Shab deg (Kashmir)

Shab deg (Kashmir)

 Shab deg is a traditional Kashmiri dish cooked overnight. It is made with whole turnips, Kashmiri Ver , mutton balls, and a variety of spices.

“People have long forgotten the art of making shab deg as it is time consuming, the process usually takes between 12 to 14 hours.

Shab deg(Wikimedia Commons/Miansari66)

Ingredients

• Mutton – 1 kg
• Mince meat – 500g
• Turnips – 250g
• Onions – 600g
• Garlic – 50g
• Ginger – 50g
• Green cardamom – 3g
• Cumin powder – 5g
• Shahi jeera powder – 3g
• Red chili powder – 15g
• Turmeric – 5g
• Kashmiri ver – 1
• Raw papaya – 20g
• Garam masala – 1tsp
• Curd – 500g
• Balai – 250g
• Almond paste – 50g
• Lime juice – 1tbs
• Ghee – 500g
• Cloves – 5g
• Cinnamon – 5g
• Pepper – 5g
• Saffron – 5g
• Kewra jal – 30ml
• Salt – to taste

Method

Roast the turnips in a tandoor till the skin can be easily removed. Peel and prick all over with a fork.
Dissolve half of the saffron in kewra jal.
Grind the garlic to a paste. To one part of the paste, add turmeric, salt and the dissolved saffron. Apply this mixture on the turnips and keep aside for 15 minutes.
Then, fry the turnips in ghee till they are golden brown in colour. Remove and keep aside.

In the remaining ghee, fry sliced onions till they are golden brown and crisp, keep aside.
Grind the ginger to a paste and divide into three parts.
Grind the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon to a paste.

To prepare the yakhni (a yoghurt and saffron-based mutton broth)—In a pan add half of the fried onions, one part of the garlic paste, one part of the ginger paste and one part of the clove, cardamom and cinnamon paste. Then add half of the mutton pieces and enough water to cook the meat to a very soft texture so that it can be strained to obtain theyakhni.
When the meat is done, mash it and extract the bones. Strain through a sieve or muslin cloth and then keep the yakhni aside.

Mix the minced meat, papaya paste, one part of the ginger paste, one part of the garlic paste and the remaining clove, cinnamon and cardamom paste along with half a teaspoon of garam masala powder.
Keep aside for 30 minutes. Then, shape into balls or koftasapproximately the size of the turnips. Deep fry in the ghee and keep aside.

Then, add the remaining mutton pieces, fried onions, ginger and garlic pastes, cumin, shahi jeera powder, chili powder and the garam masalainto hot ghee. Fry until the meat is browned.
Add beaten curd, the yakhni, beaten balai, almond paste, fried turnips, mutton koftas, and lime juice.
Stir gently. Add sufficient water to form a thick gravy and to cook the meat.
Crumble and stir in the Kashmiri ver, seal the lid on the deg with a flour dough and put on dum by placing some live charcoal on the lid and some below the deg.

Let it cook through the night. In the morning, when you open the deg, the ghee will be floating on the top and the dish will be ready to serve.


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