Get a taste of Punjab

Dahi Ke Kebab

Ingredients: Around ½ kg of yoghurt; 2 chopped onions; 4 chopped green chillies; ½ tsp salt or to taste; 75 gm of cheese; 2 tbsps of coriander seeds and black pepper powder; 1 tbsp of chopped ginger; 1½ tbsps of red chilli flakes; ½ cup of roasted besan; 100 gm of paneer; 2 tbsps of cornflour and oil for frying

Method: Lay a muslin cloth over a bowl and pour the yoghurt into it. Pick up the edges of the cloth and tie a knot. Hang it till it turns into a cheesy mixture. For the filling, grate the cheese. Dry roast coriander seeds and black pepper. Grind into a powder. Mix grated cheese, coriander-pepper powder, green chillies, onions, ginger and salt. Take hung yoghurt in a bowl, add red chilli flakes and the rest of the coriander-pepper mix. Bind with besan, paneer and cornflour. Put in the filling and shape into kebabs. Deep fry and serve hot.

Kunna Gosht

Ingredients: Around 500 gm of curry-cut mutton; 2 cups of chopped tomatoes; 2 cups of sliced onions; 2 tsps of garlic paste; 2 tsps of ginger paste; 2 tbsps yoghurt; 2 tsps of cumin powder; 2 bay leaves 2 tbsps of ghee; 2 tsps of degi mirch; 2 cinnamon sticks; 3 to 4 cloves; 1-2 black cardamoms; 1-2 green cardamom; 2 red radish; 1 turnip and 4 to 5 baby carrots.

Method: Clean and wash mutton pieces, marinade them in salt, degi mirch and ginger-garlic paste. Heat ghee in an earthen vessel, add whole spices, sliced onion and sauté until light brown, add ginger-garlic paste. Add mutton and dry spices, once mutton is seared, add tomatoes. Add water if required and allow mutton to cook on slow fire. Once mutton is almost done, add vertically cut turnip, red radish and whole baby carrots, add whisked curd and let it cook for another 10 minutes over gentle heat. Check seasoning and garnish with chopped coriander.

Kesar Pista Phirni

Ingredients: A litre of full cream milk; 80 gm of rice; 20-25 strands of saffron; 10-12 pistachios (chopped); 10-12 cashew nuts (cut into small pieces); 75 gm of sugar and 3-4 crushed cardamoms.

Method: Wash and soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. Drain and grind it to a thick paste. Heat milk in a heavy-based utensil. After the milk comes to boil, put the rice paste in it and cook till the phirni becomes thick and rice gets cooked. Put sugar, cashew nut pieces and saffron in some milk and mix. Cook it until the sugar dissolves. Turn off the gas. Add cardamom and mix well. Serve chilled.

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(Courtesy: Chef Anthony Huang, executive chef at Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel)