Mutton Masala Curry

It is a few days since we made any non-vegetarian dishes at home. With all the preparations for Diwali and the puja, there was no non veg cooking at our home. And I had started craving for some fish and rice but going to the market for it was too tedious today. So the alternate was calling for mutton from the local guy who delivers. Yay!

 

Today the mutton goes into a curry and along with rice and salad, it will make tonight's meal.

Ingredients
Mutton - 500 gms
Onion - 2, medium
Tomato - 1, medium
Potato - 1
Ginger - 2 inch
Garlic cloves - 10
Coconut milk - 1/4 cup
Curry leaves - 15 to 20
Turmeric pwd - 1 tsp
Red chilli pwd - 4 tsp
Oil - 3 tbsp
Salt as per taste
Coriander leaves - 5 to 6 sprigs
for Masala powder
Coriander - 2 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Star anise - 3 petals
Black Cardamom - 1, seeds only
Green Cardamom - 1, seeds only
Saunf - 1/2 tsp
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 1 inch
Nutmeg - 1/8th of whole
Mace - 2 piece

Dry roast the whole spices and then powder it. Peel ginger and garlic and julienne it. Wash the mutton pieces and add the salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and the masala powder to it and mix well. Add the ginger and garlic juliennes also to the mutton. Let it marinate for a few hours in the refrigerator.

Slice onions, chop tomatoes and peel potato and quarter it and keep aside. Heat a pressure cooker and add oil, when the oil is hot add the sliced onions and curry leaves and sauté. When light golden add the marinated mutton along with all the marinade and sauté for a few minutes. Add the chopped tomato and sauté till the tomato softens. Add 1 cup of water and cover and let it cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Open and add the potato pieces, slit green chillies and mix well. Check for salt and cover with lid and cook under pressure for 2 whistles. Open add coconut milk and mix and add a little more water if required, the curry should have a slightly watery gravy. Add the chopped coriander leaves, mix well and take off the heat. 

 

Serve it hot with rice for a nice hot meal on a wintery night.

Mutton Kolhapuri

Long back, Bombay Times used to carry a series where they featured family recipes from various regions. One article featured a recipe for Chicken Kolhapuri and I had cut the recipe out and clipped it to my diary to be tried sometime. I tried that recipe once and we all loved it. But I lost that paper clipping and could not redo that recipe. Years later, I got this recipe for Chicken Kolhapuri from either the TV or the net and seemed similar to the one  I had tried. In case this recipe is from your blog / site do let me know so I can acknowledge it here. This time round, I substituted the chicken with mutton to make Mutton Kolhapuri and it turned out really well. In fact, the leftover Mutton Kolhapuri tasted better the next day, so it might be an idea to prepare it a day in advance since the taste of the meat and masala would mingle very well by the time it has to be served.

As the name suggests, this dish is from Kolhapur a city situated in the southwest in Maharashtra State. And all Kolhapuri dishes are known to be fiery hot and spicy. This goes for my recipe of Kolhapuri Mutton as well. If you need to tone down the fieriness a bit, reduce the quantity of black peppercorns and red chilli powder. Another alternative is to use Kashmiri chilli powder to get the color without the heat.

Ingredients

Mutton - 500gms

Onions - 2 large

Bay Leaf - 2

Turmeric pwd - 1tsp

Red chilli pwd - 2tbsp

Tomato - 1 large

Coriander stalk and leaves - a handful

Salt to taste

Oil - 6 tbsp

for paste

Onion - 1 medium

Ginger - 3 inch

Garlic - 8 to 10

whole spices / khada masala

Copra - 2tbsp

Coriander seeds - 1.5tbsp

Cumin seeds - 3/4th tsp

Cloves - 1tsp

Cinnamon - 2 pieces of 2inch each

Black Pepper - 1tsp

Shah jeera - 3/4th tsp

Sesame seeds - 3/4th tsp

Mace - 2 pcs

Nutmeg - 1/4th

Green Cardamom - 2

Black Cardamom - 2

Khus khus - 1tbsp

Star Anise - 1 small

Saunf - 1tsp

Wash and clean the mutton and squeeze out as much water as possible. Apply some salt, turmeric powder and 1tbsp red chilli powder and keep in frig for an hour.

