Gosht / Murghi na Parsi Curry Chawal (Mutton / Chicken Curry Rice Parsi-Style)

When I got married and moved to Grumpy's (you all know Grumpy by now - evil grin) house, I had already been cooking for 4 to 5 years. One Sunday, it was decided I cook Parsi Curry Chawal (rice). Even at the time, I made/make a mean Mangalorean Prawn Curry, but I was clueless about Parsi Curry. That’s when mum-in-law, Perin, came to my rescue. She taught me how to make this. I, in turn, have taught this to so many others and I now share this beautiful recipe with you.

The flavour of this curry is spicy and nutty. The tangy component added to this curry is a direct squeeze of lime onto the curry chawal when It’s on your plate. Enjoy! 😊

My stock of curry paste. The square box is the one i used to make this curry.

Ingredients: 

½ kilo mutton or chicken, cut into pieces

3 large potatoes, quartered

Half coconut, grated roughly or chopped into pieces

20 grams peanuts (singdana), roasted

20 grams sesame seeds, roasted

10 grams poppy seeds, roasted

20 grams cashew nuts, roasted

20 grams gram (chana/daalia), roasted

6 - 8 black peppercorns, roasted

½ inch cinnamon, roasted

1 clove, roasted

2 sprigs curry leaves

½ kilo tomatoes, pureed

20-22 whole dry Kashmiri chilies, soaked in hot water till soft, then drained

1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

7 tablespoons oil or as needed

My trusty old pan; I refuse to get rid of it. Works beautifully when i need to roast such items.

Method:

1. Grind the coconut, peanuts, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, cashews, gram, red Kashmiri chilies, black peppercorns, cinnamon, and cloves to a thick paste.
   
   
   
   
2. Heat oil in a cooker. Splutter the curry leaves and add the turmeric powder and ginger-garlic paste and fry well. Add the ground paste and fry well till oil separates.
   
   
   
   
3. Add the pureed tomatoes and cook till the raw taste and smell of the tomatoes is no longer evident and oil separates.
   
   
   
   
4. Add the mutton/chicken pieces, potato pieces and sauté well for 2-4 minutes.
5. Season with salt.
   
   
   
   
6. Add adequate water and pressure cook. (I usually pressure cook for two whistles, lower heat and continue simmer for 10-15 minutes for mutton and simmer 5 to 7 minutes for chicken). Shut off stove, allow the pressure to release by itself and then open the cooker.
   
   
   
   
7. Serve with Onion Rice, kachumber and a squeeze of lime. I also know people who dip crusty Brun bread in this curry so feel free to have it in a way if you so desire.
   
   

Kachumber: An Indian Salad

A salad mix of chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped green chilies, and chopped coriander leaves. Season with salt, black pepper powder and a few splashes of vinegar. (I use natural cane vinegar by Kolah’s)

Old photograph. Taken some time in 2014

Chef Notes for Curry:

1. We Bawas love our potatoes just as much as we love eggs hence if you’re not much of a ‘potato person’ feel free to omit them from the recipe.
2. This recipe can also be made into an egg (boiled egg) curry or a fish/prawn curry, but of course, when making egg / fish / prawn curry, please omit the potatoes.
3. The ingredients ground in ‘Point No. 1’, can be ground a day prior and stored in the fridge. In fact, I always make a large batch of the curry-paste and store it in containers in the freezer. Makes work easy for a jhatpat (quick) curry when the craving hits. The ground curry-paste easily keeps for a month or two, in the freezer.
4. Feel free to reduce or increase the quantity of red Kashmiri chilies. This quantity will give you a medium spicy curry.
5. Please note, the ground masala works like a thickening agent because of the added peanuts, etc., so ensure you add adequate water to into the pressure cooker. You don’t want thick masala sticking, burning, and getting wasted at the bottom of the pressure cooker.
6. The crockery differs in a few photographs as I am posting a few old photographs too.
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism. 

Some more photographs: