Haute Cuisine

LUNCH at a Coorgi household usually means lavish spreads featuring every conceivable non-vegetarian dish. From chicken curry to fried spicy ...

LUNCH at a Coorgi household usually means lavish spreads featuring every conceivable non-vegetarian dish. From chicken curry to fried spicy pork and mutton curry — all eaten with a delicious variety of rice preparations we call puttu, from string hoppers to steamed rice cakes and broken rice puddings. The centerpiece is the Sunday Pulao — steaming, fragrant and heaped onto platters for lunches that often lasted hours…I’ve picked the very special mutton pulao with its accompanying sweet, ripe mango pajji, and the standard chicken curry that tastes good with everything!

MUTTON (EARCHI) PULAO

Ingredients
1 kg basmati rice
1 kg mutton pieces
1 bunch chopped mint
1 bunch chopped coriander
4 green chilies
150 gms coconut
2 inch piece ginger
1 clove garlic
Few cinnamon sticks
6 green cardamom pods
6 cloves
3 onions
3 tbsps khus-khus
1 tbsp each dhania, haldi and red chilli powder
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp peppercorns

Method
Add 1 tbsp haldi, salt, chilli powder, dhania to mutton. Keep aside. Grind khus khus, green chillies, jeera and pepper. Fry 3 finely-sliced onions in 6 tbsps oil and add mutton, ground masala and mix. Add 8 cups of warm water and bring to a boil. Pressure cook for 8 minutes.

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Separate mutton from the gravy. Add to 4 tbsps hot oil, cardamoms, cinnamon and cloves. Add rice and fry lightly. Add gravy and cook on slow fire till rice is done. Add mutton after 10 minutes and mix lightly. Garnish with mint and coriander.

KOLI (chicken) CURRY

Ingredients
1 kg chicken (jointed)
150 gms coconut, ground to a paste with 2 tbsps jeera, 2 tsps khus khus, 2 green chillies
Juice of 1 lime squeezed into tamarind water

Method
Mix 1 level tsp each of salt, haldi powder, chilli power and coriander powder, add to chicken pieces and keep aside. Add 2 sliced and fried onions to 2 tsps oil and fry lightly. Add chicken pieces and continue to fry stirring constantly. Add ground coconut masala and fry for 3-4 minutes more. Add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.
Cover and simmer till chicken pieces are tender. Add lime juice and tamarind water and more salt to taste if required. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

MANGO PACHADI (PAJJI)

Ingredients
2 ripe mangoes (peeled and sliced)
250 gms thick curds
1 inch piece grated ginger
2 red chillies (dried)
5-6 garlic flakes
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 small onion finely chopped
2 inch piece of coconut ground with 1 green chilli
3 tsps sugar

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Method
Add ground coconut and grated ginger to curds. Mix well. Add salt and sugar. Add chopped mangoes and mix well with curd mixture. Heat 2 tsps of cooking oil. Add curry leaves, mustard seeds, garlic flakes, red chillies and chopped onions. Fry lightly and mix with mango and curds.