I was in class 10 when I first heard that someone could take up cooking as a profession. Irudhaya Raj, one of my school teachers, told me about the growing opportunities in the culinary industry. I was quite interested.

As soon as I completed my board exam, I started searching for hotel management courses and soon got into one. 

I was always a curious kid and loved being in the kitchen. I helped my mother in cutting vegetables and doing the dishes. I was around 12 years old then. Having grown up seeing her work tirelessly and producing some amazing dishes, my interest only grew. My mother has been a huge influence on me. I always felt the need to help her with household chores. 

Having started my career with Ramanashree Hotels in Mysuru in 1995, and also gathering experiences with various other chains of hotels in New Delhi and Hyderabad, today, I am an executive sous chef at ‘The Woodrose Club’, JP Nagar. 

My forte is Italian cuisine. I love making pasta and stew in Italian style. When I started my career, I used to follow the authentic recipe but with time, as I understood the varying taste and need of my customers, I started experimenting with my dishes. 

When I am at home, I love relishing Indian vegetarian dishes. I cook them with a twist of local flavours of Tamil Nadu since I am from there. 

Being in the industry for over two decades, I can say that the best part about being a chef (which is also sometimes challenging) is to manage a team and prepare food according to one’s taste. 

The recipe I am sharing today is ‘Ghost Badami Pasanda’. It is a mildly flavoured mutton dish that you can have with rice or roti.

Ghost Badami Pasanda

Ingredients

Sliced leg of lamb - 500 gm

Milk - 100 ml

Almond flakes - 50 gm

Ghee - 90 gm

Ginger garlic paste - 75 gm

Onion - 400 gm

Curd - 600 gm 

Cashew paste - 100 gm

White pepper - 20 gm

Javtri elachi powder - 20 gm

Cardamom (big) - 5 gm

Cloves - 4 gm

Cinnamon - 5 gm

Bay leaf - 3 gm

Peppercorn - 4 gm

Green chillies - 5 gm

Sugar - 20 gm

Salt to taste

Method

Blanch the sliced lamb leg in water and discard the water.

Boil the onions with big cardamom, green chillies and make a smooth paste

Heat ghee in a Handi put whole garam masala and let it crackle. Put ginger garlic paste and let it cook till brown add the boiled onion paste and the curds let it simmer. Add the blanched mutton pieces and finish it and finished it off with cashew paste and cardamom powder.

Add the blanched mutton pieces and finish it off with cashew paste and cardamom powder.

Adjust seasonings and consistency

Garnish it with almond flakes

Tips

Add ‘nutmeg’ if the mutton is too hard. It will soften the meat. 

Make sure to remove the black gum from the cashew when you boil it.