Nihari Masala Cook Off

Ok, so today is like superbowl-Sunday for Nihari.

The last batch of Nihari I made was made from a mix. I’m pretty sure it was Laziza brand. I couldn’t find them at the store this time, so I tried two different brands:  National, and Shan.

Other than ginger paste (National says to use at the beginning, Shan doesn’t use at all) the procedure is the same. The spices in each mix are a little different (and in a different order).

I didn’t use all the Shan nihari masala, instead I held some back and substituted garam masala (as suggested by luckyfatima in a comment on my first nihari).

For meat, I used regular stewing beef (who knows what the cut was) and I also threw in two beef side-ribs – the masalas suggested beef shin and beef bones, but side ribs was the closest I could get (I didn’t try very hard).

Other than the above, I followed the instructions exactly.  Here are the two batches cooking away – this is after all the prep/browning, etc…, but before adding water and letting simmer for 5+ hours.

The results?

The National brand nihari mix I found to be richer than the Shan. But National has MSG, so I’ll probably go with Shan in the future. There really wasn’t a big difference. My wife found the Shan spicier (i.e., hot) but I didn’t notice much difference.

Next time, I’ll remember to trim the meat a bit better (way too much fat that I had to scoop out). Other than that, a little lime juice would be nice.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with the mixes. I do think my last nihari made from scratch was better than the mix, but it was also A LOT more work and I’m usually not up for it.