Grind the onion, ginger and garlic listed under "for paste", without any water. Heat a pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and sauté this paste till the rawness has gone and the mix comes together. It will take about 8 to 10 minutes.
 

Dry roast each and every spice listed under "whole spices / khada masala" on low heat. Roast the copra separately, the same with khus khus, saunf and sesame seeds. The rest of the spices can be done together. Let it cool and dry grind it.

 

Finely chop the 2 onions and tomatoes and keep aside. Heat a cooker with about 5 tablespoon oil and add the bay leaves in when hot. After a few seconds add the chopped onions and sauté till light golden. Add the sautéed onion-ginger-garlic paste and mix well. Add the marinated mutton and sauté till the meat has firmed up and has changed color slightly. Add 1.5tbsp roasted and ground spice / masala mix and remaining red chilli powder and sauté for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and salt (if needed) and stir and add 2 cups water and mix well. Let this come to a boil, add the coriander stalks and then close lid and give 2 whistles. Once the pressure is released, open lid and check for salt and spice.

Put the cooker on heat and add some more of the spice mix if needed. The gravy should in between watery and thick and add water if necessary. Give it a boil on high heat and top with coriander leaves. Take off the heat and keep covered till ready to serve.

 

Mutton / Gosht / Erachi Biryani

Biryani is my weakness and some days I crave for it and end up ordering it. Though recently we have not had a good biryani from the restaurants around here. Leaving me disappointed and with only one option - to make it at home. I love chicken biryani more than mutton biryani and normally make only chicken biryani at home. But this time I tried making this mutton biryani (considering my husband's weakness for it), with masalas made ground up without any use of ready made mixes. Usually, I have a stock of Shan Memoni Mutton Biryani masala and use that. But like all readymade masalas there comes a time when you have had enough of the same taste again and again and want a change. Added to that, comes the thought that all ready / branded masalas have additives and the only way to avoid them is to make masalas at home. The process is tedious hence I do not resort to it always. I looked up recipes of Pakistani biryani online and then proceeded to put together the ingredients for my mutton / gosht biryani. Largely, I stuck to the process given on the Shan Masala packet with a little changes.

 

When making this Mutton / Gosht Biryani I kept a pen and my diary on the kitchen counter knowing fully well, I would make adjustments on the go based on the taste and aroma of the dish. I made this Mutton / Gosht Biryani last night and I have to say I was very very happy with the results of this recipe. It is one of the best biryani's I have had to date. And yes, my husband loved it too.

Ingredients

Mutton / Gosht / Erachi - 500gms

Basmati Rice - 2 glasses

Onion - 4 medium

Ginger - 3inch piece

Garlic - 15 - 20

Green chilli - 2

Dry Red chilli - 4

Potatoes - 4 small to medium

Tomato - 1 medium

Fresh Yogurt / Curd - 2tbsp

Coriander leaves - 1 cup chopped

Turmeric pwd - 1tsp

Cloves - 8

Cinnamon - 3 (1 inch) pieces

Green Cardamom - 2

Black Cardamom - 2

Shahi Jeera - 1.5tsp

Jeera - 1/2tsp

Pepper - 5 to 6 crushed

Bay Leaf - 2

Saffron - 1 generous pinch

Milk - 2tsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 2tbsp

Ghee - 4tbsp

For the Rice:

Water - 3.5 glasses

Shahi Jeera - 1tsp

Jeera - 1/4tsp

Cloves - 4

Cinnamon - 1 small stick

Green Cardamom / Chhoti Elaichi - 1

Black Cardamom / Moti Elaichi - 1

Bay leaf - 1

Ghee - 1tsp

Start out with a few preparatory steps before the actual cooking, - wash and clean the meat and rub in with salt, turmeric and curd / yogurt and put it in the frig for an hour at least. Slice the onions, chop the tomatoes and keep aside. Peel the potatoes, wash, halve them and prick them with a knife and keep aside. Grind the ginger, garlic, green chillies and dry red chillies together and keep aside. Warm the milk and soak the saffron in it. Wash the rice and soak it in water.

