My husband and I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day but any opportunity to make a day special is always welcome by us. Besides birthdays and anniversaries, V Day is a nice annual reminder to cherish your love and make the relationship stronger and happier. We have a family fun day every week but very few days in a year for just the two of us. We feel too busy being parents, balancing work, house, caring for (my husband’s) parents and having a social life. So, V Day comes as an excuse to set aside an evening to spend together. Thank God, this year it was on Sunday, and we had the entire day to ourselves!
Usually on Sunday mornings we wake up at 6:00 and drive to north Vancouver. My husband goes hiking and I go snowshoeing with my friend. This Sunday we decided to relax at home and get cozy with a hot cup of ginger tea. After a while, we walked to the nearby plaza to buy some things. It is 10 minutes’ drive from our home, however, it felt nice walking with my husband in rain, something we do not normally do.
My in-laws had gone to the temple for weekly prayer and my daughter was at her friends’ house, so it was just the two of us for lunch. Without being asked my husband helped me with the cooking. We enjoyed a delightful lunch (recipe below) together, catching up on our married life so far. Then we watched our favorite comedy show “Everybody loves Raymond” and Golf on TV. I do not like watching or playing sports, but I watched with him because he loves it and we just wanted to enjoy being together. These are the small things you do for each other that make life beautiful and increase the warmth of your relationship.
Later in the evening we went out for dinner in a Lebanese restaurant but felt disappointed with the food. The falafel and tahini were all right but the tuna fish just tasted bland with salsa. My asparagus and zucchini latke were cold. When I complained the server felt sorry and asked to heat it up for me. But at that point I just was not interested. So, when she brought the bill, the restaurant didn’t charge us for the fish. After our dinner we had coffee at Waves and enjoyed dessert (warm gulab jamun with vanilla ice cream) at home. It turned out to be a very pleasant day for both of us.
For lunch I genuinely wanted to prepare something special that captures the romance of valentine’s day. So, I made gushtaba, a kashmiri delicacy with green chana pulao. Gushtaba is a non-vegetarian dish made of minced mutton/lamb balls, cooked in aromatic yogurt-based gravy. This exotic dish forms an integral part of a 36-course meal ‘Wazwan’ (Kashmiri formal platter) and is prepared on important ceremonies and functions. It is called the dish of kings by Muslims living in the Kashmiri region of India.
Traditionally gushtaba is made with minced mutton and lamb fat together. The mutton is hand-pounded, using a wooden hammer on a stone or wooden block. Pounding meat is a laborious exercise. When it’s being minced, spices are added along with lamb fat. The process of mincing the meat breaks up the fibers, making it more tender; adding the fat gives it a delightfully creamy texture. Once the mincing is done make balls out of the minced mixture and boil them in water. In another pan yogurt is boiled until it thickens, then season it with spices and cook the meat balls in it. It is a mild dish with delicate flavors of sweetish fennel and cardamom, and just a bit of heat from kashmiri garam masala. I added slight red chilli powder to suit our taste.
This is a sophisticated dish for parties or simple enough for a weeknight dinner. I made it after a long time, and it came out just fabulous.
A kashmiri delicacy with velvety meatballs simmered in aromatic yogurt gravy.
Ingredients
- It is quite a big list of ingredients but once you start to look into them, most items can be found in your pantry or easily available in stores.
- 500g very finely minced mutton (preferably from shoulder)
- 3/4 tsp ginger powder
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp crushed green cardamom seeds
- salt to taste
- 750 g homemade whipped yogurt ( if you use greek yogurt thin it with water)
- 1 1/2 tbsp kashmiri gaarm masala (recipe follows)
- 3/4 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tbsp. ginger garlic paste
- 4 cloves
- 1 tsp dried mint leaves
- 2 bay leaf
- 3 green cardamom, discard shells
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp saunf (fennel) powder
- Salt to taste
- Few strands saffron
- Finely chopped green onion (optional)
- 6-7 dried apricots or raisins, chopped small
- 10-12 blanched almonds, slivered
- 1/4 cup desi ghee [(clarified butter) use one tbsp in meatballs}
- 50 g cinnamon
- 50 g cumin seeds
- 50 g black peppercorns
- 15 g poppy seeds
- 10 g cardamoms
- 15 to 20 cloves
- 1 nutmeg
- 8-10 bay leaves
- 2-3 pieces dry ginger
- 5 g mace
Instructions
- Mix the mutton mince, egg, saunf powder, 1 tbsp. ghee, ginger powder, crushed cardamom and salt in a bowl. Keep it aside.
- Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a pot.
- Divide and roll the mince mixture into evens size balls with few pieces of apricot in the centre of each.
- Add these minced meat balls one by one to the boiling water. Continue to cook till they become hard about 5 minutes.
- Remove in a bowl.
- In another pot heat the remaining ghee and season it with cumin, cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon and green cardamom seeds.
- Pour the whipped yogurt ,stir it continuously so that yogurt will not curdle till it starts boiling properly.
- Add the meat balls along with kashmiri garam masala powder, salt red chilli powder and one tbsp. saunf powder and dried mint leaves.
- Let simmer for 10-15 minutes till the gravy thickens of your choice.
- Transfer in a serving dish.
- Garnish with slivered almonds, saffron, leftover chopped apricots and green onion.
- Lightly roast all the ingredients separately and grind them to a dry powder.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
It is better to mince the mutton yourself at home with a wooden pestle in a mortar till is becomes fine but I asked the butcher to make a fresh batch of mince after choosing the piece of meat.
Azlin Bloor
We don’t do Valentine’s Day, either! I’ve never really been into it. This looks like a really delicious recipe, I love any meatballs in gravy! I suppose you can fry the meatballs instead of boiling?
Balvinder
Boil or fry, it depends on your like.
Monica
I really enjoyed reading about your Valentine’s Day and about this lunch you guys made in particular. It really is a great “excuse” just to be with your loved one and to celebrate that in any way you like. Spending time together and cooking together is so nice. I love how active you guys are regularly, too. It just figures that meals out can be disappointing. I’m glad you guys had this delicious lunch to fortify you. It looks heavenly.
Summer
This looks so mouthwatering ♥
summerdaisy.net
Angie@Angie's Recipes
Meatball in creamy yoghurt gravy…that sounds heavenly!
Sharon D.
This looks really delicious. I’m salivating and feeling hungry just looking at the pictures!
Katerina
I love the idea of meatballs in a creamy yogurt sauce!
Ami@NaiveCookCooks
Glad you enjoyed and got to spend time with your husband! Those gulab jamuns look so good!! I can easily eat 3-4 right now! I have never heard of this dish before so planning on trying this out!
Harvinder
The dish looks lovely my friend…definitely gonna try to recreate it…😙😙
Blackswan
Nothing beats home-cooked food I guess! Happy weekend, dear! xoxo
Soma Saharay
Simplicity with a touch of expertise… thats how I define this valentine girl…yum laden
kushi
Very interesting recipe Looks so creamy and delicious.
Adina
This dish sounds delicious, I love the creaminess and the flavors. I used to love watching “Everybody Loves Raymond” (I particularly loved his brother), it seems like ages ago, I think I was still in school, must have been sometimes in the 90’s. Memories!!! 🙂
Medha
This looks delicious! Can I replace the ghee with oil in the meatballs? I can’t digest ghee.
Thanks!
Balvinder
Sure Medha, oil works perfect in the meatballs and in cooking.
Blackswan
Such a mouth-watering dish! I’m drooling……. xoxo