Khariya ~ Trotters

Lamb Trotters
Goat Trotters

Khariya is a dish best eaten in the winter months. It is generally made from lamb or goat. Lamb is more fatty and meaty, while goat trotters are skinnier and leaner. Many in the Western world prepare it with pig trotters, as it used to be more accessible 50 years ago. 

Being a long process and ending in large quantities, it is common to have this as a one-dish party among many in my community. Each family has its own recipe, and here I share mine.

These lamb trotters are made with black eyed peas, served with an onion salad and fresh crusty bread.

12 lamb trotters
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
water to cover the trotters

1 kg/2.2 lb finely chopped fried onion
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp cumin powder
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp dhana jeeru powder (dhansak no karo masalo) optional

12-16 finely chopped green chillies
1 large bunch of finely chopped coriander about 1 cup
3 tbsp flour 
1 kg/2.2 lb finely chopped fresh skinned tomatoes


In a deep pot, bring to a boil the lamb trotters, salt, and sugar. Cover the pot, lower the heat, and allow it to cook for 10 hours, or until cooked through. 

In another large pot, heat the oil and add to it the ginger, garlic, cumin, red chilli powder, turmeric, dhana jeera powder, green chillies, and coriander. Give it a good stir and add the flour. Allow it to cook for 2 minutes and add the tomatoes. And finally, the fried onions. Let it cook on a low fire until you can see little beads of oil all around the sides of the pan. (ghee~tayl per avay)

From the liquid of the trotters, slowly add it cup by cup, stirring and blending it all in. Then add the tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Keep boiling it until the right consistency is achieved. It should be heavy gravy. If there is less liquid, keep the flame low and keep simmering it covered for 30 minutes. 

The trotters and spices must be cooked together for at least 30 minutes for the flavours to come through. 

Options
In the spices, add 1/2 tsp of dhana jeeru powder, which is a dark brown blend of spices also used in most lentils. 

1 cup of black eyed peas, that have been boiled and cooked before adding them to the spices while you cook it. Since beans are also thickening agents, you may omit the flour. 

Best served with warm hard crusty bread and finely sliced onions mixed in a tamarind and jaggery mixture ~ gor amli ni kuchumbar and fresh lemon. 


Tips 
Cooking the trotters in a pressure cooker to save time is an option. 
If you choose to use pig trotters, it is the same process and cooking time. 
Follow the rest of the steps as per the recipe above.

My published cookbooks are available for sale through myself and on Amazon.

The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders is a 3 award winning book. It has been self published in July 2019 and will be going into its second print in 2022. 

The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine was published in 2016 by Austin Macauley and continues to be available through amazon book depot book depository and from the publishers.

Readers Comments

Parizad Sethna Followed your recipe & it turned out delicious. Thanks👍

Batasa

Batasa 

Simple tea biscuits that have a long history and a wonderful legendary story.
The Dutch had left the shores of the West Port City of Surat, India in the 1700's, where a flourishing bakery was handed over to Faramji Dotivala. This baker continued to produce bread for the local British community left behind. Once the Brits waned in numbers, the bread's popularity diminished, and the wasted bread was soon distributed to the local poor. Having the advantage of being fermented with an ingredient called Toddy, there was little chance of the bread ever catching fungus, prolonging the life of this staple yet making it harder to eat. One thing led to another, and the local doctors suggested that this stale bread be given as a convalescent food to patients as it was easy to digest and filled their stomachs. Dotivala started producing smaller, specially dried bread buns, and 'batasas' were soon produced using the same toddy, flour, and water! They were round balls of dough made to be eaten with a cup of sweet tea. They were hard enough to be dunked into the tea and not fall apart. 
Years later, the Batasa was changed to a richer version with the addition of butter and/or ghee/clarified butter. With alcohol prohibition taking place, toddy was replaced with yeast or even completely omitted from the recipe. 
Aside from Surat, Navsari, and Pune, where Batasas compete for recognition, it was and still is a staple sold in Irani Tea Houses in Mumbai and, until recently, Karachi. Sadly, it is all dwindling down in numbers as many of the owners and bakers have moved to other pastures. Let's hope we can soon walk through the doors of the first wonderful Chai House in North America! 

today's situation: 
Made from a few ingredients, some like their batasa crisp while others like them flaky. There is also an amazing cheese batasa now popular among Canadians. The option to add cumin or caraway seeds and toasted slivered almonds still remains the same. Happily, the shape continues to be mainly round like the original buns! 


