REZALA - My Favourite

One fine morning, my newspaper had a delicious surprise- a mouth watering picture of a bowl of Chicken Rezala and a recipe to try.

Encouraged with my voracious appetite for anything foodie I embarked on a Chicken Rezala the other day. I find the raw frozen chicken legs and breasts  from Venky’s an irresistible attraction for my often prepaed biryanis and I chose them for the rezala as well. The first item on the recipe was baby onions. I couldn’t find them. I thought regular onions were jut as good. I have seen baby onions dipped in vinegar on mughlai tables but thought they were just for nibbling. Cooking is a different proposition. The rest of the lot were well known ingredients, coriander powder, cashew, coconut powder, bay leaves and red chilli. Two special  items I had missed and I ignored them. Kewra water and mitha ittar. The first one I had heard about. Rallis made a great sweet syrup with kewra with a lush green colour. Or was that khus? Come summer, I will let you know!

The other one I hardly knew as an edible fragrance. I thought men who put deep kajal in their eyes and went to questionable places with a garland around their wrists, put it behind their ears in cotton pads. So I let these two items go.

I had an additional surprise. I had tasted a rezala at Taam, the relatively new Mughlai joint by Priya cinema, where I found makhna, lotus seeds, floating like little rasgullas in the gravy and they tasted heavenly. So I had to try this. I had a packet full of these. I put a few in a pan of mild hot water and they became soft and ready to absorb the rezala juice.

The first job was a little tragic, but if you slice onions even with glasses on, you have to cry. I quickly wiped my tears and put the onions in my mixi to turn them into an oozing paste. Clearing the content into a bowl is a little tricky because the more you scoop the more it settles in between the blades. The best idea is to throw away the portion that is unwilling to be cooked.

Then I had to make a paste of the cashew. Resist the temptation of tasting the lot every time you open the cover. That reduces the paste considerably.

The rest is easy. Just heat a lot of ghee in a pan, the more the better. Forget the cholesterol. Fry the onion paste in it. Put the cashew paste, coriander, coconut powder, red chillies and whatever else you have gathered in that hot mix. Put the chicken in, roll them in the curry to your heart’s content and pour a good amount of chicken stock in it. It will boil down to a grainy tasty and photogenic bowl of rezala!! Take some hot naans or parathas  and devour it.

I found  similar recipes on this marvelously mouth watering dish with mutton and cauliflower and potatoes and what not! They are all here for you to try. If  you can make it to Sabir’s, fine! If you cannot, you can try them. If you cannot do that too, read these recipes slowly,  these are the 7D variety, you can taste them with a little imagination! Happy eating!

I had never thought I would make a Mutton Rezala at home. Heck, I didn't even know how to make a Rezala. All I knew was that Mutton Rezala was a very fragrant stew kind of mutton dish that could be found at Sabir's in Kolkata. It was heavenly but with years the taste had ebbed its sharpness and I couldn't recall how exactly it tasted. All I could remember is the anticipation and the fragrance when Baba would get Biryani or Paratha-Rezala from Sabir's on some days back home. But then I had the same excitement when he got chicken roll from Nizam's or pastries from Flury's or Khasta Kachuri from neighborhood Mahaprabhu.
So you see the tastes weren't distinct in my memory anymore and I had learned to live with the fact that Rezala was that one more unattainable thing from the past. It was a dish fit for the Nawab's who led a very luxurious and sedate life style and had no place in the new age Western World.

I still thought Mutton Rezala was not something you made at Home. Hey, even Sabir's chef thought it was impossible and he would know.
"According to Ahmed the secret of the taste lies in the preparation. Anis Ahmed, another partner, however, disclosed the recipe. The ingredients are simple. Made out of mutton breast, the spices include dahi, ghee, poppy seeds (posto), zafran, and jaitri. the proportionate mixing of the spices gives it the right taste. “this is where most people go wrong,” said Ahmed. even if you are closely correct in the proportion you will never get the right taste at home. the trick, he said, is in the fuel. “you can never get the taste unless you cook it in charcoal fire,” said Ahmed

Read more: A taste of Rezala at Sabir’s - Calcutta Times - City - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1885223942.cms#ixzz0vqR8u3Z9
"

And then I saw Kalyan making a Chicken rezala at home. That was the thing that set me on track about this whole Rezala thing. And then I see Mr.Ghosh our UshnishDa making not only Mutton but Paneer and Aloo Rezala at his very own home.

