 Among all the meat curries, ‘rezala’ caste an enchanting spell on me, that is hardly going to wither away with time. Not entirely sure of its origin rezala is crazily popular in Eastern India. It actually is a white creamy meat curry, attaining the colour due to the ingredients such as yogurt, cashew nut and poppy seed paste. When the pieces of mutton gets dipped into the gravy, it is pure aesthetic. The patches of fat coming with the meat floats on the gravy and makes it so tasty that it is not a crime to sip it just like chorba, the mughlai stew. Rezala goes down so very well with biryani but one can have it with roti or paratha also. However it takes its share of time to prepare and one needs to keep the patience which is worthy to say the least.
Ingredients to serve 3-4 :
- Mutton (medium size pieces) – 500 gm. (I used goat meat)
- Yogurt – 1 small cup + 2 tbspoon
- Poppy seed paste – 1 tbspoon heaped
- Cashew nut paste – 1 tbspoon heaped
- Char magaz paste – 1 tbspoon
- Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tbspoon heaped
- Boiled onoin paste – 2
- Ghee/Clarified butter – 3-4 tbspoon
- Pinch of saffron soaked into 2 tbspoon milk
- Javitri powder – ¼ teaspoon
- White pepper powder – 2 teaspoon
- Dried red chilly – 2
- Bay leaf – 2
- Salt to taste
- Water – 4 cups
Procedure :
In kadai or non-stick pan take 2 cups of water, poppy seed, cashew nut and char magaz paste, onion paste, ginger-garlic paste, 2 tbspoon yogurt, ghee, 1 teaspoon pepper powder, bay leaf and salt. Mix the ingredients well.
Now put the kadai over medium flame and cook the mixture for 8-10 minutes. The mixture still should be watery.
Now add rest of the yogurt, meat and remaining 2 cups of water.
As the mixture starts boiling put the flame on low and cover the pan.
As the mutton gets almost cooked (it will take almost 1-1½ hrs.) add red chillies, saffron milk, remaining pepper powder and javitri powder.
Again cook on low flame till oil separates on the surface.
Serve with Biryani or rumali roti or paratha.
A
I cooked rezala too a few days back. The recipe was similar to your, but I used rack of lamb instead of goat meat. I also added some saffron to give it a yellowish colour and some rose water at the end to give it a bit more Nawabi aroma 🙂 I haven’t written down the blog post yet!
A
Sorry, I meant to say I had probably added more saffron than you, as mine turned out to be more yellowish!
Jayeeta
Might be……How did it come out with lamb ?? I am asking because raw lamb has a typical smell….did it go well with the dish ???
A
If you don’t like the smell of lamb meat, there is a way out. What I did was to marinate the meat for about 6 hours with yoghurt, crushed garlic, grated onion and juice from one fresh lime. This helped to give the meat a citrus flavour and the smell of the raw meat was significantly reduced. But as you know lamb tastes very different from goat meat and if you don’t like the taste of lamb at all, it is difficult to like any lamb preparation. I like both goat and lamb meat as long as they are fresh. In the UK it is easier for me to source fresh lamb meat, but when I am in India I prefer buying goat meat from our local butcher.
Jayeeta
I have no problem with the smell of lamb….but as you said where goat is available, it is always in the priority list….☺
Dibyendu Chakraborty
What to do with the boiled onion paste and ginger garlic paste? Also, does the meat need marination prior to cooking? Could you also tell me the procedure to make boiled onion paste? For how long should the onion be boiled? Should it then be ground in a mixer/grinder?
Btw, I had followed your recipe of Murgir jhol, and the result was fabulous! Thanks a ton for that recipe.
Jayeeta
Hi Dibyendu,
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Again thanks for reminding me about those ingredients. I forgot to mention them in the recipe. Now I have edited the recipe and hope it will be helpful.
For making ‘boiled onion paste’, cut the onion into two halves and boil in a pan till its raw flavour goes off. Then cool it and grind in a mixer.
There is no need to marinate the meat for this recipe.
Samir
There is a way to get rid of the smell of lamb. All the smell is in the fat and there’s plenty of that on Aussie/NZ lamb. Just get the fat removed entirely. Whole Foods (US chain) will do it for free and only charge you for net weight rather than gross weight.
Jayeeta
Sometimes we need the fat of the meat also……..it enhances the taste of the dish….. 🙂
Samir
I forgot to add that after the fat’s been removed you’ll have to brown the meat at high heat, stirring constantly. Aussie/NZ lab has very high water content and this must be driven off. I use mustard oil or olive oil for the heating/browning process. The only smell that remains is a wonderful one.
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