Niloufer's Kitchen has now come up with an exclusive multi-seed batasa that has been tried and tested, bringing this ancient recipe into the 21st century. It is inclusive of the ''supergrains" and is easy enough to include as per instructions below.

The Multi -Seed Batasa with a steaming cup of tea.

Makes 45 batasas

Batasa

4 cups sifted all purpose flour
3 tbsp semolina
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Optionally

For Multi-Seed "supergrain" batasas  add any of the following (a total of 50 gm by weight)

2 tsp hemp seeds 2 tsp chia seeds
2 tsp white sesame
2 tsp golden flax
2 tsp golden millet
2 tsp golden cornmeal

226g/ 8 oz salted butter
8 tbsp water


In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Add the softened butter in little pieces. With the tip of your fingers, crumble the mixture till it resembles little beads. You can alternately use two butter knives or place all of it in a food processor using the pulse button. Do not overwork the dough. Roll it out into a long, even sausage on a lightly floured surface. 
Cut this into 45-60 pieces. Roll each one very lightly into a ball. Place this on a baking sheet. 
Preheat the oven to 165 C | 325 F. Cook for 30 minutes. Lower the temperature to  135 C | 275 F and cook for 30 minutes. Now lower the oven temperature to 105 C | 225 F and cook until it cooks and dries from the inside, which will be another hour plus. 
Let it cool and store it in an airtight box.

Tips

If you have a cake beater, use the 'k beater' attachment to mix. If you have a food processor, it will take 5 to 10 minutes to put this together. The dough should be soft to the touch and smooth all over—very similar to the chapati or rotli dough. 
Overturn, cut into 2 or 4 equal pieces, and work with one at a time. It is more even and quicker. 
Keep the baking trays ready with greaseproof or parchment paper, or lightly grease the tray with butter. You will need two large cookie sheets to fit all of them.  
The trick is to dry the batasas from the inside, and so the heat variation is very important. 
Batasas should have a light pinky colour and not be white. 
Try to keep them all even. 

Optionally  if you are not making the plain or Multi-Seed variety, you may add either 
50 g/ 2 oz toasted slivered peeled almonds
1 tsp cardamom powder
2 tsp caraway or cumin seeds
1/2 cup almond powder or almond flour in place of 1/2 cup flour 

There are plenty of recipes with a bit of yeast added, which then gives them a definitive aroma, texture, and taste; all of these are a personal preference and neither wrong nor right.



For more Parsi recipes, its history, traditions and stories read more in my cookbooks The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders and The Art of Parsi Cooking;reviving an ancient cuisine.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HBSBLI4
Niloufer's Kitchen:Quick and Easy

For any help downloading an e-book click https://read.amazon.com

Readers Comment:
December 14th 2014

Anahita Ghista

6 hrs

Batasa /makhaniya /jeera butter...
many names..best chaitime biscuit

A perfect recipe from Niloufer's Kitchen..


This was posted today March 18th 2015. How wonderful to see a piece of history relived. Feeling excited!!

At the famous Dotiwala Bakery in Surat. Cyrus Dotiwala gave us a special access tour of the back of house bakery operations. And a gift hamper to all of the Fellows. Thank you Dotiwala Family for being gracious hosts and welcoming us to your bakery ‪#‎RTR2015‬

April 2015

Charis Wania‎Niloufer's Kitchen

3 mins · 

Great recipe Niloufer. My batasas are a bit "knobbly" but taste YUM!

October 11th 2017

Mehereen Bhaijiwala I love so many things from your blog and book. My favorite are of course the Batasas followed closely by the prawn biryani and then the ribbon rice. Yum!!!! I could go on and on so many recipes,so little space..

Aban Kapadia
The perfect batasa. Thank you.