Indian Cooking Recipe: Chamani Qaliya
The following are the instructions on how to cook delicious Indian food: Chamani Qaliya
Ingredients:
1. Paneer 1 Kg
2. Milk 1 cup
3. Broken dry ginger or sliced green ginger 10 gm
4. Aniseeds 10 gm
5. Salt to taste (1 to 2 tsps)
6. Asafeotida a pinch
7. Turmeric 2 tsps
8. Curd 1 cup
9. Jeera
10. Aniseed powder 2 tsps
11. Ginger powder 1 tsp
12. Mustard oil 1 tsp
13. Jeera 1 tsp
14. Cloves 3
15. Caraway Seeds 1/2 tsp
16. Garam Masala 1 tsp
17. Green Cardamom 6
18. Black Cardamom, Cinnamon and Black Pepper Powders, each 1/2 tsp
Method of Preparation:
Dice, with a sharp knife, the paneer into about 3/4" cubes. In Kashmir,
for preparing Qaliya, earthenware cooking vessels are usually used.
The baked clay imparts a special aroma to the Qaliya. However, where
an earthenware vessel is not available, steel or a tinned copper or
brass patila is used.
In a kadhai, deep fry, on medium heat, the diced paneer in the mustard
oil, till it turns golden yellow and the edges of the pieces fry a little brown. While frying, keep on turning the diced cheese with a perforated ladle, so that it is fried uniformly. Take out the fried cottage cheese, after draining the oil by means of the perforated ladle.
Remove the kadhai from the stove. Now, in a patila, of about 3 liters capacity, boil for half an hour, the fried cheese, in a liter of water, after adding to it, the cup of milk, broken dry ginger or sliced green ginger, the aniseeds, turmeric, salt and half a pinch of asafeotida.
Strain the soup through a colander or a cloth, and keep it in a bowl.
Sort out the cheese pieces and keep in another bowl, and throw away the
boiled ginger, aniseeds and other sediments; left in the colander or the
cloth. To the strained soup, add the curd, aniseed and ginger powders, after mixing these with a spoon, or churning with a small churning stick into a homogenous sauce. Pour this into the patila or an earthenware
vessel, after washing its inside. Resume heating it, and keep on
stirring with a steel or wooden ladle, so that the curd does not crack
and separate, till it comes to a boil. Add the boiled cheese pieces, and
let boil for another 20 minutes.
Meanwhile alter straining the oil left over from frying of the cheese,
to remove any sediment, heat it again in the kadhai, and add cloves,
jeera, and half pinch of asafeotida. Stir till the jeera and
cloves get a little fried, but not charred, and add this oil along with
the spices to the boiling cheese. Stir and let boil for five minutes
more. Add caraway seeds, somewhat crushed green cardamoms, the black cardamom, cinnamon and black pepper powder, and also the garam masala. Mix gently with the steel or wooden ladle, and let the pot, after covering it with a lid, simmer on very low heat for another 10 minutes. Chamani Qaliya is ready. Serve it piping hot, ladling directly on hot plain cooked rice, as is usually done in all big feasts and dinners.
