GHAVURMA

HOW IT IS MADE

1. 01

   Render the fat

   Dice the fat and melt it slowly in a heavy pot until clear and the cracklings are golden. Lift out the solids.

2. 02

   Cook the meat under fat

   Add the salted meat in cubes and cook very gently, submerged in the fat, for three hours until it falls apart.

3. 03

   Pack and seal

   Spoon the meat into sterilised clay or glass jars and pour the strained hot fat over until fully covered.

4. 04

   Use through winter

   Store cold. Scoop out a portion, fry with onion, or drop it into soups, eggs and pilaf as a fat and a flavour at once.

GET IT RIGHT

• The meat must stay submerged in fat at all times, in the pot and in the jar.
• Keep the heat so low that the fat never bubbles hard.
• Salt properly — it is part of the preservation, not just the taste.
• Sterilise the jars; a single dirty rim spoils the batch.

Variations