I used my pressure cooker to cook this for two reasons - 1. I do not have a big vessel & 2. the pressure cooker has a thick bottom. Heat 2tbsp oil and 2 tbsp. ghee in the cooker, when hot add the shahi jeera, jeera, cloves. cinnamon, green cardamom, black cardamom, bay leaf and crushed black pepper. Stir it then add the sliced onions and fry till the onions turn translucent. Add the ground ginger-garlic-chilli paste and fry well. Keep stirring it so the mix does not stick to the bottom and fry till the raw smell of the ginger garlic has gone. Then add the marinated mutton and mix well. Saute it for about 10 to 15 minutes till you see the oil leaving the sides. Add the potatoes and stir to coat well with the masala mix. Then add the tomatoes and about half cup water and mix well. Let it boil once and check for salt, add some if needed and close with lid and cook till the mutton is done.

 

Separately, cook the rice to be done in time with the mutton. Boil the water and then add the shahi jeera, jeera, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, green and black cardamoms, salt and ghee. Stir it once and then add the rice. Stir the rice so it does not stick to the bottom. The rice has to be only 3/4th done. I did not want to drain the flavorsome water hence put less water and kept checking if more water was needed to get it to 3/4th done level. Once the rice is done take it off the gas and fluff it so it does not stick together. I took it out in a bigger vessel so I could spread it out a bit without clumping.

 

Assembling:

Scoop the mutton and its masala out leaving back as much oil in the cooker as possible. Divide the rice in half and layer one half of the rice in the cooker. Then sprinkle half of the coriander leaves on top of it. Put in all of the mutton on this layer and spread out evenly. Then layer the rest of the rice over the mutton and spread it out. Sprinkle rest of the coriander leaves on the rice. Spoon the balance 2 tbsp. ghee on the sides and top of the rice. Then sprinkle the saffron and milk over it and shut with the lid. I put the cooker on top of my tawa and put it on low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Take it off heat and leave it for sometime ideally an hour or so to give time for all the taste to be absorbed.

 

Serve the biryani with raita / yogurt and salad.

Erachi Ularthiyathu / Mutton Fry

At my parents home, we had fish more often than chicken and hardly ever had mutton. One reason for not having mutton could be that there was no good mutton shop nearby. At my husband's home they had aatterachi / erachi / mutton more often than chicken and that's when I actually started appreciating its taste. At my in-laws place it was my father in law who made the mutton. And it was awesome. My husband would go buy the erachi fresh in the morning and my father-in-law would cook it with 2 assistants - my sister-in-law and I. My mother-in-law was not involved in the cooking because by then she had given up eating non-vegetarian food. Me being a novice in cooking, my father-in-law would actually cut one piece to show how he wanted the onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes cut. He made a erachi ularthiyathu / erachi olarthiyathu with the good pieces and erachi curry with a few meat and bone pieces. At that time I never considered learning how to make it but thankfully my husband knew. And now, I think we are able to recreate that same taste.

Ingredients
(these ingredients are enough for 2 people, just double or triple according to required quantity)
Mutton (goat meat) / Ghosht / Aatterachi - 400gms
Onion / Pyaaz / Savaalla ulli - 1 large
Tomato / Tamatar / Thakaalli - 1 medium
Ginger / Adrak / Inji - 2 inch piece
Garlic / Lehsun / Velluthulli - 10 pods
Shallots / Sambhar onions / cheriya ulli - 8-10
Curry leaves / Kadipata / Kariveppila - 5-7 sprigs
Masala powder:
Cloves / Lavang / Graambu - 4
Cinnamon / Dalchini / Karvapatta - 1 inch piece
Coriander / Dhaniya / Malee pwd - 2 tbsp. heaped
Aniseed / Saunf / Perinjeerakam - 1 tsp heaped
Cardamom / Elaichi / Elakya - 1
Marinade:
Turmeric pwd / Haldi / Manjallpodi - 1tsp
Red chilli pwd / Lal mirchi / Mollagupodi - 1tsp
Pepper pwd / Kali miri / Kurumollagu - 0.5tsp
Salt to taste

Clean and cut the mutton in small pieces. Mix the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, pepper powder and salt and apply well onto the mutton. Keep for an hour, then pressure cook the mutton in a separate vessel without any water for 2 to 3 whistles, till just cooked. This is a dry dish and hence do not add water to the mutton, it will release water. The number of whistles depends on the tenderness of the mutton - we get quite tender meat here and normally 2 whistles are more than enough. Also this recipe calls for stir frying the mutton again with the masalas so if your mutton is overcooked, the end result will be mutton mash and not pieces.

