Mutton Safed Korma

Yesterday I watched a very touching movie on Holocaust that tugged at my heartstrings. Sarah's Key is a French movie based on Tatiana de Rosnay's best-selling novel that recaptures the event of Vel' d'Hiv' roundup during which 13,000 Jews were crammed in a stadium for 10 days without food and water by the French Police before being deported to Auschwitz. It revolves round the story of an 11 years old girl who during the roundup in order to save her little brother from discovery locked him up in a hidden closet in their home, hopeful she would release him upon returning home within hours. But how the events took turn and how she suffered the most horrific tragedy of her life that changed her future from thereon is something that would spring tears to anyone's eyes.

 

I didn't know about the involvement of French authority in the extermination of Jews until I watched this movie. It is astonishing and terrifying to think about the roles, the super powers of the world played in bringing a race almost on the verge of extinction. The more I read and watch about holocaust, the more shocking pieces of information spill out taking me by surprise. The facts and events of what transpired within the span of 6 years would always intrigue the posterity.

Mutton Safed Korma is an exotic white mutton curry cooked with stupendous quantity of yogurt and kheer. If khoya kheer is not readily available in your region, you may use whipping cream as substitute. The original recipe I cooked it from didn't have an iota of spice added to it, but not sure how the mutton would turn out completely devoid of spice, I added a hint of cumin and coriander powder and the final product was awesome, finger-licking good. 

 

Ingredients:                                                Cooking time: 1 hr 20 minutes approx. ü  1 kg mutton ü  400 gm yogurt ü  4 large onions (julienned) ü  6-7 green chillies (chopped) ü  2 tbsp garlic paste ü  1 1/2 tbsp ginger paste ü  2 tbsp poppy seeds (ground into paste) ü  1 tbsp cashew nuts (ground into paste) ü  3 tbsp grated khoya kheer ü  1 1/2 cups of kheer made from heating milk (200 gm) ü  1 tsp cumin powder ü  1 tsp coriander powder ü  1 heaped tsp ground white pepper ü  Salt to taste ü  1 tsp rose water ü  White oil for cooking ü  Ghee For sauté: ü  2 green cardamoms ü  2 brown cardamoms ü  2 bay leaves ü  2 inch long cinnamon stick ü  4-5 cloves Method: 1) Marinate the mutton with yogurt and ginger-garlic paste for 4-5 hours. 2) Heat oil in a wok and when oil turns hot, add the ingredients for sauté and wait till they begin to sizzle. 3) Add onion and fry till onion turns translucent. Toss the marinated mutton into the wok scraping off the marinade. Mix well. Cook covered on medium low heat for 15 minutes. 4) Add green chillies, poppy paste, cashew nuts paste, cumin powder, coriander powder and white pepper. Stir gently to mix all. Again cook covered, this time for half an hour. 5) Add khoya kheer and the kheer made from heating milk. Add salt and continue cooking on low heat till mutton is tender. 6) Finally, add a sprinkling of rose water and generous amount of ghee. Cook for 2 more minutes and turn the heat off. 7) Serve hot with rice, paratha or luchi.