Whether you choose team allspice or cassia buds or cubeb for the english translation of kababchini, you will not go wrong with this dish. It’s a small round ‘tailed’ pepper kind of spice with an aroma similar to cinnamon.

Can’t find it? You can omit it and still go ahead and make this simple and fragrant meat dish ready within minutes, especially if you use a pressure cooker. Except for the kababchini, of which a reliable english translation eludes me at this point, the list of ingredients is nothing fancy but the outcome is. This is one of the most requested recipes people ask me about, which I, in turn, learnt from my sister in law. I am not sure of it’s origin but it does have an authentic hyderabadi feel (more like a ‘masaledaar meetha salan’ as a hyderabadi cook would call it.

Prep Time | 15 minutes |
Cook Time | 30 minutes |
Passive Time | 20 minutes |
Servings |
people
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- 1/2 cup sunflower oil
- 2 small onions thinly sliced
- 500 g lamb (medium pieces, bone-in)
- 1 large onion cut into thick slices
- 2 pieces whole cinnamon bark
- 1 tsp whole kababchini, whole green cardamom
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon powder and kababchini powder
- 1 cup hara masala (mix of green chilis, coriander and mint leaves, chopped)
- 1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- juice of 1 lemon
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp Ghee optional
- 1 tsp garam masala powder optionalj
Ingredients
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- Heat the oil in a pan and fry the thinly sliced onions until golden brown. Remove and set aside. Reserve the oil.
- In a pressure cooker, load all the mutton, onion pieces, whole spices and spice powders, ginger garlic paste, salt, red chili powder, hara masala and 2-3 tbsp of the oil used for frying. Mix well and keep it on high with the pressure on for 3-4 whistles then lower the heat and cook for about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and release steam.
- Open the cooker and cook while stirring with a wooden spoon until no traces of the onion are seen, it becomes grainy and until oil is released.
- Now add the brown onions after crushing a bit. Wash down the sides with about half a cup of water, add the ghee and garam masala and keep it on dum for a few minutes.
- Serve hot with naan, paratha or rice.