Family recipeNon-VegMainHyderabadi
Chironji Dalcha
Amma's notebook · Main course, page 4
Mutton in a rich, nutty gravy of ground chironji, best with butter naan.

Method
- Boil the chironji in hot water for 2 minutes, then dry and rub thoroughly until the skins come off and it looks like white dal. Grind ¾ coarsely; keep ¼ whole.
- In a cooker heat oil or ghee, add the garam masala, then onions. When done, add ginger-garlic, haldi, namak, mirchi and the gosht. Bhuno and cook until tender.
- When the cooker has cooled, add the chironji paste and bhuno, then the whole chironji. Mix and bhuno.
- Add the curds, then water for the consistency you want, and the hara masala. It should be gada: not very thick, not very runny.
Serve with
Butter naan.
Amma's notes
- If chironji is too costly, make the paste with chana dal and keep the whole ¼ as chironji for flavour.
Typed up from Amma's handwritten notebook. Her Hindi and Urdu words are kept as she wrote them.