No Reservations, Asad Raza-Style

Recently, my wife and I have been avid watchers of chef Anthony Bourdain's program No Reservations on the Travel Channel (get cable, will you? And then get TIVO, too--trust me), and as I see Tony visit exotic locales and sample their various culinary offerings, I always wonder why he never replied to the late-nite letter that I once wrote him inviting him to dinner at my house, even promising to get my nephew Asad Raza to cook the incomparably zesty-yet-subtle, and completely sui generis, Pakistani dish, Nihari, for him. Now, let me tell you, Asad cooks a mean Nihari, but even the NM (Nihari Master) must go to the source for inspiration and instruction once in a while, and Asad not only went to Burns Road in Karachi (read about some of his other activities while he was there, here), he recorded his visit on video for the rest of us. So, Tony, either go to Pakistan, or come over to my place for some of Asad's Nihari, and meanwhile, watch this video which made my mouth water (and my heart ache):

Comments

[olivia]

Forget about that crazy bourdain. Come to my house and we can share some wonderful food. I'm in Australia, but you can get here....

[Jayasree]

Too bad Nihari isn't vegetarian (or is there a vegetarian version available somewhere?).

[-]

I loved watching this, it's like a very deep, thin slice of being in Karachi.

[Stefany]

Asad and Abbas! Morgan and I woke up this morning and watched this video. We both marveled at the way cheap handheld video and the subject of a food item can capture something about the wonders of the daily, vivid street life of a place that fancy new reports can never achieve and don't seem to care to. Also, it was a great travel ad--when do we book our tickets?!

[Farooq]

I love nihari, honestly it is probably one of the worlds foremost food dishes. Being another avid fan of Bourdains show, I truly think he needs to head to Pakistan. Perhaps try some Takht Bhai Chapali Kabobs, some Burns Road Nihari followed by some batair masala in Anarkali...

Maybe I should put this suggestion down and drop it off at Les Halles in Midtown.

fhm

[Farrukh]

Hi All,

I saw a lot of talk on Nihari and so here is a recipe. And a
preliminary comment, with more
comments to follow:

This is a meat dish, using muscle meat and aromatic spices
it doesnt have to be hot-spicy
but the aromatic spices bring out a particular taste from the muscle meat-very meat specific.

Ingredients A
++++++++++++++++
1 teaspoon mace (jaephal)
1 teaspoon nutmeg (javetri)
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1 tablespoon mild red paprika
6 cloves
0.5 cup ground garlic
0.5 cup ground ginger
1.5 cups cooking oil or clarified butter
1 onion chopped finely
1 tablespoon salt
0.5 cup yoghurt

Ingredients B
++++++++++++++
For the broth:
1 cup aniseed (saunf) (set aside)
0.5 cup flour (set aside)

Ingredients C
++++++++++++++
Garnish: finely chopped ginger,
flinely chopped coriander (cilantro), some lemons

Ingredients D
+++++++++++++++
1 Kilo Beef Shank meat: Chunks
buy marrow bones separately

Procedure:
+++++++++++

i) Broth preparation:
In about 6 cups water add the aniseed and bring to a boil and allow the water to cook the aniseed for 30-40 minutes.
After that set the water aside
ad strain the aniseed out. The
water can dry out but dont have less than 3 cups water

ii) In a large cooking pot put the oil (or clarified butter) in Ingredients A and start heating on medium heat with only the onions and cloves, when the onions start to brown
add every thing else in Ingredients A, you should have an oily sludge into this add the meat and brown, add more oil if the mixture is too sticky. After the meat is brown
add the yoghurt then the aniseed water, take out some aniseed water and mix two tablespoons of flour into it and pour it back into the pot.
And then leave on low heat for an hour and a half or till the meat is tender.

iii) lightly boil the marrow
bones remove the marrow set
aside on a plate.

Serve with hot nan with the garnish and marrow for people to spoon in. Its nice with splash of lemon coriander leaves(cilantro) green chillies and chopped ginger.

This dish should never be served with rice. If someone is
seen eating this with rice in Pakistan they are promptly arrested as an Indian spy. No Pakistani should make this faux pas.

Cheers
Farrukh
Oxford

[bud nathans]

I lived for years in Beijing and ate tons of nan in Uiygur neigborhoods ( since destroyed for the Olympics and other reasons )along with their teriffic plates of fresh hot noodles capped with spicy vegetables. About the only meal I still miss from those heady days.

Cheers

[S Kumar]

Nihari is a traditional beef stew (yes, the French took the dish and the word from the Indians) from in and around Ballimaran in Delhi and the best chefs are based in Chirakhana in Delhi. They have been making this most traditional of breakfasts now, every night for well over 100 years and save a bit for the next night, similar to a Sourdough starter culture. The dish started when the ladies of the house (yes plural as polygamy is permitted in Islam) would cook a large pot of stew for dinner and would leave a little on very low heat, for the husband to eat when he came back from the house of ill-repute (drinking, gambling and umm... dancing girls). It's similar to cooking Duck Confit in that it cooks slowly and becomes very tender. Another famous exponent is Karim's in Delhi who have been cooking this for breakfast since 1917, although they use Goat meat.
If you ever get a chance to go, please ensure that you get there before 7 AM otherwise it's generally sold out.

[S Kumar]

Slight correction - after checking my diary, the area is Churiwalan and not Chirakhana as mentioned in my previous post. The story was told to me by one of Delhi's more celebrated chefs.

[Asad Raza]

All very interesting, thanks much, S Kumar. I hope to be in Dehli sometime and will go directly to Ballimaran. Question, however: which French dish and word do you claim is taken from Nihari?

[S Kumar]

Stew... The "Stew" in the North Indian context, is for lack of a better word, a curry made with whole spices rather than ground spices. Istoo, is a South Indian dish which uses coconut milk, roasted mustard seeds and curry leaves. It's another seminal dish as you can see the inspiration of many other South Indian and South East Asian "curries". The French missionaries took the stew recipes home with them when the spices became cheaper with the new sea lanes. Before that, spices such as pepper were prohibitive in cost to be used whole in cooking (and were even used as an alternative monetary currency).

S Kumar

[Adnan M]

Asad Raza | Jan 2, 2008 11:31:39 AM

Stew... The "Stew" in the North Indian context, is for lack of a better word, a curry made with whole spices rather than ground spices. Istoo, is a South Indian dish which uses coconut milk, roasted mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Well, usage of the word 'stew'
(possibly from Greek 'tuphos', meaning 'to steam') is attested in Middle English and Old French sources, far before any significant contact between European languages/cuisines and South Indian ones; is it not more likely that colonial influence resulted in the hybrid form 'Istoo' or 'Ishtoo', with the standard 'Is' subcontinental addition before the European double consonant cluster 'st'?

[Khalid Yousuf (Maryland, USA)]

No offence but above nehari receipe is not ever close to "Actual nehari" and cooking method is also not correct.

I will post Nehari receipe "quite similiar to Burns Road Nehari taste" soon but must tell you "Sonth (dry ginger) and ratan joth" are essential to bring actual nehari taste and must cook in ghee (not in veg oil) on a very low heat for about min 6/8 hours.