Kabargah (Fried Lamb Chops)

Servings

Prep

30 min

Cook

30 min

Ingredients

2 pounds ‏Lamb (or mutton or goat) chops. You can use ribs, too.
500 ml ‏whole milk
4 pieces ‏cloves
6 pieces ‏cardamon, crushed
1 ‏cinnamon stick, crushed
2 ‏bay leaves
1 pinch ‏saffron
3 tablespoons ‏gram flour (besan)
1 ½ cup ‏yogurt
½ teaspoon ‏Asafetida
½ teaspoon ‏garam masala powder
½ teaspoon ‏cumin powder
1 cup ‏ghee (clarified butter)
‏salt, according to taste
8 cups ‏water, boiled
1-inch root ‏ginger, smashed

Kabargah is Kashmiri-style fried lamb (or mutton) ribs, and although it takes a lot of labor and ingredients to get this right, you’ll be thankful you made them. For this recipe, I’ve used chops instead of ribs.

Directions

Pour the milk into a heavy, deep pot and mix in the spices — cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamoms, cloves, saffron — well. The kind of spices people use in this dish varies. I’ve been told by friends they use star anise and rosemary in theirs. I decided to go with saffron in mine.

kabargah-boiling

Drain the lamb chops in boiled water twice, before adding them into the pot with the milk and spices. Add salt, ginger, asafetida and stir the chops in the mix. Cook on high heat and bring the chops to a boil. Then turn the heat to medium and cook them until the milk starts evaporating and the meat feels soft. If you put a fork through it, it should be tender.

Remove the chops from the pot and drain them on a wire rack.

In a bowl, mix the gram flour with yogurt, a little bit of salt, garam masala and cumin. After mixing it well, dip the boiled ribs into the mix, coating it well. Don’t hesitate to get your hands dirty.

In a large pan, heat the ghee and start frying the chops until they are golden brown and crispy on all sides. Voila!