The Holy Grail of the Bihari Muslim Household

A dish typically eaten during Baqr Eid, grail is made in two ways — with a thick masala, or a dry version where it is allowed to cook in its own juices. Nighat Rana Alam documents this fascinating dish.

Bari Amma, the eldest lady of the household at the Choti Dumri Kothi (my husband's paternal side) was an elegantly stern lady. Widowed at a young age, she kept the household running like a well-oiled machine. She was known for her cooking and one of the prized dishes was the grail, a mutton dish that is made at Baqr Eid. Technically an uncomplicated dish, its flavour surpasses its simplicity. There are two ways to make it — sukha (dry) or latpata (with a thick masala). 

Bari Amma’s grail, made in latpata masala, was the best in the family. I was too young a bride then to ask her for the recipe. Many years later, her daughter generously shared the recipe with me, and it turned out to be deceptively simple. She would to marinade the cuts with pastes of onion, ginger and garlic, dahi, oil and lots of black pepper powder — no garam masala powder used here. She used to then pressure cook it, followed by intensive sauteing till the masala became latpata. Grail used to make its appearance on the solid teak mirror-like polished breakfast table along with gajrela, aloo ki bhujia, egg, and roti.

Bari Amma had a lot of zaiqa (loosely: flavour) in her hands — many in the family tried to replicate her grail, but somehow it doesn't turn out the same. 

Read: Another Baqr Eid special, made with goat tallow.

The first time I had the semi-dry version of grail was at my samdhiana (daughter's in-laws) in Patna. The dastarkhawan was laid out with the delicacies such as pulao gosht, nihari, seekh kebab (known as Bihari kebab outside of Bihar), nargisi kebab, baqarkhani, naan pamba, and more. What really caught my eye was the grail, as I had never had this version before — I was floored by the perfectly balanced flavours. The grail had a meaty rounded flavour, which was not overwhelmed by the masala, and just enough seasoning to let the meat shine through. The generous lunch was followed by makuti (moong dal kheer) while sitting out in the aangan (courtyard) basking in the winter sun, slightly shaded by the mango tree. 

In the semi-dry version, the taste primarily comes from the mutton fat or charbi. The ideal cuts are from large, fattened goats, which are available during Baqr Eid. During the rest of the year, I just ask for the large cuts of champ (ribs), seena (short ribs), dasti (shoulder), and add some mutton fat to the pot. No extra oil or ghee is added as everything comes from the meat and fat itself, with some simple seasonings to carry the flavours forward. This is a very convenient dish to be served during Baqr Eid when it's open house. All one has to do is just cook the grail till tender, and then gently shallow fry it in its own liquefied fat as and when the guests arrive. 

Grail must be had warm, or its fat tends to solidify. To solve this problem, it used to be served on a double walled plate that is designed to keep warm. This was achieved by pouring warm water down the opening on the side, which was then plugged with the ceramic topped cork stopper. We inherited one of these blue coloured plates, and it is over a hundred years old — a prized possession, just like grail.

We have always had grail with roti, till I discovered that it is traditionally served with something called namkeen tikiya which is a thick poori made with atta, kalonji, red chilli powder, a bit of oil and salt. Occasionally some spicy Bihari aam ka achar ka masala would be added to it. The dough is rolled out to about double the thickness of that of a poori and palm sized rounds are cut out. The tikiya is then deep fried on medium heat so that it cooks through. There is also a version where instead of oil, melted goat fat is added to it, making it extra flaky – or khasta. 

RECIPE FOR SUKHA GRAIL

Ingredients

2 kg of mutton cut into large chunks — ribs (champ) and short ribs (seena), shoulder (dasti) could be added
200 g of dahi 
2 tbsp of ginger paste 
1 tbsp of garlic paste 
1/2 tsp chilli powder (or to taste) 
2 tsp homemade garam masala powder (recipe given below) 
3 large onions, thinly sliced 
Salt to taste. 

I never use store bought garam masalas because each recipe needs its own blend — the recipe I use for grail is given below: 
4 tbsp cumin 
3 tbsp black pepper 
1 tsp cloves 
4 pcs black cardamom 
2 pieces of 2 inch each of cassia 

Method 

To make the garam masala: Give the spices a quick stir on a warm tawa and grind it finely.
Marinade the mutton in the above ingredients and leave for half an hour.
Pressure cook with half cup of water for about 20 mins. Switch off the flame and leave the pressure to release itself.
Shallow fry the mutton using any liquid that would have been left over — no extra oil or ghee is added. Seasonings (garam masala, black pepper and salt) can be added at this time to balance the flavours. 
Along with the tikiya, the grail would be served with sliced onions in jamun ka sirka and lots of freshly ground pepper on the side. 

Nighat Rana Alam, an artist and antique collector, is passionate about preserving the culinary heritage of the Bihari muslim families, particularly that from Patna. She has recently started documenting the recipes on Instagram.

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