Hmmm...so I guess Rezala can be made at home after all. If all these male of the species have done it successfully, the female power could do it better I thought.

Did I say better ? Ok, kidding, I did not mean better. Why would I say better ? I mean how can it be better than Anis Ahmed's slow cooked rezala on "charcoal fire".

We are the liberated, powerful, modern female. We do not use charcoal fuel. We know better. Ok what is this with better, dang, not better, best. We know best and Rezala might not be one of them. Who cares ?

But my gas cooked, pressure cookered, first attempt Mutton Rezala was really gorgeous. It was fragrant, the mutton tender and soaked with all those spices, the gravy light but spicy and everything that I could possibly ask for in a Rezala. The flavor of this dish comes from the whole spices, the cardamom, the javetri and then the magical drops of Kewra water. Everyone who had it loved it. I am not sure if they recognized it as a Rezala but they loved it none the less.

Since I was making this for a small lunch gathering, I made it richer and spicier. For an everyday Home Version you can choose to go light.
I have mostly followed this recipe but have also taken pointers from this and this. I have made Mutton Rezala but you can easily substitute Mutton with Chicken or even make a Vegetarian Rezala.

Mutton Rezala

Serving size : This serves about 10-12 adults when served as a part of a complete meal
Time Taken: Prep :15 mins; Marination:8-12 hrs; Cooking Time: 30-40 mins
Level of Difficulty: Medium

What You Need

Mutton/Goat Meat ~ 5lb

Onion ~ 5 cups of chopped red onion
Garlic ~ 12 cloves
Ginger ~ 2" piece

Yogurt 1 cup for marinade + 2 or 3 cups for later

Grind to a Dry Spice powder

Cardamom ~ 4 big black + 20 green
Mace/Javetri ~ 1 tbsp
Clove ~ 10
Pepper Powder ~ 1 tbsp


For Gravy

Onion ~ 1/2 of a large thinly sliced (Optional)

Ginger Paste ~ 2 tsp
Garlic Paste ~ 2 tsp

Cashew ~ 4 tbsp soaked and then made a paste

Kewra Water ~ 1 tsp (must for the fragrance)
Milk ~ 2 tbsp
Saffron ~ few strands

Salt ~ to taste
Oil ~ Cooking oil preferably Canola or Ghee
Ghee ~ 1 tbsp

Whole Spices for tempering

Bay Leaf ~ 5
Whole Red Chili ~ 15 -- Do not crack the red chili, use whole, this brings you the smell of the spice without excess heat. Depending on your spice level decrease this quantity

Black Peppercorn ~ 3-4 tsp whole is better or use 1 tbsp of pepper powder
Cardamom ~ 2 Black + 10 green
Clove ~ 15
Cinnamon Stick ~ 4-5

How I Did It

Step 1

Grind to a dry powder the spices listed under "Grind to Dry Powder"

Step 2

Heat Oil

Fry the 5 cup of onion + 12 clove of garlic + 2" piece of ginger until onion is soft and browned at edges
Cool and make a paste.
Add to this 1 cup of yogurt and blend well

Traditional Route: Don't fry onion, garlic, ginger, just make a paste of above

Step 3

In a big large mouthed bowl (or use an aluminum tray) add the washed and cleaned mutton pieces.
Add the paste + yogurt from Step 2
Add the dry spice powder from Step 1
Add salt to taste
Mix well
Let it rest for 2-3 hours, overnight is better.

Step 4

Heat Oil + 1 tbsp Ghee in a heavy bottomed large pan

Temper the Oil with all spices listed under Whole Spice. Add about 1/2 tsp of sugar.

When the spices sizzle add 1/2 of an onion sliced thin and fry till onion starts to brown
Add 2 tsp of Ginger Paste + 2 tsp of Garlic Paste and fry for couple of minutes
Traditional route: Skip this step

Remove the meat pieces from the marinade, shaking off any excess liquid and add to the pan. Saute the meat pieces till the raw pink coloring is gone. A lot of water will be released at this point and it will smell heavenly.

