Nihari is a dish that was introduced and served to the kings in the Mughal period. From then the taste and the preparing technique has been carefully cascaded to generations. It is a favorite among non-veg lovers of northern parts of India. In today’s time, it is one of the most favorite dishes to most of the people in our neighboring Pakistan. Its usually prepared as early as 4:30 AM and people use the beef nihari as a side dish along with hot breads (preferably naan or paratha).
It takes 2 or 3 hours approximately to prepare an authentic tasting Nihari.
Ingredients
- The measurements given here for serving 12 to 14 people.
- If we want to prepare the dish for a family of 5 to 6 members – We can just reduce the measurements of all the ingredients to half of what is given below.
- But please note, the cooking time should be the same as mentioned in the steps.
- Beef – 1 kg
- Beef bone – Half kg
- Bay leaf – 2
- Cardamom – 4
- Black cardamom – 3
- Cinnamon – 3
- Clove – 6
- Coriander – 3 tbsp
- Fennel seeds – 3 tbsp
- Javitri – 1/2
- Nutmeg – 1/2
- Coriander powder – 1.5 tbsp (one and a half tablespoons)
- Cumin – 1.5 tbsp (one and a half tablespoons)
- Chilli powder – 1.5 tbsp (one and a half tablespoons)
- Dry ginger – 3 piece
- Garlic – 10
- Ghee – 150g
- Oil – 150g
- Onion – 2
- Pepper – 1 tbsp
- Salt – 2 tbsp
- Star anise – 1
- Turmeric powder – 1/2 tbsp
- Water – 3 litres
- Wheat flour – 150 grams
- Lemon – 1
- Cotton cloth – 1 (30cm length and breadth)
Beef
- Prefer to buy 1 kg of thigh flesh, mostly boneless – so nihari will come out really good.
- Don’t cut into smaller pieces – instead cut whole of 1 kg beef into 7 or 8 big pieces.
- Ask the flesh of a young calf, so that the flesh will be easy to cook – the cooking time will reduce to 120 minutes from 180 or 240 minutes.
Things to be done before we start cooking
- Peel the skin of 2 medium sized onions – chop them into very small pieces (if available at our home, we can use a blender to obtain small pieces).
- Garlic – 10 cloves, peel the skin, use a hand grinder or mixy to grind them to a fine paste (pour in little water if needed)
- Ginger – Take 100 grams, peel the skin, cut them to thin and long slices.
Steps to Prepare
1 Take a 5-litre capacity vessel. Place it on the burner and turn on the flame to HIGH MODE.
2 Pour in the below 2 and wait it to get hot –
- oil – 150 ml
- Ghee – 150 grams
3 Once the oil and ghee mixture get little hot,
- turn the flame to medium mode.
- Then add the chopped onions (obtained from 2 medium sized onions, cut into small pieces).
- Fry the onions for 30 to 40 seconds till they turn golden brown in colour.
4 Then add –
- garlic paste (that we have already prepared).
- Salt – 2 tablespoons
- Big sized beef pieces – one by one.
Stir gently for 20 seconds.
5 Now lets
- Put in the bones (half kg) now. Stir a little for 10 seconds.
- Pour in water – 3 litres and stir gently for 20 seconds.
- Take a clean cotton cloth (30 cm) and pack 3 tablespoons of coriander and 2 bay leaves.
- Place the cloth packed with coriander and bay leaf into water. This is done to obtain the flavor alone into our dish.
- Close the vessel with a lid.
- Turn the flame to HIGH MODE – let the contents get cooked in high flame for next 10 minutes.
6
- After 10 minutes of cooking in high flame, turn the flame to LOW MODE.
- Let the contents get cooked in low flame for the next 30 minutes.
7 After 30 minutes, lets remove the lid.
Also remove the cloth packed with coriander and bay leaf.
Stir a little for 20 seconds.
8 Take the below 3 items and grind them to fine powder with mixy and add it to the vessel with beef –
- Fennel seeds – 3 tablespoons
- Cumin – 1.5 tablespoons
- Dry ginger – 3 pieces
Stir a little.
9 Take the below spices, grind them to a fine powder, then add it to the vessel with beef –
- Mace spice – half
- Cardamom – 4
- Pepper (whole) – 1 tablespoon
- Star Anise – 1
- Cloves – 6
- Black cardamom – 3
- Cinnamon – 3
- Nutmeg – half
After adding the spice mixture (fine powder), stir gently for 20 seconds.
10 Then, lets add the below 3 and stir well –
- Coriander powder – 1.5 tablespoons
- Turmeric powder – 1/2 tablespoon
- Chilli powder – 1.5 tablespoons
11 Stir gently for 20 seconds, then close the vessel with a lid, let the flame be in LOW MODE.
Let’s leave the contents to cook for the next 90 minutes to 120 minutes.
12 After slow cooking in low flame mode for 90+ minutes, remove the lid, check the beef pieces – the beef pieces should be able to break down easily like cotton.
13 With help of a deep spoon, try to collect the oil floating in the top of vessel. Keep the collected oil aside.
14 Take a bowl, put in –
- Wheat flour – 150 grams
- Water – 100 ml
- Mix it well till they become a paste like consistency.
15 Start pouring the wheat + water paste into the vessel with beef. Pour little by little and also stir continuously.
Pouring in little by little resists the wheat from becoming hard, also continuously stirring allows the wheat to spread evenly.
16 In low flame mode, close the vessel, leave the contents to cook for the next 15 minutes.
17 After 15 minutes, turn off the flame, remove the lid. Stir a little.
Our Nihari is ready and can be tasted.
How to serve?
- Place the well-cooked beef pieces on a deep plate, pour a little of gravy from vessel,
- Also pour a little of oil over the beef pieces and gravy.
- Sprinkle a little of thinly sliced ginger pieces all over the beef and dip some of them in gravy to get ginger flavor.
- Then squeeze the juice from one lemon fruit all over the beef and gravy.
