Sunday, June 21, 2009

Traditional Mutton Curry

For years I cooked mutton the same way as I cooked Chicken and with dismal results. My husband kept saying that it was not as good as the mutton he had as a child/young adult at his aunt's place. Finally I got his aunt to part with her recipe and have managed to recreate the same taste that my husband has been so used to.
Ingredients
Mutton( Goat Meat): 1 kg
Onions: 4 medium sized, finely chopped
Tomatoes: 2, finely chopped
Potatoes: 4 medium sized ones, peeled and halved( we always cook our mutton with potato, the potato soaks up the oil and masala and tastes good, the leftover potato and gravy tastes good the next day with chappatis/parathas, the mutton sadly does not last beyond one meal)
Garlic: 1 large( 10/ 12 large pods)
Ginger: 2 inches
Whole Jeera( Cumin): 1 tsp
Whole Dhania( Corriander): 1 tsp
Dry Red Chillies: 6/7( the curry gets its fiery colour and taste from the chillies)
Haldi (turmeric) powder: 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon : 1 inch stick
Green cardamom: 3/4
Bay leaves: 2/3
Mustard Oil: 4/5 tbsps( tastes best if cooked in mustard oil however if you don't like the taste/smell of mustard oil you could substitute with a refined Sunflower or Saff flower oil)
Sugar: a pinch/1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method
  • Grind the ginger, garlic, cumin and corriander seeds with a little bit of water to a fine paste.
  • Soak the red chillies for about 30 minutes in water, de-seed and grind separately to a fine paste( I usually make this in larger quantity as it is difficult to grind a little bit of chilli, freeze the rest for later use)
  • Heat mustard oil in a pan and allow it to smoke, this will take a couple of minutes, add a pinch of sugar and let the sugar brown/caremalise
  • Add the onions and let them brown on high flame, next add the haldi and red chilli paste and stir constantly.
  • Next add the ginger- garlic paste and keep bhunoing the paste on high flame for about 10/15 minutes. You could add a little water from time to time to prevent the masala from getting burnt.
  • Add the mutton, tomato and salt and continue the process for the next 15/20 minutes till the oil separates.
  • Add the cinnamon, green cadamom, potato and saute for a few more minutes.
  • Transfer into a pressure cooker, add water( enough to cover the mutton pieces) and pressure cook for 20 minutes.
  • Garnish with fresh corriander and serve hot.

Goes best with plain rice, a tomato onion salad/raita. Don't bother making side-dishes as they would remain untouched. Best had for lunch.

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