SETH: Sanjay.

SANJAY: Hi, Seth.

SETH: Nice to meet you.

SANJAY: Nice to meet you.

SETH: So, wow.

Look at these vegetables, and peppers, and spices.

It looks beautiful.

So what are you making today?

SANJAY: We're making our signature dish.

It's called Junglee Laal Maas.

The dish is actually from Rajasthan, and which was made with a game meat.

But today, we're making it with goat.

And the very fiery peppers are used in this dish to reduce the gaminess of the meat.

SETH: All right.

Well, fiery, that sounds pretty good.

How hot are we talking here?

SANJAY: We're talking about six or seven.

SETH: Six or seven?

Okay.

Well I'm sure that's going to be a lot for me to handle.

But what kind of peppers are you using to create that heat?

SANJAY: We're using Guajillo because it has that bright red color, which is very important to the dish.

On the heat level, this is about like zero.

But this one here is the Indian chili peppers.

This is, on the scale, it's about nine.

And they're really fiery hot peppers.

Also, we are using some jalapeños and some Thai chili peppers and habaneros to give that extra kick to the dish.

SETH: Oh man.

Five different types of peppers.

So what are the next steps here in the process?

SANJAY: So first, we marinate our meat.

So we take the goat and we'll put that in the bowl.

So first, we're going to add turmeric, then Deggi Mirch, which is a blend of different kind of red peppers, coriander, cumin.

This is garam masala, which is very essential in Indian cooking.

And this is also a meat masala spice blend.

Some salt for taste.

Then we add yogurt and definitely some ginger and garlic paste.

SETH: This is a lot of flavor.

SANJAY: Oh yeah.

Indian food is all about spices and flavors.

Now, we'll mix it all together.

It helps retain some of that spice flavor into the meat before you start searing it.

Now, we have to set it aside for 45 minutes, but fortunately we have one that's already been marinating for 45 minutes.

SETH: Yeah.

Came prepared, Sanjay.

SANJAY: Yeah, we did.

We're going to sear the meat first, but one by one.

SETH: Oh, I like the sound of that sizzle.

SANJAY: Oh yeah.

So after you lay out the meat, we're not going to touch it for a minute or two.

Make sure we have a nice golden crust on one side of the meat.

SETH: And goat, it's kind of tough, right?

SANJAY: Yeah.

It's much more leaner than lamb and it takes a lot of time to braise.

And then we'll just flip it.

SETH: I probably don't eat enough goat myself, but I think Americans more and more are pretty comfortable with eating goat these days.

SANJAY: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

More and more every day.

We source our goat from a local butcher in Maryland.

And he's able to do the cuts that I want.

SETH: Nice.

So it's local and fresh... SANJAY: It's local and fresh.

So the next step is to take out the goat and add the whole spices and onion, so we can extract the sweetness out of the onion.

So after we brown the onion, we'll add the goat back in with some more spices, and then we'll add water to the pan and braise it for an hour, hour and a half.

So while all this is happening, we're going to make the Laal Maas sauce.

So we're going to take the vegetables and the peppers, and we're going to grill them to form a nice char on the vegetables.

But when we blend all these veggies and peppers together into a coarse paste, and that's going to be our Laal Maas, which is going to give it a really bright red color that's essential in making the dish.

SETH: Oh my God, chef.

This looks so good.

The color is so beautiful.

I'm a little worried about how spicy it's going to be.

But I'm ready... SANJAY: It's going to be okay.

SETH: Right?

Let me dig in here.

SANJAY: You should be feeling the sweetness first and also the bone marrow, and it's incorporated in the gravy.

SETH: That goat is so tender and so flavorful.

And you know, the spice doesn't hit you right away, but it gets you, it's just... SANJAY: Right.

Yes.

It gets you like after.

So that's the right way to taste, experience.

Indian food; is first you should feel sweetness on the first bite and then you should feel all those aromatic and fiery spices in the back palate.

SETH: You have customers who come in and they're used to kind of the toned down version of Indian food, they're a little surprised at the levels of heat?

SANJAY: Yeah.

But I've heard not that many complaints.

I think people would be more adventurous and would like a spicy cuisine if the spiciness is balanced with the right kind of sweetness in a dish.

And Indian food has tremendous potential in balancing some of those fiery peppers.

SETH: But, you know, as I've taken a few bites, the heat level's starting to show up as well.

SANJAY: Right.

SETH: And so what do people do to counter if the spice is a little too much?

What are your strategies?

SANJAY: So yeah.

Just to cool down things, we have our in-house Raita that you can have in between eating spicy food.

SETH: All right.

I got to go for some of this Naan and Raita because the Naan itself is glistening, which I know is a good sign.

So refreshing.

SANJAY: Yes.

SETH: It makes me want to go back.

SANJAY: Clears your palate every time.

SETH: Have a little bit more of the Junglee Laal Maas.

It's so good, Sanjay.

And I got to say, when you told me it was going to be a six or seven on the heat scale, I was worried that was going to be a nine or ten for me, but it's so balanced, so flavorful, nice heat throughout.

Fascinating watching the Junglee Laal Maas being prepared.

SETH: Thank you my friend.

SANJAY: Thank you.

SETH: Cheers.

SANJAY: Cheers.