If you're following me on my Instagram or have read my previous blog posts, you'll probably know by now that me and my Mother have VERY different cooking styles.
She is simple, doesn't like lots of spices and will choose the quicker and easier option where possible.
Me, though. Oh... me.
I thrive on complicated extravagance in the kitchen. I'm a very happy girl spending hours lovingly cooking up a jammy masala for the base of a curry and grinding a concoction of freshly roasted whole spices to make a spice mix my Mother claims I could buy from the shops in a packet. I just don't do simple.
But sometimes, the truth is, you have to do simple. This is something I've been learning now as I'm new on the work field. Between hours in front of the whiteboard, days spent lesson planning and evenings spent marking English homework, I don't quite have the time or energy to spend cooking a lavish dinner and washing up the aftermath. Truth is, nowadays I'd much rather snuggle up in bed with a never-ending mug of tea and a buttery fruit tart and relish in the silence of not having 17 students trying to talk over me relax in peace.
I've now found myself turning to my Mother's simple style of cooking to get me through my work evenings.
I used her technique to cook today's recipe, Phali Gosht. It came together with virtually no effort and I couldn't believe how easy it was! I cut up the onions thick and big and didn't even bother to mince the garlic. When the ingredients are cooking covered for an hour they soften up nicely, so when at the end you add oil and sauté them, they break down very easily and quickly. Yay for easy and low effort dinners! I'll be using this cooking technique a lot more now!
Enjoy, with love x
📋 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.1 lb (500 g) lamb beef or mutton, bone in
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1 large onion chopped
- 7 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoon ginger minced
- 2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder or to taste
- 2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 2 teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 8.5 oz (250 g) green beans
- 5 tablespoon oil adjust to preference, if needed
- Coriander for garnish
Instructions
- Quite simply place all your ingredients into a pot (excluding the green beans, oil and garnishing ingredients), add ½ cup of water and then cover. Turn the heat to low and allow this to cook until the meat is 90% cooked, about 1hr for lamb, 1.5hr for mutton and 2-2.5hrs for beef. If you are cooking with mutton or beef, you may need to add some more water - if the mixture starts to look like it's about to catch at the bottom of the pan, add ½ cup water as needed.
- Uncover. You'll see that the tomatoes and meat have released a lot of moisture. Add your green beans, turn the heat to high and begin to dry out the curry, stirring continuously, until you reach your desired level of gravy consistency. I like mine with a thick and substantial gravy, but you can dry yours down till it's very dry, like a bhuna curry if you wish.
- Once you're at your desired consistency, add your oil. Now, sauté your curry for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Once you've sautéed it, check your green beans for doneness. I like my green beans with a bit of a bite so I left it here, but if it's not yet softened to your liking, add a splash of water, cover your pot and turn the heat to low till the beans are cooked to your liking.
- Garnish with coriander (I didn't have any!) and fresh chillies and serve hot!
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Nathaniel Dunigan
So good. Will make it again. I chose to separately steam the green beans to keep their brightness and ensure them to be al dente, and I added a finish of fresh lemon juice. Yummy. I wish I could share a pic.
Merwa
Hii, can you make this with chicken?
Fatima
Hi Merwa! Yes, you definitely can, but the method would be different. The method would be more similar to my Bhuna Chicken curry, with the green beans added towards the end. Quantities would be the same as this recipe though xx
Sue
Hi, Fatima! Can I use a pressure cooker for your gosht related recipes. If yes, how many whistles do you recommend?
Fatima
Hi Sue, you totally can use a pressure cooker but I can't help with how many whistles, sorry! Maybe someone else who is reading this may be able to reply and help
Rose Martine
YUMMY!!!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe! I’ve heard about your blog a couple of times and will now spend my afternoon reading 🙂
Taneesha
Hi Fatima,
What do you mean by “sauté the curry”? Do you add oil etc at this point? Could you please describe the process.
The end result looks delicious in pics.
Thanks!
Fatima
Hi Taneesha!
Yes, at this point you'll have added oil as mentioned in step 3 🙂 You're essentially just frying and stirring everything with the oil.
Hope this helps x
Abida
I wish I had your patience Fatima to stand around in the kitchen for so long! Goes without saying that I love the quick and easy nature of this recipe!! Hope all is going well with the teaching in sha Allah.
Umm Hamza
This curry looks delish and I'm glad there is an easier way to cook a decent curry 🙂 sometimes we haven't got time to be standing around waiting for those onions to turn golden etc etc