Goshtaba is a very popular Kashmiri dish normally eaten towards the end of the meal. Since it is a yogurt based dish, eating it at the end helps in the digestion. The most important part of this dish is freshly slaughtered meat. Goshtaba has a very spongy meat balls as a texture and it is very difficult to achieve when the meat becomes cold. Also, while pounding the meat, it can start cooking by the heat generated. Hence pounding the meat is a very skilled task and normally done by wooden pestle.
Here is one of the most authentic recipe shared by Sanjay Raina on our facebook group, Gurgaon Food Freak. He has a boutique Kashmiri cuisine catering by the name of Mealability – The Flavours of Kashmir which is getting rave reviews nationally.
Ingredients
Very finely pounded mutton (750gms boneless and 250gms meat fat).
1 table spoon salt.
2.5 tbsp fennel powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1/2 tbsp zeera.
1 tsp cinnamon powder
3 bruised black cardamom
1 tbsp black cardamom seeds
4 bruised elaichi cardamoms
5 crushed cloves
2 bay leaves
1-2 ladles mustard oil.
1 tbsp pure ghee.
1tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp kasoori methi
One white malmal cloth (washed n clean)
2 large size chopped onions.
2 cups dahi (curd).
1 egg
Mint leaves to garnish.(or coriander)
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Finely chop onions.
Whip the curd.
Pound the mutton.
Make the spice pouch.
Process:
Step1
Get boneless mutton done in small pieces.
Mince it once at home, just once.
Step2
Take a mortar pestle and pound it adding fat from time to time in small quantities.
Keep turning around the mince regularly as you pound it, dipping your hands in water once in a while. Understand the difference between minced meat and pounded meat. Once pounded well enough, proceed as under:
Step3
Add moti elaichi seeds, 1/2 table spoons salt, 1/2 ladle mustard oil and egg white in it and mix evenly.
Step4
Put salt, saunth powder, zeera powder, dalcheeni powder, elaichi and moti elaichi powder, laung, dania powder and methi powder in the cloth and tie it well, making a spice pouch.
Step5
Put one litre of water in a deep pan or patila and add bay leaf.
Put the tied spice cloth in it on full heat. Wait for it to boil.
Step6
Meanwhile make fine mutton balls (about 30 to 40gms each) and put them in the pan when boiling.
Turn to medium heat till half of the liquid disappears.
Step7
Take out the spice pouch now and put it in a small bowl of water, about a cup of water.
Now squeeze it well and
Add this water to the pan.
Boil for a minute and discard the spice pouch.
Step8
Set the deep pan aside from heat now.
Step9
Take a frying pan on full flame ,add a little oil,and add finely chopped onions and dry them to brown.
Once browned,grind the onions.
Add zeera in the pan along with and whipped curd and ground onions.
Step10
Mix/stir continuously till it starts boiling. Be careful,curdling should not happen. It won’t if u are continuous with the stirring.
Step11
Add this mixture to the deep pan, along with the ghee and cook for 10 minutes on a low heat.
Step12
Garnish with coriander or mint leaves.
Serve hot with steamed rice.
