Re: Bajia’s Cooking
i used chicken, because i personally do not eat red meat. i did use the Shan packet for the grains, not the masala. but i did add a handful more of chana, moong and masoor daal, and a bit of rice, to that mix too.
i boiled the chicken, bone in, with ginger and garlic and salt til it was tender. then i shredded it very fine with my hands – i know it’s time consuming, but it is so worth the effort in the end!
then put the daals on to boil in lots of water; keep skimming the fat off the top as you go.
make the qorma as you normally would: three medium golden-browned onions, a tablespoon garlic paste, and the spice mix included in the Shan packet, except that the chicken added in is the boiled and shredded sort. bhunofy it. once done, instead of water, you add the reserved stock from boiling the chicken and put it on dumm for 10-15 min.
when the daal is tender, add in the chicken. don’t panic if it’s watery – it still needs to cook down.
the trick is the ghotafying. it’s a ****load of manual labour, but it’s what makes the taste. let it cook on low, low heat and ghot it. my haleem slow cooked for a full day and i ghotafied it all with a Teflon masher.
wasn’t brave enough for it the first time, but next time iA i’m going to skip the Shan packet entirely, at least for the spice mix. i’d like to try making it from scratch.