Pakistan makes the news a lot and like most of the Middle East, it has had its fair share of political and military problems. I wasn't much for World History and that's a topic that would take too long for me to thoroughly research, but what I can tell you about Pakistan is that it holds the second highest mountain in the world and that it's cuisine differs quite a bit from region to region. I was a little overwhelmed at how much the dishes varied. I also know that they consume more meat than India and less fish than much of Asia. I was excited about two things when I chose my dish from Pakistan. The first, it was mostly vegetables, something that has been a bit lacking in many of the dishes previously. Secondly, it did not call for rice! I don't usually have rice more than once a week (I'm more of a pasta person), and between the dishes, the leftovers, and going out for Chinese food with my parents, I was a bit riced out.
The dish I chose to cook wasn't too incredibly common, but it does turn up some recipes if you Google search it. It's called Nauaratan, and I'm not sure how this translates, but it can also be called Nine Jewels Meat with Vegetable. No matter how many Google searches I did, I could not find the origins of how this dish came to be called that or why the title even included the "Nine Jewels" part since there is only one type of meat and twelve different vegetables in it, why nine? Then, after what felt like scrolling through hundreds of pages, I discovered an Indian dish called Navaratan, a dish with a very similar name. This dish had nine ingredients, ah ha! Now that makes more sense. So I Googled some more and discovered that in India Navaratan refers to nine "extraordinary people in a King's Court." I knew the phrase 'Nine Jewels of India' sounded familiar. After looking at the Indian version of the recipe I noticed that it really is quite different. My best guess is that the dish was carried over into Pakistan and it was adapted to ingredients more prevalent int hat region, but that's just a guess. I learned a very important lesson in all this, tracing the history of food can be quite difficult, no wonder there's controversy surrounding Pavlova!
I decided that there was a lot I liked about this dish and a lot that I either didn't like or felt could be changed and so to organize my thoughts better I'm broken them up in a sort of good/not so good list.
The Good
-Veggies! If you love vegetables like me, you will love this, it's bursting with them.
-After quite a bit of chopping, the rest is incredibly simple. One good thing about moving back to the dorms, we just got a whole set of new knives last semester and they sure beat the ones at home making even the chopping part easy.
-Did I mention just how much I love vegetables? This dish has almost all my favorites in it.
The Not So Good (but easy to change)
-I read so much about how flavorful the dishes were, but didn't taste much of the spices that I added. I tasted the vegetables, which were very good, but kind of make adding spices pointless. Perhaps I should have added a little more? I'm always wary of overpowering a dish.
-This recipe called for lamb and I honestly think it would do better without, I just don't think the lamb adds a lot to it. perhaps if the lamb was marinated in something before so it complemented the dish rather than just drowning amongst the vegetables.
-The peas sink to the bottom. I know, I'm getting picky, but that really bothered me during the cooking aspect of it.
-Speaking of cooking, some vegetables cook much faster than others. If I were to make this again the potatoes and turnips would go in first and cooked for a while, then maybe the carrots and zucchini added, then the rest. The eggplant also cooked very quickly and turned a kind of gross brown color. With 12 vegetables (well 11 since I omitted the okra), it really is difficult to get them done at the same time and just sticking them all in at once, not possible.
Okay so it looks like the "Not So Good" beat out the "Good," but that's not necessarily the case. I still really liked the dish and I loved how healthy it was. I could see myself adapting this quite easily to my likes and even adding or omitting vegetables to my personal taste. I also want to try sticking it in the oven instead and adding additional spices, I think with a little experimentation I could really like this, more as a side though to be honest rather than a main course. However, that wouldn't require a recipe so it's not likely I need to add this one in my cookbook since I plan to deviate from it quite a bit to make it to my liking. It is rather pretty though, even in the pitiful lighting in my dorm room as I try to block out the afternoon sun.
Serving Size: 2-3
ReplyDeleteTo be completely honest, I eyeballed a lot of the vegetable quantities. Without a scale there’s no way I would know how much say 1/4 lb of cabbage is, cutting down the recipe to “Chelsea sized” portions just makes things harder. So I just added about 1/2 lb lamb and eyeballed the rest. I know, I should have followed the directions more closely, but when you’re tired, hungry, have no scale, and am cooking on a stove that’s older than me, well you just have to do what you can.
* 1 lb Lamb, cubed
* 1/2 c Oil (I eyeballed this too)
* 1 Tbsp. Garlic & ginger, ground
* 2 tsp Chilli powder
* 2 tsp Salt
* 1/4 lb Onions
* 1/4 lb Potatoes
* 1/4 lb Eggplant(aubergine)
* 1/4 lb Turnip
* 1/4 lb Carrots
* 1/4 lb Okra-omitted
* 1/4 lb Cauliflower
* 1/4 lb Green beans
* 1/4 lb Cabbage
* 1/4 lb Chopped spinach
* 1/4 lb Peas
* 1/4 lb Zuchinni or marrow
Wash all the vegetables and cut into bite sized pieces. Add half of the oil to a pan and cook vegetables until light brown and set aside. Note: yes, if you add all the vegetables at once some will really brown while others will not.
Heat rest of the oil in a large saucepan, add sliced onions, and fry until light brown. Add salt and spices to onions and fry for a few minutes. Wash cubed lamb and add to onions and fry until light brown. Add 1 cup of hot water and cook over slow fire until meat is tender. When meat is tender, and only a little water remains add all the vegetables. Mix vegetables and meat together and cook over a slow fire, stirring gently to avoid mashing the vegetables, for about 5 minutes. Note: Yes, it make take more than 5 minutes for things like the potatoes to be done.