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Lamb with onions and mushrooms, or lamb do pyaza

SERVES 4–6

Any meat do pyaza usually means meat cooked with an equal weight of fried onions, pyaz being the North Indian word for onions. I have modified the traditional recipe slightly by adding mushrooms and by cooking with fenugreek, fennel, and onion seeds instead of the more commonly used cardamom, cloves, peppercorns, and cinnamon.

This is a mild-tasting dish, relatively easy to make and very popular with both children and adults.

2 pounds boned meat from shoulder of lamb, trimmed of excess fat, and cut into 1-inch cubes

5 medium-sized onions

Vegetable oil (enough for ⅛ inch in bottom of skillet)

¼ teaspoon whole black onion seeds (kalonji), if available

½ teaspoon whole fennel seeds

¼ teaspoon whole cumin seeds

15 fenugreek seeds

½ cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon salt (more if needed)

⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

⅛–¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

½ pound fresh mushrooms

Dry the meat thoroughly with paper towels and leave at room temperature while preparing the other ingredients.

Peel and halve the onions lengthwise. Slice them into ⅛-inch-thick half-rings. In a 12-inch skillet, heat the oil. Fry the onions over a high flame 8 to 10 minutes, until they turn dark brown in spots and soften. Stir as you do this.

Remove onions with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl or dish.

In the same skillet put the onion seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, and fenugreek seeds. Within a few seconds the fennel seeds will begin to darken. As soon as this happens, put in the cubes of meat and fry 5 to 10 minutes until well browned on all sides. While the meat is browning, put the yogurt in a bowl. Add ½ cup water to it very gradually, a tablespoon at a time, beating with a fork. Once the meat has browned, beat the yogurt mixture again and pour it into the skillet. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat to medium low, and cook for 25 minutes. Clean the mushrooms. Cut off the hard ends of the stems. If the mushrooms are largish, quarter them whole (stem and all); if they are of medium size, halve them; if they are of button size, leave them whole. After the meat has cooked 25 minutes, add the mushrooms. Stir well. Cover again and cook another 25 minutes or until meat is tender.

Lift off the cover and add the fried onions. Raise heat to medium high and boil away most of the liquid. (The only “sauce” should be what clings to the meat. At the bottom of the pan you should see just the fat.) This should take 5 minutes or less. Check the salt.

To serve: Here is an Indian dish that can be served as part of a traditional Indian dinner or as the main course of a Western-style meal.

At an Indian meal, you could serve it as we did very often on Sundays—with plain rice, Karhi, green beans, and Tomato and Onion with Lemon Juice.

I serve it often to my family with Rice and Peas and a fresh green salad.

Lamb korma

SERVES 6–8

3 tablespoons ground coriander

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon desiccated unsweetened coconut

4 medium-sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped

5 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped

A piece of ginger, about 1½ inches long and 1 inch wide, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 large canned tomato or 2 small ones, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

5 whole cardamom pods

6 whole cloves

7 whole black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick, 2 inches long

2 or more dried hot red peppers (optional)

3 pounds boneless meat from lamb shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes (or shank, neck, or leg—see proportions), thoroughly dried

1 tablespoon plain yogurt

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon garam masala

GARNISH

Fried onion rings

¼ teaspoon freshly ground cardamom seeds

Sliced hot green chilies

Chopped Chinese parsley (coriander greens or cilantro)

Heat a small iron skillet or griddle over medium flame, and dry-roast the coriander, cumin, and coconut, tossing them around with a spoon. Roast for 2 to 3