Mutton Rezala

Rezala began in the Nawabi kitchens of Awadh, a Persian-influenced Mughlai braise whose name is thought to come from Persian culinary vocabulary for a dish's "essence" or juice. It travelled east in 1856, when the British deposed the last Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, and exiled him to Metiabruz on the edge of Calcutta; his retinue of khansamas (royal cooks) brought their cooking with them and adapted it to a hotter, wetter climate, lightening the gravy into the soupy rezala known today. It became canon at landmark Kolkata establishments such as Aminia, Sabir's and Shiraz.

Tender mutton in a thin, pale broth that you almost drink as much as eat, the surface dotted with whole red chilies and a slick of ghee. The aroma is all perfume — green cardamom, mace, and a heady lift of kewra — over a mild yogurt tang and the soft richness of cashew and poppy seed. There is warmth but little real heat; the dried chilies scent the gravy without scorching it. Torn paratha or rumali roti is dipped to carry the fragrant liquid. A gravy gone grey or grainy means the yogurt was overheated and split.

Rezala is a yogurt braise pushed toward paleness and perfume. To keep the sauce snow-light, the cook uses no turmeric, no browned onion and no tomato — colour is avoided on purpose — and binds the yogurt with white cashew and poppy-seed (posto) paste, whose starch and fat stabilise the dairy so it does not curdle over heat. Cooking is gentle and the gravy is left loose rather than reduced hard, preserving its broth-like body. Volatile aromatics — kewra, mace, green cardamom — are added late so their fragrance survives, which is the whole point of the dish.