Slow-cooked, flavourful, delicate, and rich – nalli nihari is one of the most difficult dishes to prepare. It involves slowly cooking the meat, mainly the shank of goat or lamb, along with bone marrow. When it is cooked for hours, the marrow leaves the bones and is mixed with the gravy, giving the stew a rich flavour, and the mutton turns soft and juicy when it is done.
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This melt-in-your-mouth dish takes hours to make. However, it is avidly enjoyed by meat lovers, as it is the star of Mughlai cuisine, possibly second only to biryani. It is a popular stew prepared in both the North (Lucknow and Delhi) and the South (Hyderabad).
On July 2, chef Sanjeev Kapoor shared a delicious nalli nihari recipe that you can easily cook at home on his website. A few key ingredients in Sanjeev Kapoor’s version of the Hyderabadi dish include mutton shanks, mustard oil, onions, garlic, red chilli powder, whole-wheat slurry, screw pine water, and saffron water.
- Preparation time: 15 to 20 minutes
- Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours
- Serves: 4 people
Here’s how to make nalli nihari:
Ingredients
500 grams of lamb shanks (nalli)
250 grams mutton, cut into two-inch pieces on the bone
¼ cup mustard oil
4 large onions, sliced
2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste
½ tablespoon green chilli paste
Salt to taste
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
1½ teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons coriander powder
½ cup yogurt
1½ tablespoons nihari masala
2 to 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour slurry
2 teaspoons screw pine (kewda) water
2 teaspoons saffron water
Ginger strips for garnish
Chopped green chillies for garnish
Khamiri roti for serving
Method
- Heat mustard oil in a pan till it begins to smoke. Add onions and sauté till golden brown.
- Add lamb shanks, mutton, ginger-garlic paste, green chilli paste, and salt; mix well, then sear on high heat for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder and mix well.
- Add yoghurt and nihari masala, mix, and cook until the fat separates.
- Add 3 cups of water, mix well, cover and cook on medium heat for 40 to 45 minutes. Reserve some Rogan in a small bowl. Add the whole-wheat flour slurry, mix well, and cook for five to seven minutes.
- Add screw pine water and saffron water and mix well.
- Transfer to a serving bowl, drizzle with the reserved rogan, garnish with ginger and green chillies, and serve hot with khamiri roti.
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