Tanjore Muslim Wedding Dhaalcha

I can confidently say that my mother makes the best dhaalcha in the whole wide world. Hands down, it is my most favourite dish of hers! It stirs up a lot of memories from my childhood. Dhaalcha goes exceptionally well with white steamed rice/biriyani/ghee rice. It is a must serve for biriyani at muslim weddings in Tanjore and it’s surrounding districts. Please follow the instructions given below to fall in love with dhaalcha, food, world, and basically everything!

Prep time – 10 minutes

Cook time – 25 minutes

Ingredients (Serves 3)

• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp Ghee
• 2 Cloves
• 2 Green Cardamoms
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 1 Onion
• Some coriander leaves, curry leaves and mint leaves
• 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste for cooking and 1 tsp of the same for marination
• 3 – 4 Green Chillies
• 1 Big Tomato
• 2 tbsp Red Chilli Powder and 1 tsp of the same for marination
• 1 tsp Coriander Powder
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder for marination
• 1/2 tsp Fennel Seed Powder
• 150 gm of cleaned Mutton with bones (all those bones give a tonne of flavours!)
• Rock salt (as per your taste)
• 1/4 cup of Toor Dal rinsed thoroughly
• 3 cups of water
• 1 Potatoes, diced
• 1/2 Carrot, diced
• 1 Eggplant, diced
• 1/2 Raw Banana, diced
• 2 slices of raw mango
• 3 Cabbage leaves, roughly cut
• 1/2 cup of Tamarind water (a small lemon sized tamarind dissolved in 1/2 cup water)
• A lot of love!

Instructions

(For pressure cooker)

1. Marinate the mutton in turmeric, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder and salt.
2. Heat the oil and ghee in the pressure cooker.
3. Add cloves, green cardamoms, cinnamon.
4. Add chopped onions, curry, coriander, and mint leaves. Sauté everything for a few seconds.
5. Add ginger garlic paste and stir everything together.
6. Add whole slit green chillies and half of 1 diced tomatoes.
7. Add 1 tbsp of red chilli powder and mix everything.
8. Add the marinated mutton and 1/2 cup of water.
9. Add salt and the rinsed toor dal.
10. Add 1 cup of water again and mix everything well now.
11. Add the diced potatoes.
12. Close the lid and pressure cook for 4 whistles (also based on the meat quality).

(For cooking pot)

1. In the meantime, get a medium/big cooking pot to the stove.
2. Add the diced carrots, egg plants, raw banana, remaining half tomato, cabbage leaves, and some coriander, mint leaves.
3. Add 1 tbsp of red chilli powder, 1 tsp of coriander, and 1 tsp of garam masala.
4. Add a bit of salt as per your taste (remember that you have already added some to marination and mutton mixture in pressure cooker. Avoid if you think it is enough).
5. Add 1 cup of water.
6. Mix everything together.
7. Cook for 8-10 minutes on a high flame.
8. Once everything comes to a boil, add 1/2 cup of tamarind water.

(For the final procedure)

1. Add the pressure cooked mutton mixture to the cooking pot that is still in stove on a high flame.
2. Wash the pressure cooker lid in 1/2 cup of water and pour into the cooking pot.
3. Mix everything well.
4. Add 1/2 of fennel seed powder and stir everything gently.
5. Add the remaining curry leaves and slices of raw mango.
6. Close the cooking pot with a lid and put the stove to a low flame.
7. Let everything simmer for good 10 minutes. You can enjoy the aroma until then! 😉
8. Switch off the stove.

Serve it with hot mutton/chicken biriyani. Do not forget to get some fried chicken, raita and boiled eggs for sides! Food-gasm GUARANTEED people! It also goes well with idly, dosa, idiyappam, appam, roti, you name it!

Quick notes to remember

• Add water as per your taste and liking. Some people like their dhaalcha to be little runny (like me) and others like it thick. But any which way, it will get thicker when you reheat later in the day or next day!
• Please PLEASE go with bony mutton pieces as it is the flavour quotient to the curry. You will not regret it.