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I feel you are using the wrong type of poha. As Chetan_Rao mentioned in the previous post, you must use medium thick poha.

For soaking the rice flakes, I generally use equal measure of water and rice flakes (1 cup rice flakes soaked in 1 cup of water). No need to drain or squeeze out any excess water, because you have already added the correct amount. This approach gives me the desired texture of poha.

For tempering, I use only chopped green chillies, julienned onions and diced potatoes, along with turmeric and salt. I've never seen anyone in my family using asafoetida in poha preparation (I come from a Maharashtrian family). Peanuts are optional, I personally don't like them in poha. Quantity of oil to be used comes with experience. Add slightly less oil if you are using a non-stick kadhayi.

Just add the soaked rice flakes to the tempering and mix everything properly. Cook uncovered on a low flame for a few minutes. Keep stirring in between. You may also add some sugar in the end and cook it covered with lid for another few minutes.

Garnish with chopped coriander or sev. You may also add some lemon juice. Some people also use grated coconut for garnishing, but I personally don't like it.

Rohan

Regarding Poha,

Before we moved from Delhi to Bangalore for about 18 months(we are back to North by the way), the only Poha we were used to was the thick variety - where you could actually see the individual flakes of poha.

However in Bangalore we found out that most Kirana shops had another variety of Poha - the super thin ones.

The super thin ones gave a very uniform texture to Poha - and once cooked, its difficult to tell whether its Poha or Upma (the sooji one) by looking at texture alone.

Me and wife liked this thin Poha variety very much. Its a regular part of our breakfast now.

But not without the lovely Curry leaves and Peanuts. Unfortunately in north there are instances of Poha being cooked without Curry leaves in some homes.

But for me, Poha without curry leaves and thin variety is Not the real tasty Poha that i am used to now. :)

TIP: Even if you get medium thick Poha, you can soak them for longer duration. That would give you a uniform texture Poha.

Here's the consistency & texture I usually get based on my cooking method mentioned earlier. Damn the pic made me hungry, I'll take my lunch break earlystupid:

Mutton Biriyani that I prepared using Jeera Samba rice. :)

This is what I want - where you can see individual flakes and they aren't stuck together or mashed together. But my poha ends up like Upma. I have used the thick variety.

If you're getting a homogeneous, upma-like dish even with thick poha, it can only mean it's getting over-soaked. It's a fine balance between keeping texture and turning gooey, and can vary even between different packets of the product.

Try this: Take a handful of poha you frequently use, and soak it in water. Wait for about 30 secs, then try crushing a grain between your fingers (or chew it) every 10 secs or so.

What you should be aiming for is the grain should be soaked enough to get crushed without leaving a solid lump behind (like we check cooked chana dal), but shouldn't be soaked enough to disintegrate on its own when cooked (which is happening to your dish now).

1. High heat for 5 min. You don't want the moisture to escape. The cooking takes away the raw rice flavor, and caramelizes sugars a bit (I just love the crisp layer that forms on the bottom)
2. Cover while cooking. Open cover only to scrape a bit off the bottom of pan
3. Don't stir more than necessary

I prepared this Mutton Rogan josh and Jeera rice last sunday. It was the original RJ recipe without any ginger-garlic paste, onions, tomatoes.
Came out very well, but due to the lack of south indian masala smell, I was not able to relish it much! :)

Looks good!

Do you mean the original Kashmiri recipe (Roghan Josh is a Kashmiri dish) with saunf / aniseed powder, saunth / dry ginger, hing and yoghurt etc.?

Yes and the original recipe does not require Yoghurt. If needed little can be added...the recipe goes like this:

1. Grind Saunf seperately.
2. Grind Cinnamon, Jeera, Aniseed together to form a powder.
3. In a bowl, add Hing powder, Kashmiri Chilli Powder, Dry Ginger Powder, Saunf Powder. Add water and make this into a watery paste.
4. Wash the Lamb pieces nicely.
5. In a heavy bottomed pan - add ghee and start roasting the lamb pieces till they turn brown.
6. Add the paste prepared in step 3 to this lamb.
7. Add enough water to immerse the lamb.
8. Add salt to taste and boil this mixture for about 1 hour in a very low flame
9. After one hour, the lamb would have cooked about 80% and the oil and fat would be floating on top.
10. Now add the masala powder prepared in step 2 to this curry and boil for another 45 mins - again in a low flame.
11. Now, after 45 mins, the Roganjosh will be completely ready for serving. It would be in a bright red color.

In case of less patience, the entire mixture can be cooked in a pressure cooker after step 8. :)

If you are able to get tender lamb, then your RJ will be 100% complete. :)

Hmmm. The recipe I use has it - I learnt it from my maternal grandmother. They had a Kashmiri cook (my grandmother, like most north Indian ladies, wouldn't cook mutton) who would start cooking it at 7 in the morning for Sunday lunch. All mutton dishes were slow cooked (dum pukht, in a vessel with cover sealed with atta dough) on coal chulha for at least 4 hours!

Pressure-cooking is not an acceptable substitute. It is better to use a meat tenderiser (like green papaya, ginger+onion paste, or apple juice) in the marinade. Try cooking it in a casserole sealed with alu foil, heated on an induction cooktop set low, or in an oven set at 150. Cook for 3 hours at least and savour the difference.

Sure sir. Actually in the above preparation - i used curd!! lol: and i did cook it for about close to 2.5 hours. we had lunch only at about 4:00 in the evening!! my mom and wife were mad at me literally.. :)

I will try to use the method that you had mentioned for sure and let you know the results.

Does anyone here have a Thermomix? was wanting one but wanted to ask someone who was using it already.

I agree. Pressure cooked mutton never tastes as good. At our house the mutton is cooked either in a large kadahi (less than 1.5 kg) or in a large vessel, at low heat. The total turn around time is around 3 hours. If you use "Dum" method, then increase the time to 4 hours and heat to the minimum your stove can go. Indian Goat meat is stringy and takes time to cook, unlike Lamb abroad, so give it enough time to become tender.

By the way, as far as I know, most of the Kashmiri "mutton" dishes use Lamb instead of goat.