Dum pukhta (Kashmiri)

Ingredients	For 4	For 100
Mutton or chicken	500gms	12.5kg
Curds	115gms	5.6kg
Cloves	5	50gms
Black cardamoms	7	50gms
Peppercorns	15	100gms
Butter	115gms	2.8kg
Saffron	a pinch	20gms
Chilli powder	1 tsp	100gms
Bay leaf	a few	3 to 5gms
Raisins	10	50gms
Almonds or cashewnuts	15	340gms
Salt	to taste	100gms
Flour	enough  to seal the vessel

Blanch almonds. Slice. Grind together cloves, cardamoms and peppercorns. Clean and cut meat into even pieces or joint chicken. Soak meat and ground spices in curds. Melt butter. Add the marinated meat and curds and remaining ingredients. Seal the vessel with dough. (The dough should be quite hard.) Cook until dough starts to crack. (About 45 minutes for small quantity and 1 to 1 ½ hours for large quantity.)