M. F. Husain�s Kheema-Lasan

Like the old khansamas of the royal courts of Hyderabad and Lucknow, when M. F. Husain cooks, he cooks the recipe out of his head. No referring to cookery books for this amazingly-talented artiste of the kitchen. So, naturally, there's no standardisation of ingredients and their quantities; and cooking procedure to follow. The master painter follows the dictates of his heart. Portions are measured in the palm of his hand. And spoons are stirred in pots and pans with the same nimble dexterity and grace that his wrists employ while swishing cavasses with paint brushes. "The end result is what matters," Husain says of art and cooking. And how true! Follow the recipe for Husain's Kheema-Lasan that UpperCrust picked up by watching its creator at work.

Ingredients:
1 kg mutton kheema
2 large onions
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp dhania
1/2 tbsp jeera
1 tbsp red chilli powder
2 to 4 kg of fresh lasan, finely chopped
250 gm pure ghee
6 eggs
4 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped
Oil
Salt and pepper
Garam masala
Lemon juice

Procedure:
In hot oil, add finely chopped onions and brown till golden brown. Add garlic paste, kheema and ginger paste in that order. Stir on a high flame. Add jeera, dhania, red chilli powder, tomatoes and salt to taste. Cook for about 10-12 minutes on slow fire. Then add 25 per cent of the finely chopped lasan. Cook on high flame, stirring along for five, six minutes. Remove from fire. Layer out the kheema in a shallow dish spreading the remaining 75 per cent lasan between these layers. Squeeze some lemon juice on top. Break eggs over this spread. Sprinkle salt and pepper, garam masala and jeera powder on the eggs. And slowly pour the boiling hot ghee on top. Eat with Parwali Roti. Enjoy!