Blowing out the Birthday Candles - Lamb Korma

Are blowing out birthday candles a thing of the past? I love a beautiful birthday cake with lots of candles, happily blowing them out with gusto. Suddenly a regular birthday tradition has become taboo. Celebrating a birthday in the pandemic is just a little different.

The kids celebrated a friend's birthday a few weekends ago. Outdoors on a sunny fall day, it was our two families. Their friend was content to share his birthday with just a few friends. He sweetly said he wanted to celebrate with an aunt (over video chat) and Poet and Flower. The kids were super excited to play and celebrate together. After all, you are only seven once. We all celebrated at a nearby park for a picnic birthday celebration. The kids hiked up and down the park trails, splashed in the creek, and generally ran around. And of course, there was lots of birthday food - pizza, salad (for the grownups), and cake. Or this time around chocolate cupcakes.

Gone was a party of all their friends or their entire class. The kids' memories of their birthdays will undoubtedly be different. I am certainly wistful about this, but we are all slowly trying to adapt and make the best of these crazy times. Instead of blowing out candles on a big cake, you can always blow out candles on your cupcake or a piece of cake. No one will remember the difference. And a small party with friends and family is filled with just as much love and joy.

One of my birthday favorites is lamb korma. Growing up, we would celebrate birthdays in typical Muslim and American fashion. My mother was proud of her food and her heritage. As kids, we grew up with the same love for "Indian" food, but also grew up with American favorites. There was always birthday cake like German sweet chocolate cake or Hummingbird cake. But my special birthday dinner was always a classic Indian dish. The kids still love pizza. We will have to work on that.

My mother would make lamb korma, fried shrimp, and bagara khana. Nothing could beat that. There was the constant push-pull of Indian and American birthdays, and we had the best of both worlds. Korma is made by gently cooking lamb with yogurt, tomatoes, cilantro, and onions. There are not too many spices, and the lamb is not quite braised but simmered to develop a creamy, rich flavor. It again came from Mughal kitchens and was an integral part of my mother's repertoire. Lamb korma also forms the basis of Hyderabadi dum biriyani minus the potatoes. My mother and father would get into heated arguments about potatoes in biriyani. My mother firmly maintaining that potatoes had no place in biriyani.

Though birthdays may have changed, the celebration is still the same. As we all sang happy birthday, Poet and Flower's friend blew out his candle. For just a few minutes, we all forgot there was a pandemic, and everyone was a kid again.

Lamb Korma

Lamb is gently simmered with yogurt, tomato, cilantro and spices to make a rich "curry". Serve with naan or Hyderabadi rice and peas (bagara khana) for a delicious dinner. You can also make this with chicken or shrimp.

Serves 8

• 2 1/2 pounds lamb (lamb shoulder or boneless lamb - cut into 3 inch pieces)
• 3/4 cup oil
• 2 1 inch pieces of cinnamon
• 6 cardamom pods
• 6 cloves
• 4 medium onions - very thinly sliced
• 6 cloves garlic (minced)
• 3 inch piece of ginger (minced)
• 2/3 cup yogurt
• 3 tablespoons coconut powder
• 1 lemon (juiced)
• 2 medium potatoes (cut into 2 inch pieces)

For the kachaa green masala

• 2 green chilis - slit vertically
• 1/2 cup fresh mint (chopped)
• 1 cup cilantro (chopped)
• 3 medium tomatoes (chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 4 teaspoons salt

1. In a 3 quart dutch oven or saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add the cardamon, cinnamon and cloves and saute for a minute. Add the onions and saute until soft. Give this a good 10 to 15 minutes. You want them to be soft and almost caramelized. Add the garlic and ginger paste, saute about 5 minutes. The onions and garlic will be golden and stick to the pan, and almost seem like its going to burn but this is ok.

2. Add all the katchaa green masala ingredients along with the lamb. Cook uncovered, stirring constantly until tomatoes are soft and mushy. Lower heat to med/low and simmer, occasionally stirring for 20 minutes. The lamb and tomatoes will release a good amount of liquid so you shouldn’t need to add any. But check occasionally and add 1/4 cup water if needed. You want the korma to simmer and bubble gently.

3. Add the yogurt and cook for 20 minutes again at medium/low heat.

4. Add the coconut powder and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. You can check that the meat is soft and tender and then you'll know its done. If not, just simmer for 10-15 minutes more.

5. Serve with naan or basmati rice.