from nani's notebook: safed maas

goat in a creamy poppyseed sauce

The name of this recipe translates literally to “white meat”, but that term already means something different in English, so I’m using the Hindi title my grandma used. It’s pronounced “suh-fade meat”.

SAFED MEAT: GOAT OR LAMB IN CREAMY POPPYSEED SAUCE

stuff
50gm white poppyseeds
4 tbsp neutral oil
3 big yellow or red onions
1.5 inch ginger
10 cloves garlic
1lb kg plain full fat yogurt
2lb goat or lamb meat, a cheap stew cut
salt
8-10 whole dried red chili peppers
20 whole black peppercorns
(optional) 10 almonds
(optional) 4tbsp grated coconut

tools
pressure cooker
powerful blender
food processor
chef's knife
cutting board

prep
soak the poppyseeds in enough water to cover them, overnight or at least 3 hours
slice 1.5 onions
process 1.5 onions, ginger and garlic in the food processor into small pieces
if using: grind up the almonds and coconut

what do
1. Heat oil in the pressure cooker on medium-high heat. Cook the sliced onions until slightly pink, but not browned. 
2. Then add the onion-ginger-garlic mixture and cook down until the moisture has cooked off, the aromatics are browned and little puddles of fat are visible on the bottom of the pressure cooker next to the aromatics -- this is a sign that the water is mostly gone.
3. Blend the soaked poppyseeds to a fine paste. Add this paste to browned aromatics in the pressure cooker and cook until slightly browned.
4. Beat the yogurt until smooth. Add the beaten yogurt, meat and salt to taste. Cook until the moisture has cooked off and little puddles of oil are again visible at the bottom next to the sauce.
5. Add the whole red chili peppers and peppercorns. Put the lid on the pressure cooker, heat until it reaches pressure and then cook for 5 minutes or until the meat is cooked through. 
6. If using, add the almonds and coconut, and stir before serving.

a note of caution regarding wet onion

The original recipe called for grinding the onion, ginger and garlic to a paste. I find that this results in a really wet mixture that takes an eternity to cook down and start browning. If you’re impatient and don’t wait long enough, the dish will have a terrible nasty wet raw onion flavor and aroma. Ask me how I know.

There are a couple ways of fixing this.

1. Don’t be impatient. Cook it for a long ass time until all the moisture is gone.

2. Don’t grind to a paste while raw. Instead, just slice all the onion, cook until browned, and then stick the whole cooked mixture in a blender.

3. Instead of blending the raw onion to a smooth paste, use a food processor to cut it into small chunks.

The recipe I wrote above uses strategy 3, but I’ve tried all 3 and they all work. A fourth, lazy, bad strategy is to slice the onions and then not blend to a smooth sauce. I think this doesn’t lead to the smooth, rich sauce that makes this recipe so great.

the original recipe from my grandma

Here’s a direct English translation:

1 kg meat

4 big onions

2 heads of garlic

1.5 inch ginger

8-10 whole dried red chili peppers

20 peppercorns

0.5 kg yogurt

50gm white poppyseeds

2 ladles of water

Soak these separately. Afterwards they must be ground.

Ghee or refined oil, whatever you’d like to use.

First put oil in the pressure cooker – use your judgement for how much. Then add two onions, sliced, and fry them until slightly pink, not brown. Then add the remaining two onions, garlic and ginger ground to a paste. Cook well until little puddles of oil are visible at the bottom. When the masala is nicely browned then add the ground soaked poppyseeds and cook until a little browned. Then add the meat after washing it and 9 teaspoons salt. At the same time, beat the yogurt until smooth and add it. Then cook until the water cooks off and little puddles of oil are visible at the bottom. Then before pressure cooking add the red chilli peppers and peppercorns, then close the pressure cooker for 5 minutes. After opening add some ground up almonds and coconut – then eat with great enjoyment.

Here’s a direct Hindi transcription:

1 kg meat

4 प्याज बड़े

2 गट्टे लसन

1 ½ इन्च अधरक

8, 10 लाल मिर्च साबत

20 काली मिरच

½ kg दही (curd)

50 gm खसखस

पानी दो कड़छी

इसको अलग से भिगो कर रखे

बाद में पीसना है |

घी या refind तेल जो भी use करना चाहें

पहले cooker में तेल डालें अन्दाज से

फिर उसमें दो प्याज के लच्छे बना कर डाले fry करे पूरा Brown नही करना है थोड़ा pink कलर का हो जाये तो उसमें बाकी के दो प्याज, लसन, अधरक तीनों को पीस कर उसमे डाल दें और तेल छोड़ने तक अच्छे से भूनें जब मसाला भुन जाये तो उसमे पीसी हुई खसखस डाल दें और उसे भी थोड़ा भूनें | भुनने के बाद उसमें Meat धोकर डालें और 9 चम्मच (teaspoon) नमक डालें, उसी समय दही को अच्छे से फेंट कर डाल देवे, फिर उसे पकने दें जब तक तेल न छूट जाये – फिर Pressure देने से पहले उसमे लाल मिर्च और काली मिरच डाल कर 5 मिन्ट कुकर बन्द कर देवें। खोलने के बाद में थोड़े पीसे बादाम और नारियल डाल दें – फिर स्वाद से बढ़ कर खावें।

And here are the original pages from her notebook: