For the Festivities - Dum ke Laoz

This is a dressy dish that I’ve always dreamt of making but couldn’t because I would always fail to memorize the recipe – in the last few years since it’s been published, I almost always paid for this book but put it back regretfully as I felt it was too much of an indulgence.
A paperback never materialized but it so happened, though, that I had accumulated enough points on my loyalty card to be able to afford it without much guilt, so here it comes! The book is ‘A Princely Legacy – Hyderabadi Cuisine’ written by Pratibha Karan and published by Harper Collins Publishers India.
This is a really simple dish and there’s a terrific picture in the book, not a close-up, though. And the picture in the book looked typically golden brown, while my finished product is more green. But the proportions were haphazardly followed and I probably put in more coriander than necessary, giving it that green cast, but I liked it.
Today’s guinea pigs said it looked like a pastry/cake, which was good, because the book explains that’s how it gets its name - Laoz also means a sweet dish. In Hyderabad, it’s also called kheeme ki barfi, lagan ke kabab and Kashmiri laoz.
Most of the method is from the book (your forgetful cook did something wrong, as usual) but the measures are mostly mine:

500 gm minced meat (the book said 750 gm)
1-inch piece ginger, chopped
8 cloves garlic, chopped
A pinch of turmeric
A tsp of chilli powder
½ cup yoghurt/curds
1 egg, beaten
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
3 small onions, minced
½ cup coriander leaves, chopped
2-3 green chillies, chopped
A handful of cucumber seeds/skinned & flaked almonds (you can also use watermelon or muskmelon seeds or a combination of all these)
1 tbsp oil, if you like, to toast the seeds
A little more oil, to grease the baking dish and coat the kheema mix before it goes into the oven
Salt to taste

Boil the minced meat with ginger, garlic, turmeric, chilli powder, yoghurt, and salt, till tender. Grind into a fine paste (said the book, but I ground it into a fine paste with the beaten egg, onion, coriander and green chillies, which had to be mixed in after the cooked mince was ground.) Divide into two portions.
Fry the seeds, set aside.
In a greased baking dish, spread one portion evenly. Put the egg slices on it and cover with the remaining mince. Brush this layer liberally with oil – I used about two spoons. Sprinkle the fried seeds or nuts on top. Bake till golden. It takes about 30 minutes.
My experiment resulted in a spicy, moist mince cake which was a hit with most of the guinea pigs. Bon appetit!

WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Tags: Kheema Minced Meat Kabab Baked dish