In a bowl beat about 2-3 cups of yogurt + cashew paste. I also add a little sugar to the yogurt. Lower the heat and add this along with the remaining marinade to the pan. Mix everything nicely. Note: Use 3 cups for a lighter gravy, 2 cups for not too soupy one.

Add salt to taste.

Transfer everything to a Pressure Cooker.If you think that the liquid is not enough, add some water.Add a tsp of Kewra Water. The Kewra Water is important, DO NOT skip it, you can use Rose Water if you don't have Kewra Water.

Now close the lid and cook till Mutton is tender. Do not over cook. Since I had marinated the meat for close to 18 hrs, mine was done in 10 minutes after full pressure build up.
Note: If you do not have a pressure cooker, you can cook the meat in the pan but it will take about 45-60 minutes. You will also need to stir in between and add water if necessary to avoid the meat from sticking to the bottom.

In a small bowl heat 1-2 tbsp of milk. Add a few strands of saffron to the warm milk and mix. Once the meat is done and you can open 

the lid of the cooker add the milk+saffron and close the lid again.

Let it sit for 30 minutes and then serve with Rice, Biryani or Naan.

Things I did not do right : The meat was cooked to perfection the first time. In haste I put the Cooker back on fire and cooked for 5 minutes more. This slightly over cooked the mutton and changed the gravy's lightness. The gravy could/should have been a bit more thinner & lighter. I only used 3 cups of yogurt, so I have increased the amount in the recipe here


Trivia : The Mughal influence in Bengali Cuisine was reinforced in the Raj era, when Kolkata became the place of refuge for many prominent exiled Nawabs, especially the family of Tipu Sultan from Mysore and Wajid Ali Shah, the ousted Nawab of Awadh. The exiles brought with them hundreds of cooks and masalchis (spice mixers). These highly accomplished cooks came with the knowledge of a very wide range of spices (most notably jafran saffron and mace), the extensive use of ghee as a method of cooking, and special ways of marinating meats.
Specialties include chap (ribs slow cooked on a tawa), rezala (meat in a thin yogurt and cardamom gravy) and the famous kathi roll (kebabs in a wrap)

Similar Recipes:

Hyderabadi Maraag

Patha'r Mangshor Jhol

Mutton Stew for Kids

REZALA FESTIVAL VEG, NON VEG

Posted by Ushnish Ghosh

You will find this recipe very interesting, very different in flavour  and awesome! While wrting the word "interesting" I remember an explanation and meaning of the word given by my brother, who studied in Penn and stayed for few more years in US before coming back to India.

One day he said " Be careful when an American uses the word interesting while eating food"

I asked " What do you mean"

"Americans always use very superlative adjectives for things they like..awesome, fantastic, yummy , out of the world etc. But if they dont like some thing they will never use any bad adjective like horrible food, cant eat this stuff  etc etc . Instead they will say " Intersting" , which means very bad but I am trying to make it interesting. So if you call an American for dinner and if he uses the adjective interesting, dont cook it in future"

So it is a joke in our family and among closed friends circle ..If any one says interesting we immediately ask " American Interesting or normal interesting"?

Most of you are in USA, so I dont know how far it is true, but I liked it.

So here the dish is not American Interesting.

THE RECIPE

This dish is very simple to cook and fast. It needs only curd and onion for the gravy and a typical seasoning.

You walk into most of the restaurant in down town Calcutta, you will get  a very well  known dish called Razela , mainly cooked with the ribs and chops of mutton and chicken too. Of course Chicken Razela doesn't stand any where near the mutton one. But it is quite tasty "the chicken-way" for people who don't eat Mutton.

Most restaurants claim, it as their special and they were the originators of the dish. I have been eating Razela since 60s when I came to Calcutta. All Razelas are more or less same, but the most famous one was served at Sabir's  in Chandni Chowk area of Calcutta. No one can match their taste.

After lot of discussions with experts and experiments long back, I arrived at this Razela, which people say, it is close to the Sabirs.

The gravy  has a very different taste and I tried vege version which people love it too, including the carnivores.

