Description
Gushtabe is a popular meat product of wazwan and is defined as restructured meat product prepared from meat emulsion, salt (2.5%), cumin (0.1%), and cardamom seeds(0.2%) cooked in a yogurt and mint based sauce called yakhni. Like rista, it is prepared from pounded meat emulsion. Rista and gushtaba differ in flavor profile owing to the basic differences in the formulation of gravy. For yakhni, two parts of fresh curd is homogenized with one part of water with a stirrer, then transferred to a thick-bottomed copper utensil and cooked on high-heat with constant stirring until it reaches the boiling point. Hydrogenated mustard oil is added to the mix, and boiling is continued until it reduces significantly. Fried onion paste and other spices are added at the end. Boiling is continued until the added oil floats back. At this stage, the remaining water is added, and yakhni is cooked further to obtain a desirable consistency. Salt is added toward the end of cooking. The meatballs are then transferred to the boiling yakhni and cooked for 30 minutes to get the goshtaba in its final form. In the series of different meat products served in wazwan, gushtaba is the last one to be served.
