Planning A Feast Like The Ghattammaneni Household? Try These Easy Recipes

In the popular Telugu serial Muddha Mandaram, the matriarch of the Ghattammaneni family, Akhilandeswari (played by Haritha) is ecstatic that her search has come to an end. For the longest time, she had been looking for her late daughter-in-law Parvathi’s (played by Thanuja Gowda) brother Gani and his family. Now she has not only found them, but has come to know that Gani’s daughter Soundarya looks exactly like Parvathi.

Now that they are all in the Ghattammaneni house, Akhilandeswari prepared a feast comprising mutton, fish, chicken and other items. Planning to do some elaborate cooking for friends and family this long weekend? We’ve got you traditional dishes from the four different corners of the country to help you prepare a finger-licking good feast. Read on.

From the North:

Mutton Korma

Ingredients:

1 kg Mutton/Lamb boti

400 g onion

10 g green cardamom

50 g cashew nuts

20 g cumin powder

20 g red chilli powder

Salt, to taste

Kewra water

100 g ginger garlic paste

100 ml oil

10 g garam masala

50 g coriander powder

100 g curd

20 g black pepper

50 g turmeric powder

50 g jeera powder

50 g coriander powder

50 g javitri

50 g jaiphal

Bay leaf

1 cup cream

Method:

Wash the mutton/ lamb boti well and drain the water. Put it in a bowl for marinating. Add curd, ginger garlic paste, black pepper, garam masala, red chilli powder, jeera powder, cumin powder, green cardamom, turmeric Powder and coriander powder. Mix it well. Keep this mixture in the fridge for at least two hours or overnight. Heat oil in a pan and add the whole spices such as javitri, cardamom and bay leaf. Let the oil make a crackling sound.

Add the mutton and sauté it on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Prepare a paste of curd, almond powder, cashew nuts and brown onion and add it to the mutton. Add some flavourful mutton stock/Yakhani to the mutton. Place a lid over a pan and cook it till the mutton turns slightly tender. Add jaiphal to the dish along with salt to taste. Garnish with coriander leaves, cream, cashew nuts, and kewra water. Mix and turn off the flame.

Recipe courtesy: Chef Devraj Sharma, Crowne Plaza Today New Delhi Okhla

From the South:

Gosht Biryani

Ingredients:

1000 g mutton, cut into medium-size pieces

500 g basmati rice

50 g milk, to soak saffron

300 g curd, whisked properly

100 g ghee

30 g red chilli powder

0.05 g saffron, optional

5 g turmeric powder

5 g whole garam masala

Salt, to taste

100 g oil

20 g biryani masala powder

10 g shahjeera

Juice of 2 lemons

200 g maida dough

30 g ginger garlic paste

25 g mint, coriander and green chillies paste

10 g mint leaves, chopped

5 g coriander leaves

10 g green chillies, slit into half

50 g golden fried sliced onions

100 g raw papaya

Kewra water, a few drops

3 ltr water, for boiling rice

Method:

In a heavy-bottomed vessel, add the mutton, ginger garlic paste, crushed fried onions, curd, chopped coriander leaves, chilli paste, salt, turmeric powder, shah jeera, biryani masala powder, chilli powder, oil, lemon juice, salt and slit green chilies and mint leaves. Mix well and marinate it for 3 to 6 hours. Wash the Basmati rice for 30 minutes and cook it in hot water mixed with the whole garam masala, salt and shah jeera till it’s 70% ready and drain away the water.

Now add the basmati rice on top of the mutton. Make sure that the top layer is rice and bottom layer is mutton. Sprinkle golden fried onions and saffron soaked in milk, ghee, chopped mint leaves and coriander leaves. Sprinkle kewra water on top. Cover the vessel and seal it with the maida dough.

To avoid burning at the bottom, put a tawa at the bottom of the biryani vessel and cook on medium flame for 15 minutes till steam comes out of the dish. Once the steam comes out, simmer and cook for 40 minutes and switch off the gas. Serve hot with raita and mirchi ka salan.

Recipe courtesy: Chef Sidharth Bhardwaj, Executive Chef, Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel Gachibowli

From the West:

Bhareli Vangi (Maharashtrian style stuffed brinjals)

Ingredients

8 brinjals, small

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

8-10 curry leaves

1 onion, finely chopped

¼ tsp asafoetida

For the stuffing:

1/2 cup raw peanuts, roasted, peeled and crushed

4 cloves of garlic

1 inch ginger

Jaggery a marble-sized ball

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp tamarind pulp

2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

100 g fresh coconut, grated

Salt, to taste

1 tbsp goda masala powder

1 tsp kanda lasoon (onion garlic) masala

Method:

Rinse the brinjals well and wipe them dry. Slit them vertically into four parts, running the knife from top to bottom till the stem, without cutting it. Sprinkle some salt inside the slits of each eggplant and keep them aside for about 10 minutes. To stuff the eggplant, mix together crushed peanuts, fresh grated coconut ,goda masala, jaggery, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, tamarind pulp and salt. Use very less water. Add a teaspoon of kanda lasoon (onion garlic) masala and the stuffing should be thick.

Stuff each eggplant with two tablespoons of the stuffing. In a saucepan kept on medium heat, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Once the crackling noise stops, add chopped onions and fry till they turn a nice brown colour. Then add ginger garlic paste and saute it. Now the tempering is ready. Gently place the stuffed eggplants over the tempering. Add some water and keep the oven on low heat. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes. Then turn them over and cook on the other side.

Check if there is some water. If it looks too dry, you might get a burnt taste. So add little more water and continue cooking for another 15 minutes or until they all are nicely blackened. Remove from heat and serve hot. Garnish with freshly grated coconut and chopped fresh coriander.

Recipe courtesy: Executive Chef Nitin Mathur, Taj Santacruz Mumbai

From the East:

Ou Tenga Masor Jhul (Assamese fish curry with elephant apple)

Ingredients:

1 elephant apple

1 medium-sized river fish, diced, preferably rohu or katla

Mustard oil (for frying and cooking as well)

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp cumin powder

1/2 tbsp red chilli powder

3 dry red chillies, whole

2 medium-sized tomatoes

2 medium-sized onions

1 tbsp garlic, chopped

4 green chillies, slit

Salt, as per taste

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 big potato, boiled and mashed

2-3 coriander leaves

Method:

Heat the mustard oil in a deep-bottomed pan. Add cumin seeds, whole red chillies, onion, garlic and cook until the garlic and onions turn golden brown. Slice the tomatoes and add along with red chilli powder and turmeric. Add ginger garlic paste and mashed potatoes. Add some water to make a light gravy and cook it about 10 to 15 minutes.

Cut the elephant apple and boil separately. Squeeze the inner part of elephant apple and mix with gravy. Fry the diced fish in mustard oil. Add fish into gravy, finish with chopped coriander and serve with steamed rice.

Recipe courtesy: Executive Chef Sujit Chakraborty, Novotel Guwahati GS Road

Want to try some more recipes? Check out our Eid special recipes here. For more entertainment, watch Uri: The Surgical Strike, in Telugu on ZEE5.