Forgotten Foods: Dry Meat with Bou Khuda (Bangladesh)

Dry Meat with Bou Khuda
Prepared by Joshna Begum
Gram Unnayan Songostha (GRAUS)
Bangladesh

A quintessential component of this Bangladeshi dish is hand-processed rice, husked using a traditional pedal method. Another essential element is sun-dried beef, a time-honored technique for meat preservation. In addition to these core ingredients, the dish incorporates a medley of locally sourced vegetables and a blend of indigenous spices.

Ingredients:

• Rice processed with husking pedal, 500g
• Mung dal, 100g
• Dry meat (beef), 250g
• Ginger paste, 3 tablespoons
• Cumin paste, 3 tablespoons
• Hot Spices paste, 2 tablespoons
• Garlic pest, 3 tablespoons
• Onion pest, 3 tablespoons
• Cabbage, ¼ of medium size
• Cauliflower, ¼ of medium size
• Carrot, 2 pieces
• Green chili, 50g
• Tomato, 50g
• Bean, 50g
• Luffa, 50g
• Coriander leaf, 50g
• Bay leaf, 4-5 leaves
• Red chili powder, 2 tablespoons
• Turmeric powder, 2 tablespoons
• Salt, 100g
• Mustard Oil, 100ml
• Cumin, 25g

Instructions:

Cooking the dry meat

1. Pour some mustard oil into a pan. When the oil warms up, add one by one the red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt, bay leaf, ginger pest, cumin paste, hot spices paste, and garlic paste.
2. When the mixture of the spices turns into a gravy (masala), add the dry meat to it and cook until it changes color.
3. After the meat absorbs the masala and becomes soft, add warm water to it and cook it for 15 to 20 minutes more. After that, the dish is ready.

Cooking the bou khuda

1. Mix the rice that was processed using a husking pedal, mung dal, chopped vegetables (cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, bean, luffa, and tomato), salt, green chili, chopped onions, hot spices, mustard oil, coriander leaf, red chili powder, turmeric powder, and cumin powder in a clay pot and mix all the ingredients thoroughly by hand.
2. After mixing, add water and cook it for 20 to 25 minutes in mid-flame.
3. After 20 to 25 minutes, check if all the vegetables and rice are already cooked. The delicious aroma of the food also means that the food is now ready. Serve together with the dry meat dish.

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The “Women Ensuring Food Security and Nutrition: Forgotten Foods Cooking Contest” is organized by the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC) through the Asia-Pacific Farmers’ Program (APFP) – Farmers’ Organizations for Asia (FO4A) and Assuring Resiliency of Family Farmers (ARISE). APFP-FO4A is supported by the European Union (EU) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). ARISE is supported by IFAD.

More info at https://asiapacificfarmersforum.net/forgotten-foods-cooking-contest-for-women-farmers/