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The Sufi mystics and a dish cooked at an angle

posted on Monday, August 25, 2008 11:57 AM

Walking through the heart of Calcutta there is evidence everywhere of the Middle East and Sufi mysticism. But then again India’s trade with the Middle East is as old as the hills. From the seventh century onwards the Arabs came overland and in dhows making their presence felt in Sind and along the lush Coromandel Coast. They reached Calcutta many centuries later when other traders, namely the Bohras and the Khojas and the Iranis, merchants from Persia (Iran), already established on the west coast of India, came to Calcutta with the building boom at the end of the last century.

Along with the newly arrived traders came their very different and complicated cooking techniques such as the patthar gosht, a meat dish cooked on a heated slate placed at an angle of 45 degrees. The mutton, cut into paper thin slices, is first marinated in ginger, garlic, shredded onions, coriander, fresh lime juice, green chillies and raw papaya and then seared on a hot slate imported from Karbala. It is this special slate that gives the meat its famous, unique and indescribable aroma.

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