In this posting I shall give a detailed method for the Mutton Razela and only photographs and tips for the Vege version. The chicken one is not presented here as I haven't cooked in recent past.

I am giving here

MUTTON RAZELA

POTATO RAZELA

PANEER RAZELA WITH POTATO OPTION

GOBI ( CAULIFLOWER) RAZELA WITH CARROT (OPTION)

INGREDIENTS

lamb or goat meat 500 gms ( normally rib with a layer of fat and chops are used. You may use other parts with bone or boneless too. As you know, mutton cooked with bone gives a very rich taste. Choice of meat portion is yours)

Common for all vege and non vege dishes

fresh thick curd 300 gms

onion 300 gms 

( you can use more or less depending upon how much gravy you want. but the onion and curd should be approximately of same quantity. The gravy is thin)

 for the gravy

Freshly ground or crushed white pepper 1 level  tsp ( black pepper is also good) add more if you want.

bay leaf 1 

cardamum 2

clove 2

cinnamon 1 inch approx. broken

sugar 2 tsp level

salt to taste

For the seasoning 

Bay leaf  1

Dry red chili 1

black pepper 1 tsp slightly heaped or heaped.

cardamom 3

clove 3

cinnamon 1.25 inch broken.

Ghee 5 tbsp ( about 75 ml, more the merrier)

Garnishing

Dry Red chili whole 5-6

PROCESS ( for Meat)
Wash meat and keep aside.

Grind onion to a fine and smooth paste.
Add curd to the onion paste and mix throughly in a blender or mixer ( this is important)
Mix pepper powder.

Mix the meat , the spice for the gravy and marinate for 1 hr. If you dont have time, straight proceed for cooking. You can do this step in the pressure cooker or thick bottom vessel that you will be using for cooking.

Add sugar and salt and cook under pressure.DO NOT ADD WATER. THERE IS SUFFICIENT WATER IN MEAT , CURD AND ONION Australian and New Zealand Lamb will cook in 6-8 minutes, Indian lamb (God knows). If you are not using pressure cooker, adjust water from time to time. The gravy is thin finally. When the meat is done stop cooking.

Add or remove water to get a thin and not so thick consistency. Adjust salt.

In a Skillet / Kadhai, add ghee and heat, throw in the seasoning. As soon as the aroma comes, pour the seasoning into the Meat vessel and cover.

Bring to boil and boil for 2 mibutes, covered.

Put the raw dry red chili to garnish.

Dish is ready.

NOTE: The dish will not have any pungent onion smell, so don't worry. The pungent onion smell comes if you add onion paste in hot oil and don't fry properly.
Some people add a bit of ginger garlic paste, which I don't. If you want you can give 1 tsp of the paste.  
Mixing of onion paste and curd is important. When the curd curdles, it will be dispersed evenly with onion, giving a smooth thin gravy.
For more gravy add more curd onion paste mix at the beginning.
This dish needs good quantity of ghee, so don't reduce, you may add more.
VEGE RAZELA

Ingredients and  Process remain same. Only minor change in treating the vege or Paneer.
Potato Razela
Boil Potato , peel and cut into large pieces.
Fry to condition or stabilize the potato surface. No browning is necessary.
You can use boiled potato as it is. I fry a bit.

Proceed with making the gravy as above (without the potato). Boil for 5-8 minutes, covered. Adjust water ( remember Potato will adsorb lot of water, so you may keep it thin or can add water later.)
Add Potato , boil for a minute, give seasoning and proceed as above. 

Potato Razela

Paneer Razela

 Cut paneer in large size, say 1 inch thick , 2 X 1/1.2 inch. ( you decide the size, but don't make thin as it would be fried.)

Fry the Paneer to light brown and proceed as Potato Razela.

Potato paneer Razela

 Proceed as above, given with Potato and Paneer.

Cauliflower Razela ( with Carrot , option)

I generally cook this with Cauliflower only. But someone insisted , to use carrot this time..( else Carrot will be there in the break fast with additional germinated green gram, raw turmeric, Jaggery et al..the standard punishments for me.. you know ).But the taste was good.

You may try Cauliflower alone raw, and also souteed cauliflower to get that light aroma.

