Achaar Gosht Recipe (Spicy Pickled Meat Curry).

Now there comes a time where you come across a dish that combines the best of two separate items and bring together a dish that is unique as well as bring a distinct tasty flavour. In this case, I present to you the 'Achaar Gosht', which roughly translates to 'Spicy Pickled Meat Curry'. 

In South Asian cuisine, people love to accompany their main course with a side serving of 'Achaar' which is basically special kinds of pickles. These pickles are made using an assortment of spices that are then mixed in with oil and water with either fruits or vegetables added after which they are sealed and left under the sun to ferment. The result is a sharp, tangy and acidic pickle that complements many of the dishes that are served. Some of the more popular fruit and vegetables used as an 'achaar' are carrot, garlic, mango, lime and chilli or a mix of all of them. 

It is said the origins of this dish stems from a time when an innovative cook got tired of making chutneys and achaars separately as an accompaniment for the main dishes, therefore he came up with the idea of combining a curry with that of the achaar and hence the achaar gosht dish came to fruition. It's likely the dish comes from the regions of North Punjab as well as Hyderabad where they have cuisines that involve tanginess as well as stuffing chillies with masalas (Something that is also done with this dish too which I'll detail in the recipe). It's also said that dish also came to be when in the kitchens, the leftover achaar would be mixed in with the meat and thereby creating this dish. 

While the primary meat used for this dish is mainly mutton, there's no hard and fast rule on using just that kind of meat. You can use literally whatever popular meat you so desire, be it lamb, beef or chicken. Each one of them taste great and you're very likely to see all these variations being served in households, dinner parties or restaurants that might have this dish on their menu. For this recipe I used beef.

The taste of this curry can be best summed up as spicy, tangy, acidic, creamy with the meat so tender that absorbs all those flavours to bring the best of both worlds of a curry and the achaar. The spices used here are a mix of the traditional with some specific ones exclusive to this dish mainly cinnamon, mustard seeds, fennel, nigella seeds and citric acid that gives it that tangy taste. Definitely a unique take on a curry that would make you wanting more! Best served with rice or naan (As pictured here). Let me know in the comments how you fared out in making it and what you thought about it! 

Here's the recipe:

ACHAAR GOSHT (SPICY PICKLED MEAT CURRY) RECIPE: 

Ingredients:

- 1kg beef (preferably cuts from shoulder and leg)

- 2 tbsp garlic paste.

- 2 tbsp ginger paste.

- 8 to 10 green chillies (slit lengthwise).

- 3 to 4 tbsp lemon juice. 

- 400 gms tomato puree.

- 500 gms plain yogurt (whipped).

- 1 cup ghee / cooking oil.

- 1 and a 1/2 tbsp fennel seeds.

- 1 tbsp cumin seeds.

- 1 tbsp mustard seeds.

- 1 tbsp nigella seeds.

- 2 tsp salt. (or according to taste).

- 1 tbsp coriander powder.

- 2 tsp garam masala powder.

- 2 tsp turmeric powder.

- 2 tbsp red chilli flakes.

- 1 tsp red chilli powder.

- 2 tsp fenugreek seeds.

- 1 tsp citric acid. 

PREPARATION:

- First we'll prepare the achaar masala. In a spice grinder, add in the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, nigella seeds, citric acid. Grind them coarsely, not into a powder. Alternatively you can grind them using a mortar and pestle.

- Once these spices are all grounded, add in the remaining spices (red chilli flakes, turmeric, garam masala powder, coriander powder, fenugreek seeds, red chilli powder, salt). Mix them all well and set aside. Your achaar masala is ready.

- Next take 2 tbsp of the achaar masala and mix it with the lemon juice. Take the mixture and stuff the green chillies which we had slit lengthwise with the mixture and set aside.

- In a cooking pot, heat up the oil and add in the meat, garlic and ginger paste. Stir fry the meat on high heat until all the pink colour of the meat disappears. 

- Put the achaar masala in 1/2 cup of water and mix it well together and add it into the meat.

- Add in the whipped yogurt, mix it well and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes on medium high flame. 

- Add in 2 cups of water, bring to a light simmer boil, then cover and cook on medium-low heat for about 40 minutes or until meat is tender. Make sure to keep checking in between to see when the meat is tender.

- Next add in the tomato puree, mixed it well and cook on medium high flame for a further 5 to 10 minutes. 

- Add in the stuffed chillies on top spread evenly and cover and cook on low flame for a further 20 minutes until the oil separates from the gravy. 

- Once dish is ready, remove from heat, let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.