Welcome to a new series on Malabar Tea Room, Tea with Friends, where we share recipes from our friends and family that we think you’d love. We’re surrounded by good cooks and nothing makes mum and I happier than listening to someone one tell us about the dishes they love to cook, and that one secret ingredient that makes their version so special. So here we are, having convinced some of those friends to share their recipes and secrets with you as well. Confusingly, the series will feature not just tea-time recipes, but the name was catchy, so let’s go with that.
I first ate this kanji at my sister’s in the UK. She had made it for iftaar one evening, and Sajjad and I couldn’t get enough. The best way to describe it would be that it’s like a kichidi that’s dressed up for a rave. Can you tell I’ve never been to a rave? Ha. There’s shredded mutton in the kanji to make it richer and deeper, as well as coconut milk to make things creamy and luscious, and a big generous handful of herbs to brighten it all up. Although we have my sister Sheri to thank for bringing this kanji into our lives, the recipe comes from her best friend, Fatima. Fatima thatha also makes the most incredible Madras biryani and it is always a highlight of my UK trip.
Over time, Sajjad and I have changed the recipe a bit and adapted it for the instant pot. We typically use mince, rather than bone-in mutton, and we pressure cook all the ingredients together in one go, and skip the coconut milk altogether. I was telling Sheri thatha about it recently and she seemed a bit horrified about the mince, so we went back to the original recipe, and she’s right, it’s so much better with the bone-in meat. Although the original recipe asks for the rice+dal to be cooked separate and then added to the cooked mutton, I’ve combined the steps here. Just know that if you’re pressed for time, you can do the whole thing in one go: the mince, the dal and the rice all added at once and pressure cooked for 10 minutes on high. It just won’t feel quite as lux. But sometimes that’s ok. And for all the other times, follow the recipe below.
Quick outfit change
Recipe: Mutton Masala Kanji
Ingredients
For the rice + dal
1/2 cup moong dal (dry-roasted in a pan for a few minutes — I always forget to do this, however)
1/2 cup rice (Fatima thatha recommends broken basmati; we use jeera samba, or kaima rice. Sona masoori would work too. In other words, use whatever raw rice you have, but not boiled rice)
For the meat
2 onions, chopped
1/2 tbsp oil
2 cloves
1/2-inch cinnamon
2 pods of green cardamom, lightly crushed
1 bay leaf
3-4 green chillies, slit lengthwise
450 g mutton, curry cut (bone-in)
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
Handful chopped coriander leaves, divided
Handful chopped mint leaves, divided
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (optional, but a nice touch)
1 tsp chilli powder (again, optional but nice)
1 cup coconut milk (optional but very nice)
Method
Turn on the sauté mode of the Instant Pot, and heat the oil.
Add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaves and sauté until fragrant.
Add in the chopped onions and cook for 4-5 minutes, until the onions turn translucent.
Add in the mutton, green chillies, tomatoes, half the coriander leaves and mint leaves, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Sauté for a few minutes, reducing it to low if the pot gets too hot.
Add in 3/4 cup water, and switch to Pressure Cook mode (high), close the valve and cook for 15 minutes.
Release the valve, add in the dal, rice, 2 cups water, and pressure cook again for 10 minutes on high.
Release the valve, open, carefully remove the bones from the meat, add in the reserved coriander and mint leaves, as well as coconut milk, if using.
Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed.
Loosen it out with a little hot water if you’d like it a bit thinner.
Serve hot.