Rista (Meatballs In Red Gravy) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 kg boneless mutton, from the leg of lamb
1 cup meat fat
1 cup moval extract (cockscomb)
1 teaspoon saffron, soaked in a cup water
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
4 pieces cardamom (brown)
3 teaspoons fennel powder
2 -3 bay leaves
3 pieces cloves
2 pieces cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon asafoetida powder, liquid
1 cup mustard oil or 1 cup oil
salt

Preparation

Pound boneless meat on a smooth stone with a wooden mallet and add the meat fat while pounding. Make sure the pulp is mixed well to make the round balls. Add brown cardamom powder, a little salt and 1 tsp ginger powder. After mixing well make round balls about 3 inches diameter.
Heat oil in a large vessel add salt, asafoetida and a glass of water and red chili powder. Keep on stirring until it leaves the red colour. Add about 8 glasses of water and the rest of the spices and bring to a boil.
While the gravy is boiling add meat balls slowly and gently boil for an hour. Add the moval extract and simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve with boiled rice.
Note: Moval is a dried flower available only in Kashmir. Generally it is used for coloring dishes. To prepare moval extract- soak moval in a cup of water for about an hour, drain and store. As an alternative we may use saffron extract. Soak 1 tsp saffron in a cup of water and add to the dish.