That Lamb Dalcha

Y and his brother cooked up a storm over two weekends of Eid celebrations. They found a slot to feed friends and commanded us to bring empty stomachs to EAT. We knew what it meant and all of us either fasted the whole day till 5pm or simply ate breakfast and skipped lunch. Dinner was early anyway. He told us to appear between 5.30pm to 8pm. We dutifully did so.

What a spread. Tasty rice, lamb curry, mutton curry, beef brisket curry, dalcha, two types of raita and all. And sup tulang merah! Mmmmm. There was ayam poor in the fridge waiting to be grilled. All of us were like, "No need, dunwan, don't take it out! Keep it for your lunch tomorrow!" Our stomachs were so full from the trays laid out on the table. 

Y said that these dishes are uniquely their (along with his brother and SIL) interpretation of Indian-Muslim-ish style. Somebody asked about the tasty rice. We were like, "DON'T ASK! DON'T ASK! DON'T ASK!" Too late, we were told exactly how much ghee went inside. DAMMIT. Now that we know, we all have to run 5km the next day to work it off. Or do about 50 burpees in a row. 😭

I tasted everything of course, and went back to focus on the dalcha, lamb curry and the sup tulang merah. I ate, and ate and ate. Y said he cooked up 15 kg of tulang and I had better eat all that I wanted now since I always complain about horrible ones sold at the eateries. I ate six pieces of marrow and cleaned off the meat on the bone. What a fabulous meal! I couldn't be more grateful for friends who cook!

The star is the dalcha. Gosh. The difference between dhal/dal and dalcha — the former is vegetarian, the latter isn't. Y said that the family's dalcha is of course made with lamb ribs. Y said that this was his SIL's recipe and they've fine-tuned it ever since that first pot. Their lamb dalcha held big slabs of eggplants and potatoes and carrots. I loved that they used raw mangoes! This dalcha was absolutely gorgeous. 

Sardine curry next please, Y. 😍 Slurrrrrrp.

That fat bit is a beautiful slice of raw mango cooked in the dalcha.