It will be same as that with meat,

Marinate the raw cauliflower, carrot and proceed with normal boiling until the Cauliflower gets cooked. Proceed as above after the Cauliflower is cooked.

Similarly you can make Potato-Cauliflower Razela, I love it.

 Amendments 
1. This dish is normally eaten with roti, chapati, paratha, tanduri roti, bread, Nan , mainly  wheat product, But being a Bengali I ate with rice too.
2. There is a very nice chicken rezala recipe by Kalyan of Knife. I forgot to mention. Please try here . Apart from the recipe, Kalyan has given an excellent write up on Rezala.

BEGUN TOMATO MICRO CHA-CHADI (Eggplant and tomato)

Posted by Ushnish Ghosh

Today there is no story or incident to narrate. Every body had gala time on cakes and cookies, and all exotic dishes on New year. And the poor joker ( yes  yes you are right, that was me) was busy making fish, mutton and chicken tikkas, sitting in front of a charcoal BBQ contraption...OK end of the ordeal was good as every body liked the tikka and asking for the recipe....I did not tell them that for charcoal grill no recipe was needed. ( Thanks to Sanjeev Kapoor).

So I thought I would post a simple Bengali recipe which you should be able to make in 15 minutes and watch TV too in between.

RECIPE

This is a simple Bati ( bowl) cha-chaDi , made in Micro...Ingredients are all added raw , no frying but it will have a high note of Turmeric.(..if you dont like turmeric ( not so frightening as it may appear) you may not make this dish) , a mild note of Panch foDon ( 5 spices of bengal and orissa), high chili and the fragrance of Mustrad oil. Believe me, if you can get a good quality of olive oil, non-bongs can use it and it tastes real good minus the pungency of mustard...

INGREDIENTS

Egg plant 2 cups , chopped to 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch pieces.

Tomato 1 medium, cut to 1/2 inch 

green chili 3 cut to 1/2 inch ( more the merrier) 

Onion 1 medium sliced.

turmaric powder 1 tsp 

red chili powder ( absolutely optional only for hot chili eaters) 

Panch PhoDon 1/2 tsp  if you dont have forget it) 

Mustard oil 11/2 tbsp ( olive oil will do)

salt to taste
Sugar 1 or 3/4th tsp level ( This is for taste and not sweetening)

coriander leaves ( optional) chopped 1 tbsp

ginger, fine chopped 1 tsp

PROCESS

Mix all of these in a micro proof  glass or ceramic ware with a ceramic lead ( you can put a 1/2 plate on top to cover)

Put in the micro with the cover and run  at 700 to 900 watt for 3 minutes

Remove and mix well and again put back and run for 3 minutes,

Cover and run for few minutes...for the timing I will rely on your experience..to ensure that all the ingredients are cooked and soft.

devoure with , roti, paratha or hot rice. I love it with rice as it is extra hot.

VARIATIONS

Do whatever you want , one can replace eggplant with fried paneer or use sliced potato, zucchini , ridge gourd,  cauliflower or cabbage etc etc.

Crispy paratha, tricky to make but very tasty.

Add your private note

Preparation Time: 20 min.
Cooking Time: 20 min.
Makes 8 parathas.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
warm water for kneading
oil for shallow frying

 

 

Method

 

1.             Sieve the flour and salt together in bowl. Rub in the oil and add warm water gradually. Knead until smooth. Cover and leave aside for 20 minutes.

2. 

    

                Knead again and divide the dough into 8 portions. Shape each into a round ball. Flatten a little.

3. 

                 Roll out each flattened ball into a circle of 150 mm. (6") diameter. Cut into 50 mm. (2") strips lengthways. Place all the strips over the center one.

4. 

                Roll like a Swiss roll. Press a little with your fingers. Pour 1 teaspoon of oil on each roll.

5. 

                Take one roll at a time and roll it out into a round of about 125 mm. (5") diameter.

6. 

                When you remove the round, palce it on your palms and lightly press towards the center to show the layers clearly.

7. 

                Heat a tava and cook the rounds lightly on both sides. When you want to serve, cook the rounds directly on the gas or preferably on charcoal. Apply butter and serve hot.