Making soft Kaleji Masala or liver fry is one of those recipes where spices are less important. What matters is technique. Even if you add only salt and pepper you can make the best liver curry. The trick is to make it soft and juicy.

Tips to Make Kaleji Soft & Yummy

The liver is the main ingredient in the recipe, hence you must know a little about choosing liver. Always choose a darker, gleaming liver that is fresh and not frozen. It should have a fresh and not very stale smell. The liver from a calf is better than the liver of a cow.

Salt can extract a lot of juice from the liver so try to end most of the salt towards the end of the recipe.

Smaller green chilies like Thai chili are spicier used them to make green chili paste. The medium and thick chilies are more aromatic and less spicy making them a good choice for garnish.

Cook liver for minutes on high heat until its color changes completely. Cooking longer can make the liver chewy as it losses most of its juices.

As per food safety washing the liver is not necessary. If your liver is extremely fresh from an animal that was recently slaughtered, you may cook it without washing and it is full of nutrients.

If your liver was stored in the fridge and not as fresh consider, a quick wash that removes most of the blood and clots

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup oil
• 2 medium (125 gram) onion, finely sliced
• 4 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1 tablespoon small green chilli paste
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 0.5 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 (200 gram) tomato, purred or sliced
• 0.67 cup yogurt
• 2 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves
• 1000 grams ( 1.1 pound) lamb or beef Liver, cut in to small pieces
• Salt (As per taste)
• 4 tablespoon butter or ghee, optional
• 2 fistful coriander leaves, chopped
• 6 medium green chillies, sliced
• 4 inch ginger sliced
• 4 lemon wedges, optional

Cooking Method:

1. Try to use a non-stick pan to make this since it has a larger surface for (bhunai) cooking on high heat but a wok or pot will also work well. Fry onion slices on low heat for 7 minutes until very soft, then fry for 1 minute on high to turn onions light golden. (The slow cooking helps onions dissolve easily in gravy.)
2. Add spices and give it a stir. Cook for 1 minute. (Pro tip: Avoid adding salt in the beginning, but a little salt from ginger garlic paste is ok.)
3. Next goes in tomatoes, you can use sliced or pureed. Mix well and cover. Cook for 5-7 minutes on medium heat. When tomatoes are soft, stir gravy on high heat to burn tomato water (bhunnofy). (Pro tip: Add a little water if needed and continue to cook until onion and tomatoes are well cooked, as we will not cook much after adding liver.)
4. When you see oil clearly separating on the sides of the pan, add whipped yogurt and dried fenugreek leaves. Cook further for 2-3 minutes on high. Keep stirring. The gravy is ready.
5. Add washed liver, mix, and cover the lid. Cook for 2 minutes on medium heat. Remove lid and add salt, cook for another 3 minutes on high heat, keep stirring. Total cooking is of 5 minutes.
6. Rest: Switch off the flame and cover the pot. (The liver is not cooked completely, it will continue to cook in a covered pot.) Rest for 10-15 minutes to seal the juices in the liver. The liver will release some water.
7. Add ginger, chillies, cilantro, and butter to your liver curry. Then reheat on high flame and burn any extra water (liver juices). Keep stirring on high until oil is visible on the sides of the pan. Consider adding 1-2 tablespoons extra oil if needed.
8. Garnish and serve immediately.