Tongue is now quite easily available in supermarkets and is one of our favourite sandwich fillers for the next day's lunchbox. I usually make a spicy version that my hubby loves, but the kids don't like it as the spice is a bit more than they are generally used to.
So I decided to try making it the classic way with just onions and a few whole spices. The traditional method is made by using saltpeter. But since it's not available where I live, I just used regular salt instead. The kids loved it and it was gone before I could say boo!
There are many ways to remove the skin off the tongue which you must, as its very tough and can't be eaten. Some involve boiling it for a little while in hot water and then pulling it out. I just prefer to slice it off with a really sharp knife. Nowadays if you tip your butcher a little, he will do it for you.
You can adapt this recipe and use it to make it a beef roast instead, if for some reason you are not comfortable eating ox tongue.
Ingredients:
1 ox tongue
2 - 3 onions cut in slices
5 peppercorns
5 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Juice of 1 lemon
3-4 kashmiri dried red chillies
3 heaped tsps of gingergarlic paste
salt to taste
2 cups of waater
Method:
Once the skin of the tongue is removed, prick it all over with a fork so that it will absorb all the flavours later. Marinate with salt, lemon juice and the ginger garlic paste overnight, in the fridge, covered in clingfilm
Slice the onions and set aside. The more onions you use, the more gravy sauce you will get later for the tongue.
In a pressure cooker, heat some oil. Add in the peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon and dried red chillies. Then add the onions and cook till transluscent. Add in the tongue. Fry it for a few minutes and then add your water. Cover the pressure cooker and cook on full heat. When it whistles, lower and time for 45 minutes.
Once 45 minutes are over, put the heat off, and remove the steam by lifting off the whistle with a fork. Open the lid once the steam has gone and put the pressure cooker back on the heat to dry up all the liquid.
Dry up all the remaining liquid (leaving the tongue inside the pressure cooker) till you get a very thick sauce from the onions. Once cooled, remove the whole spices (discard), and slice the tongue as finely as you can. Take a really nice sharp knife to do this.
Store in a glass airtight food container and drizzle the sauce over it. You could alternatively store the sauce separately, so you can add it when you so wish.
To be honest, for the kids, I omitted the sauce and just gave them the tongue. My hubby loved the sauce on his sandwich.
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