Mutton Masala
When we
look at Indian cuisine, it is evident that mutton has been a favourite since
ancient times, especially in the Royal kitchens. Lal maas from Rajasthan, Galouti Kebabs from Lucknow, Rogan Josh from Kashmir, Awadhi Biryanis are some of the popular preparations that
capture the essence of Indian culture and tradition.
It is
interesting to know that “goat meat is lower in cholesterol and fat than
chicken”. So, choose your meat wisely from next time.
Now, the most popular and easy to cook mutton
dish is “Mutton Masala”. This dish is full of oil and spices. The spicier the
curry is the tastier it gets in case of mutton.
Ingredients (For 1 KG Mutton):
- 1
Kg Mutton (Medium sized piece). Wash the meat
properly. Put in some turmeric powder while washing. It will help in cleaning
the meat properly.
- 500-600 grams of onions finely chopped.
- Green chilies (as much as you can resist).
- Ginger-Garlic paste (5 teaspoons).
- 4 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped.
- 4 sachets or 8 teaspoons of readymade Meat
masala powder from Everest, MDH, Catch or any other good brand. I usually
prefer the meat masala from Everest as it tastes better than any other brand.
Note:- If you can get hold
of “Shan Mutton Masala”, then you are in for a real treat.
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| It is little difficult to find this Masala. But trust me, you will not regret. |
- Mustard oil (a bit on the higher side). Please don’t use refined oil or ghee because it will not taste
the same.
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder.
Note: Please use a pressure
cooker for cooking this dish. You don’t have to pressure cook the meat, but cooker gives concentrated
heat while you sauté the meat.
Procedure:
- Heat a pressure cooker properly. It will take a bit more time to heat than the normal frying pan.
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| Heat the pressure cooker properly |
- Pour mustard oil in it. You have to add 2-3 spoons of oil more than what you generally use.
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| Little cholesterol won't hurt! |
- Add cumin seeds when oil heats up properly.
- When cumin seeds start to pop, add chopped onions to it.
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| You don't have to chop the onions that finely. |
- Add salt to taste, since we will not be adding salt further so quantity should be for the whole dish.
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| Add salt to taste |
- Sauté the onions for a couple of minutes.
- Put meat into the cooker. You must be wondering, why the meat has to go this early. The reason is mutton usually takes time to cook, and if you want your meat to be tender then you should add the meat this early.
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| Mix the meat and onion well and let it cook. |
- Take green chilies as per your taste. Vertically
cut green chilies into halves. And mix
well with frying onions and meat.
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| Add chilies as much you can resist! |
- As the onions turn dark brown, add ginger garlic
paste to it.
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| Home made ginger garlic paste (well not exactly a paste actually :P) |
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Add ginger garlic paste
|
- Mix it well and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Now add chopped tomatoes in it. Sauté it until
the tomatoes are fully cooked.
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| Mix them all well and let it cook. |
- Soak meat masala powder in half cup of water.
Add it to the cooker.
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| Try to make it as thick as possible. |
- Simmer down the flame. Cover the cooker with a
lid and let the mixture cook.
- Check every 5-10 minutes. Please note that the
mixture should not stick to the base. Keep an eye on that.
Now
the real game begins. The big “waiting game”.
- Add 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder.
- Cover with the lid and let it cook on low flame.
- Keep mixing in the interval of 5-10 minutes.
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| If it looks like this then you are doing it right! |
- After
about an hour you will find that the oil is getting separated.
Check the mutton now. It should be tender by now. If not, then cover it again
and keep cooking for another 15 minutes on low flame.
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| There you go. have fun! |
Enjoy this with hot
basmati rice. You will thank me later J
Credits:
Cover pic and for pulling out the most irritating job while cooking (peeling Garlic and making that not so paste):-- CHAK aka Utakrsh
