Dhaniwal korma || Coriander lamb curry || One-pot Happiness
Sharing love and chores
Living in a typical Kashmiri family, the toil of housework never becomes mind-numbing for an individual member of the family. Because all the cleaning, cooking, dishes, laundry and raising children alongside earning bread and butter is not the sole responsibility of two adults. Your role in raising your children is minimal because of their grandparents’ unwavering support. Their aunts and uncles (pouph’e, maas’e, maam, paetir, etc.) are always there to provide an additional layer of support. Even if you don’t have household help, as part of a close-knit community you are lucky to have many people around to help you. You can just outsource some chores within your budget or pay the municipality worker some extra chaai (a small amount of money, more than enough to buy a cup of chaai, figuratively) and he’ll clean around the house. Plus, there are members within the household to share the load of other household chores. If for some reason, you can’t do your groceries, a polite nephew will be there to help. If you are under the weather, even the kind Gull’e who lives in the neighborhood wouldn’t mind running a few errands for you. In this setup, you can dedicate hours of your time in the kitchen if you like to cook and you have that sort of patience. More so if you truly believe that good food is the foundation of genuine happiness after all.
Sharing chores and chores
Fast forward to a setup 12 hours away by flight. There are only only two adults in the family now. Previously, most of the common household chores didn’t fall in their domain concurred with ability, interest or need. Now in the ‘nuclear family’ , they have to juggle work, kids and the burdensome domestic chores. The idea of moving out of your parents’ house may sound exciting for all the liberty, space and privacy that one expects, but it is not so easy especially if you are an adult with your own children, moving straight from the East to the West. Getting emancipated in thirties may seem like a joke to Westerners who start a life on their own as soon as they turn eighteen. But in our defense, we do not give up our rights to parental support however old we get and we have our pretty genuine reasons.
So in pardes (foreign land), when I refer to the mental notes of authentic Kashmiri recipes, the only part I dread is doing the dishes afterwards. Because most of our recipes, especially the ones involving meat (that is, 90% of them), lead to a sink full of dishes. We like to boil the meat first, then drain it and fry the onions and spices separately and so on. All that effort surely pays off with the gastronomic experience. However, this adds to the sink at least two huge vessels, a colander, a couple of bowls, all for one curry, which is imperatively to be accompanied with batt’e (rice) and at least another syun (side dish). And I must confess to the hatred of washing dishes, especially in this lifestyle.
The angelic pot
At this point, the pressure cooker makes a heroic entry and solves a colossal part of the problem.
Dhaniwal Korma
Done with rambling for now. Coming to the point, Dhaniwal Korma (Coriander korma) is one of my favorite Kashmiri lamb dishes. Lamb is cooked in yogurt (lots of it), with a blend of mild but flavorsome spices and a generous amount of coriander. This combination renders the thoroughly cooked, tender lamb chunks covered in a zesty gravy such a distinctive flavour, sure to leave you smacking your lips. The process involved in this recipe slightly deviates from the traditional version, mainly because of the pressure cooker, but the taste is close to if not the same: delish! And having to worry about washing just one pot, that steals the show for me.
Dhaniwal Korma || Lamb Coriander Curry
Ingredients
- 1½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 1 shallot thinly sliced
- 1 kg lamb meat
- 1 tbsp crushed garlic
- ½ tbsp ginger paste
- 1 kg Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup fresh coriander roughly chopped
Whole Spices
- 2 sticks cinnamon
- 9-10 cardamoms
- 2 black cardamoms
- 2 cloves
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
Ground spices
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp fennel seed powder
- ¾ tsp ginger powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- salt as per taste
Instructions
- Preheat a pressure cooker on the hob over medium high heat. Add oil and half of the whole spices, i.e., cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, black cardamom, green cardamoms and a clove.
- Add the onions and fry until they start turning brown on the edges. Now add the shallot and continue frying until both onions and shallots turn golden brown.
- Add meat and fry till it changes colour, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add in the crushed garlic and ginger and fry for another 2 minutes.
- Add the powdered spices: salt, turmeric powder, fennel seed powder, ginger powder and coriander powder. Mix well and add about a tablespoon of water. Keep stirring and add another tablespoon of water so that the spices blend in well.
- Blend the yogurt along with one tablespoon of lemon juice (optional) in a blender or manually. Add the blended yogurt to the cooker along with the remaining half of the whole spices. Mix well and bring to boil.
- Close the lid and pressure cook for about 9 minutes on medium low heat. The time taken to pressure cook depends on the quality of meat, so make adjustments accordingly.
- One the pressure cooker releases the pressure on its own, open the lid. At this point check the consistency of the gravy. If you want it thicker, let it boil on the hob for some time without the lid. Finally, after turning the heat off, add in fresh coriander. Mix well.
Notes
- Ghee can be used in place of oil to make it more flavourful. Also, half oil and half ghee is another option.
- I use lemon juice because Greek yogurt is not sour like traditional desi yogurt (curd). It can be omitted, and must be omitted if the yogurt is sour.
- Even though this recipe uses a decent quantity of oil, some fat may be released from the lamb as well. This forms a layer of oil on the surface when the korma is cooked. It can be easily removed if you don’t prefer excess oil.
- Even though the meat is delicious too, but the gravy is beyond amazing. So, call me a Kashmiri obsessed with rice, I can only recommend trying it with rice.
- It can be cooked in an Instant Pot instead of a pressure cooker by following the same steps.