About The Author
Hello! From Chuchura (in Hooghly District) and a foodie, I created this blog with a mission to preserve the food of the land; with a message to encourage and promote clean and real food. I hope you enjoy and gain out of this blog, happy reading!
Looking forward to read and hear your feedback.
You will seldom find a person talking to you about having Kundan Kaliya – a form of qaliya (also pronounced as ‘khalia’) which literally means “golden curry.”
Kundan Qaliya is a dish from Awadh. Traditionally, kaliya is a very light dish prepared from a handful of ingredients like cheaper cuts of meat, turmeric, coriander, ginger and a few whole spices.
While kaliya was cooked to nourish the soliders who had to walk on foot for several days, the Nawabs at Awadh made this ordinary dish into an extraordinary fare.
A light gravy was transformed into a dish with rich textures while being extremely appealing to the eyes. It had a golden color and used a lot of spices, a few of which are very difficult to procure today.
At Awadh, turmeric was replaced with saffron, and poppy seeds were added to the dish along with generous amounts of milk.
Kundan Kaliya later travelled to Kolkata. Thanks to Wajid Ali Shah who was exiled from Awadh and took shelter in Metiabruz, Kolkata along with his khansamas who continued the legacy.
The dish faded into oblivion soon after the demise of the Nawab. But not before it had influenced Bengal’s favorite fish kaliya.
Kundan Qalia & Lazzat-e-Taam
Traditionally, the dish used spices in two batches. For convenience, let’s call these batches X and Y
- X had spices like cloves, green cardamom, mace, peppercorns, black cardamom, cinnamon
- Y had spices like coriander, red chilly and Lazzat-e-Taam
While there is no doubt that Kundan Kaliya uses more number of spices than originally used by Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq, what will surprise you is the spice blend named Lazzat-e-Taam.
This spice blend contained around 25 spices in fixed proportions, ground to a powder and used to flavor the rich gravy. You can find the ingredients for Lazzat-e-Taam in the Bawarchi Tola’s Market post by Nazar Abbas.
I am listing them down below for convenience, this makes about 100 grams of the spice mix –
- 5 gms clove
- 7 gms Green Cardamoms
- 3 gms mace
- 2 gms cinnamon
- 1 nutmeg
- 5 gms black pepper
- 5 gms coriander seeds
- 5 gms baobeer
- 5 gms allspice
- 5 gms of coconut
- 5 gms of jarakhush
- 5 gms of cumin
- 5 gms of caraway seeds
- 5 gms of sandalwood pder
- 3 gms rose petals
- 5 gms makhana
- 1 gm Bay leaf
- 5 gms poppy seeds
- 5 gms fennel seeds
- 5 gms anise seeds
- 5 gms white pepper
- dry fennel leaves
- 1 tbsp kewra
- 1tbsp mitha ittr
This spice blend is a common feature in most dishes of the Awadhi cuisines like kebabs.
Reliving History Cooking the Kundan Kaliya
If you want to taste this dish, you should head over to Oudh 1590 in Kolkata. I have never gone there and I can’t vouch if they use the exact ingredients needed for this dish.
I came across this recipe by accident. And it was indeed a sweet surprise when I had goat meat stocked up in the refrigerator.
I did not have Lazzat-e-Taam spice stocked up as well. So I went ahead with the spices linked above.
And no, I did not have all the spices. Out of the 24-25 odd spices listed, I had around 15 with me and I added in cashews and poppy seeds as well which were not mentioned. However, cashews and poppy seeds are used in Awadhi kaliyas.
It is possible that the spice mix is not readily available to you. You can order the spice mix over Amazon. I would not recommend any, since I have never used any.
Or you can simply head over to the link above and see if you can get majority of the ingredients.
The recipe is mentioned below.
Note
The equipment & ingredient quantity provided in this recipe is to assist you in cooking this dish. Feel free to experiment with your ingredients. Remember that we all have different set, size & shape of kitchen tools in our pantry.
Equipment
- Knife
- Wok & Spatula
- Preparation Bowls
- Serving Bowls
Ingredients
- 500 g tender goat meat or lamb meat
For Brown Onions
- 1/2 cup ghee
- 4 pc big sized onion
Spice X
- 3 pc clove
- 3 pc green cardamom
- 1/2 pc mace
- 1 tsp pepper corn
- 1 pc black cardamom
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
Spice Y
- 3 tsp coriander powder
- 3 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp Lazzat-e-Taam spices
For the Kundan Kaliya Curry
- 1/2 cup ghee
- 4 tsp ginger garlic juice
- 1/2 cup curd well beaten
- 1 cup warm milk
- 1 pinch saffron strands
- 1 tsp kewra water
- salt to taste
Instructions
Preparation for Kundan Qaliya (30 minutes)
- Slice the onions
- In a wok, add ghee and once hot, fry the onions till golden brown. Separate and keep the brown onions aside
- Take all the spices mentioned in "Spice X" and prepare a powder using a mixie. Keep aside
- Mix all the spice powders mentioned in "Spice Y" and keep aside
- Prepare juice of ginger and garlic. You can grind both in a mixie and mix this in a cup of water. Using muslin cloth, filter out the juice and discard the residue
Cooking the Kundan Kaliya (90 minutes)
- In the same wok, add the ghee
- Add the mutton pieces and fry them for 20 minutes on a medium to high flame
- Add the ginger garlic juice and saute until the raw smell disappears
- Add "Spice X" powder, give it a nice stir
- In a bowl crush the brown onions and add curd to it. Mix properly and add it to the mutton
- Cook this covered on a medium flame for another 15 minutes
- Add "Spice Y" powder and give it a nice mix. Cook covered for another 20 minutes
- Uncover and check if the mutton has cooked, if not continue cooking it covered and occasionally stir to avoid the spices from sticking to the pan
- Once the meat has cooked, put the flame to low
- Take warm milk and saffron strands in a bowl, mix and add it to the wok
- Gently stir the contents of the wok and keep an eye to prevent the milk from curdling
- Add salt and adjust the seasonings to taste
- Add kewra water
- Switch off the flame and allow to rest for 10 minutes
- Serve hot with roti, paratha, naan
Notes
- If you replace the saffron with turmeric, it will completely change the color
- If you see the milk curdling because of high heat, add a pinch of baking soda to the wok, it will prevent the milk from curdling further
- This dish has a thick gravy. If you need a lighter gravy you can add milk or water and adjust the seasonings accordingly
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Thanks for the recipe. There are couple of questions on it. 1. The colour of the dish wasn’t as yours, it was blackish.
2. Lazzat-e-tam qty mentioned is 1 tsp and in recipe of curry it says 3tsp. We added 3 tsp and it became too fragrant.
3. Also the mutton when sauted in ghee became a bit chewy not as tender as in laal maas.
Hi Anurag, thank you for trying the recipe. I am sorry to note that you did not have the desired experience. Please note the following:
1. The only way your dish can be blackish is if you have over fried the onions
2. I will try this again and modify the recipe to 1.5 – 2 tsp to balance the aroma
3. Did you fry the mutton for too long? That can be one reason, the other reason can be the quality.
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