Cooking time - About 2 hours (Depends on cut, type & size of the meat)
Ingredients (Serves 3-4)
1 lb stewing mutton/lamb/beef , cubed
2 medium potatoes,peeled & quatered (You can use any potatoes of choice)
2 nos indian bay leaves (tejpatta)
1" cinnamon stick
2 medium red onions, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or cayenne, adjust to taste)
1/2 tsp jaggery (or brown sugar to taste)
1/4 cup mustard oil (substitute with canola/vegetable/sunflower/grapeseed oil )
salt to taste
1.5 cups water
Chopped cilantro for garnish
For the spice paste:-
10-12 whole dry red chillies (I use kashmiri mirch)
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
2 tsp coriander seeds (dhania)
6 whole green cardamom pods (hari elaichi)
4 cloves (laung)
8 black peppercorns (kali mirch)
5 plump garlic cloves
2 " fresh piece of ginger
Water for soaking the spices (about 1/4 cup)
Notes:-
Whole Kashmiri mirch lends a rich, deep scarlet color to the gravy without the heat & they are easily available in indian stores.
You can de-seed the chillies to reduce heat further.
The actual heat in the dish comes from the use of red chilli powder & black peppercorns.
However, you can also adjust the amount to tolerance.
Method:-
Soak the chillies, cumin , fennel & coriander seeds, cardamom pods, cloves & peppercorns in 1/4 cup water for about 15 minutes to soften.
Drain & tip into a blender. Reserve the soaking liquid. Grind the soaked spices along with garlic & ginger to a smooth paste.
Use the soaking liquid if required while grinding.
Marinate the cubed mutton in half of the spice paste for 15 minutes.
While the mutton is marinating, heat up the oil in a heavy bottomed pot with lid on high heat till you see ripples on the surface.
At this point reduce the heat to medium & wait for 2 minutes. Temper the oil with tejpatta & cinnamon stick.
Wait for 15 seconds till you smell the aroma.
Next, add the chopped onions to the pot & cook on medium heat with stirring till they turn golden brown.About 8-10 minutes.
Next, reduce the heat to low & add the chopped tomatoes along with the spice paste & red chilli powder
Cook the mixture for about 8 minutes, stirring continously till you see oil separating on sides of the pot.
At this point,again turn the heat to medium & add the marinated mutton & salt.
Saute for 10-12 minutes till the mutton pieces are slightly browned.
You will see water from mutton separating at this point but that's okay.
Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low & let the lamb cook in its own juices till about 90% cooked.
For the kind of mutton I used, it took approximately 40 minutes to reach that stage.
You can use your slow cooker or pressure cooker also for cooking the mutton. I prefer to cook it lid on.
Add the potatoes & jaggery next along with 1.5 cups of water.
Check the salt. Cook covered on low for another 20-25 minutes till the mutton is tender & potatoes are soft but not mushy.
Switch off the heat & let the curry sit covered for atleast 20 minutes or till ready to serve.
Garnish with chopped cilantro & serve warm with salad,plain or jeera rice.