Separately heat a flat pan to roast the whole garam masalas. Dry roast the whole masalas one by one and grind into a fine powder and keep aside.

 

Heat oil in a kadhai and add the chopped onions, ginger and garlic and fry on medium heat. When the onions are fried to a light brown color add the ground masala powder and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the stock of the mutton and chopped tomatoes and mix well stirring all the time on high heat. Lower the heat and add the mutton pieces, little red chilli powder and pepper powder and sauté to combine all together. Add 2 sprigs of curry leaves and keep stir frying the mutton on low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes. 

 

Separately heat the coconut oil in a small kadai and when hot add the chopped shallots / cheriya ulli and fry till they are light brown in color. Then add the slit green chillies and the remaining curry leaves, stir it and add this over the mutton. Keep on low heat and mix the mutton and the tadka / varathu iddal well. The mutton should be fried well by this time; take this off the gas and keep covered.

 

You can add thengya kothu / coconut slice pieces to the frying mutton closer to the end of frying and use only cheriya ulli for a very very coconutty Kerala taste. We preferred not to add it since we were doing a tadka / varutha iddal in coconut oil and wanted the masalas to stand out. When my father-in-law cooked this as a no coconut dish and the curry was the one with coconut paste and we were trying to be as close to that recipe as possible. I remember him saying once that adding finely chopped fried potatoes when frying the mutton just added to the awesome taste of this dish. Am going to try it sometime.

Our lunch on days that erachi olarthiyathu is made, usually comprises rice, sambhar, and this mutton fry. This is a hit menu at our home, hope it becomes a hit with your family too!  

 

This exact same recipe can be used for beef as well, for an amazing dish.

 

- To my father-in-law who is no more.

Mutton Rara .... my way....

At home, we usually cook mutton the Kerala style - with coriander, peppercorns and coconut. For a change we decided to try something different and I started checking recipes on the internet. From what I read, I liked the recipes of Hyderabad Mutton Korma and Mutton Rara. I then started checking if I had all the ingredients for these recipes. The Hyderabadi Mutton Korma needed grated coconut which I was too lazy to do and thought I could use coconut milk instead. But then realized I did not have cashew nuts and poppy seeds as well. So I narrowed down to Mutton Rara and for that also I did not have black elaichi, javithri and mutton mince. I am not particularly a fan of mince so I did not mind that missing element. As for the black elaichi and javithri, I replaced with green elaichi, star anise and an additional bay leaf. And after all these changes this is how my Mutton Rara looked :

Ingredients:
Mutton cut in curry pieces - 750gms
Onion medium sized sliced - 3
Tomato medium sized chopped - 2
Ginger julienned - 1.5 inches
Garlic julienned - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Turmeric powder
Red Chilli powder
Oil - 3tbsp
Ghee - 1tbsp
Salt as per taste
Sugar - a couple of pinches
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Masala powder:
Cloves (lavang) - 6
Cinnamon (dalchinni) - 1 inch piece
Bay leaf (tej patha) - 2
Coriander seeds (dhaniya) - 1tsp
Black cumin (shahi jeera) - 1tsp
Green cardamom (elaichi) - 1
Star anise (chakri phool) - 1
Nutmeg (jaiphal) pieces - 1/4 tsp

Method:
Dry roast all the ingredients listed under masala powder. When it cools, powder it and keep aside.

Heat the pressure cooker, add oil and when the oil heats up add the cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds splutter add the sliced onions and saute for a few minutes till the onions turn pink. Add the ginger and garlic juliennes to the sauteed onions and fry till done. Add the turmeric and red chilli powders and stir well then add chopped tomatoes and saute. When the tomato has softened add salt and sugar and stir well. Add the mutton pieces and stir to coat the meat well. Add the spoon of ghee and cover and cook. Open the cooker and add half the masala powder, mix well. And I then proceeded to add 2 potatoes halved (this is my love for potatoes that made me do this), although no recipe asks for this. Cover the cooker and cook under pressure for 2 whistles but this depends on the toughness of the meat. Open the lide and garnish with coriander leaves.
Tadaaaa! my mutton was done.