now add the halved onions, onion juice and salt to taste. Stir it well.

Reduce the flame to minimum. Cover and cook it on slow flame for 30 minutes till the potatoes are tender.



Once the potatoes are cooked. Put off the flame.

Sprinkle the fried onions on top just before serving.

Enjoy with plain rice or naan or rotis.

Honey Roasted Leg of Lamb

Ingredients
2.5 kg leg of lamb



For the marinade
2 tbsp vegetable oil
5 tbsp lemon juice
4 inch pc of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
15 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp water

For the honey rub

100g almonds, blanched
100g labneh (or you can use hung yoghurt)
5 tbsp honey

Preparation method
Blend together all the ingredients for the marinade in a blender or food processor.



Trim the excess fat and membranes from the leg of lamb. Make deep cuts all over the flesh with a sharp knife. Rub in the marinade, making sure you get it into the deep cuts. Leave it in the fridge to marinate for 24 hours.



For the honey rub mix together the ground almonds, labneh/yoghurt and honey.



Take the lamb out of the fridge and now rub the honey rub into the lamb and leave it for another 1 hour covered, in the fridge. Remove the lamb from the fridge and bring to room temperature before cooking.



Preheat the oven to 225C and place the lamb on a rack with a roasting tray underneath. Cook for 15 minutes then lower the heat to 180C and cook for another 2 hours, basting every 1/2 hour.



Check if the meat is cooked by piercing a thin knife deep into the flesh. If there is no blood or any juices running out of the meat then it is cooked.

Remove the lamb from the oven. Cover it with a foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Carve the lamb into thin pieces & serve it with roasted potatoes or any vegetables of your choice.

Karela Ghosh (Lamb with Bittergourd)

1 Kg Mutton (lamb) cut into bite size pcs ( I used boneless meat)
4-5 (approx 500-600 gms)Karela (bittergourd) cut into thin rounds, remove the seeds.
5 big onions (thinly sliced)
3 big tomatoes (roughly chopped)
3-4 green chillies (whole)
1 tsp red chilly powder
1/2 tsp pepper powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp amchur (dry mango powder)
3 black cardamoms
2 pcs of 1/2 inch cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp Salt

Preparation Method :

1. In a bowl add 1 tsp salt , add the karela thin slices & leave it over night as it
will remove the bitterness from the gourd. Squeeze out the water from karela.

2. Take a frying pan, add 5-6 tbsp of oil, once the pan is hot fry the karela till it
is crisp & dark golden brown in colour. Keep it aside.



3. Pressure cook the mutton with 1 tsp of salt and 1 cup of water till it is tender.

4. In a pot take 5-6 tbsp of oil, once hot add the thinly sliced onions, fry well
till it turns dark brown, now add the chopped ginger and garlic, fry for another 2
minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry till it is very mushy & leaves oil.

5. Add the spice powders, fry for another minute.

6. Add the boiled mutton with water stock. Add the whole green chillies. Close the
lid and leave it on slow flame for 5 minutes.

7. Check and adjust the salt. Put off the flame.

8. Add the fried karela, mix it well.

Serve it with roti, chappati or naan.

Aachar Gosht (lamb in pickling spices)

Today we all feel like eating mutton but none of us want to eat the curries which I normally make. Vindaloo naaaa, Roce curry naaaaa, Shakuti, Green masala naaaa naaaa naaaaa.

Opened my cupboard to check on a new recipe from my cooking books. I found this book, “50 great curries of India by Camellia Panjabi with some different curries which I never tried. My mind is all set on this recipe “Lamb in pickling spices (Aachar Gosht-Bhopal style). Aaachar is the Indian word for pickles. This green curry is aromatic, little tangy and not too hot. The gravy is thick so you can simply have it with roti/paratha/ or plain boiled rice. Since I was going to serve it with Plain rice I made some tomato Saar & french beans vegetable to go along with the Aachar Gosht. .

Ingredients

1 ½ kg Lamb pieces with bones.
2 cups of full fat yoghurt
1 big bunch of coriander leaves
500 gms of onion chopped
6 flakes of garlic
1 inch ginger chopped
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 ½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 ½ tsp nigella seeds (kalonji/onion seeds)
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
50 ml oil
8 green chillies
!/2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt as per taste.

1.Wash the meat, drain and keep it aside.

2.Puree the yoghurt and coriander leaves set aside. Puree the onions garlic and ginger.

3.Lightly pound the fennel, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds, mustard seeds in a mortar. Slit 4 chilies and stuff the spice mixture and leave the remaining dry spice mixture to be added later.

4.Take a pan, add oil. Once the oil is hot add the remaining 4 chilies until its pale.

5.Add the onion puree and cook for another 10-15 minutes until it gets pink in colour.

6.Add the remaining dry spice mixture, fry for another minute. Add the yoghurt puree season with turmeric and salt as per taste. Add the stuffed chillies.

7.Add the meat, mix well and bring to a boil.

8.Cover the lid and let it simmer on slow fire for another 45 min to 1 hour until the meat has cooked.

Yakhni Pulao

Ingredients

1 Kg Mutton
4 cups Basmati Rice
3 Medium Onions
1 Pod Garlic
2 inch of Cinnamon Sticks
5-6 Cloves
2 tsp of Saunf
2 tbsp Coriander Seeds
3 tsp salt
8-10 Peppercorns
5 whole green chillies
3 tbsp lemon juice

Wash the Mutton, add 1 sliced onion, 1 full pod of peeled garlic, cinnamon sticks, cloves, saunf, coriander seeds, peppercorns and 2 tsp of salt. Add water till the meat is covered and one inch above. Boil till the meat is cooked. Now remove the meat pieces aside and strain the yakhni (stock) and keep it aside.

Take a Vessel put 5-6 tbsp of oil , put the flame on high. Add 2 sliced onions fry until brown (remove some aside for garnishing) . Now add 8-9 peppercorns, 2-3 green cardamoms, 2 bay leaves . Add the boiled meat, soaked & strained rice. Add 6 cups of yakhni (stock), whole green chillies and 1 tsp salt and 3 tbsp of lemon juice. If you need more salt you can add as per you taste. Mix and keep it on high flame until the water starts boiling. Stir it once and close the cover and on very slow flame cook the rice for 15 minutes without opening the lid.

The rice is very aromatic., you may garnish it with browned onions and serve it just like that. Children will enjoy this Pullao coz it is not spicy and very delicious.