Folks! It’s been reaaaaally long since I posted a recipe and that is thanks to my busy schedule at home. Kids falling ill, working on school projects, dealing with a fridge that broke down are all part of the reason why I’ve not been up to date here. I had tons of recipes that I wanted to share for Lent and Easter but now I guess I have to quickly post only those recipes that are suitable for the upcoming feast – Easter! I do hope I can squeeze in some time during the next couple of days too to bring you some really delicious tried & tested recipes that you will love!
To everyone who has written in, my apologies for not having replied. I will get to the emails soon. Comments are pending too, so those will be replied to on priority!
I found this recipe which I tried a few weeks ago, in Sanjeev Kapoor’s book ‘Khazana of Indian Recipes’, an old copy that I received as a wedding gift. I have tried, with some amount of tweaking, several recipes over the years and this one didn’t fail me too. I have personally not tasted a variety of Malvani cuisine although I used to frequent ‘Highway Gomantak’ a restaurant focusing on Malvani cuisine, in Bandra East, during my working days in Mumbai. So I would say that taste wise this is one of the best mutton dishes I’ve ever tried. What makes it so spectacular is that the meat is not pressure cooked but slow cooked for almost an hour, stirring at intermittent intervals, till the spices permeate the meat and make it succulent and delicious!
This recipe requires patience if you want it to be what it is designed to taste like. But if you are in a hurry you could pressure cook the meat but that would be compromising on its taste. Try this dish when you are absolutely free to slave over it. The final result will be worth it, I promise.
Malvani Mutton Curry
A traditional curry from the Southern coast of Maharashtra this beautiful, aromatic curry is also called as 'Muttonache Rassa' and pairs very well with rice vode (deep fried bread made from rice flour) or a simple pulao
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Ingredients
- 750-800 grams mutton on the bone
- 4 medium sized onions finely sliced
- 1-1/2 tablespoons ginger paste
- 1-1/2 tablespoons garlic paste
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- Chopped coriander to garnish
- Oil
- Salt to taste
For the masala:
- 8 dried red chillies * see notes
- 6-8 peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 3/4 teaspoon carraway seeds (shah jeera)
- 4 green cardamoms
- 2 black cardamoms
- 4-5 cloves
- 3/4 cup copra (dried coconut, grated)
- 1-1/2 teaspoons of khus khus, poppy seeds (substitute with 3-4 whole cashew nuts)
Instructions
- Cut the mutton into medium sized pieces, wash and drain on a colander.
- Now you can either cook the mutton over a low heat in a kadai/pan (which will take at least 45mins – 1 hr for the mutton to get tender) or pressure cook it to speed up your work. Select your mode of cooking accordingly. See notes for how to pressure cook the meat.
- Heat oil in a heavy based kadai/pan and fry the sliced onions till golden. Then add the ginger and garlic paste and continue frying for a few seconds.
- Add the mutton pieces and fry for a minute. Add 4 cups ( total of 1 litre) of water and salt to taste. Cook covered on a medium heat till the meat is tender. Depending on the quality of the meat it could take you anywhere between 40-50 mins or slightly more.
- While the meat is cooking, dry roast all the ingredients mentioned under ‘For the masala’ one by one on a tawa/griddle and then let them cool for a bit. Grind the spices (all ingredients except the roasted copra) to a fine powder. Then add the copra and approx 1/2 to 3/4th cup of water (little at a time) and grind everything to a fine paste. Retain the water from the mixer grinder.
- When the meat is tender add the turmeric powder and the ground masala and the reserved water. Adjust salt to taste and simmer for another 8-10 minutes.
- Remove from heat, garnish with chopped coriander and serve with rice woday (wada) or rice or chapathis
Notes
- 1. If you wish to tone down the spice level you can deseed the chillies ideally do not reduce the quantity
- To pressure cook the meat, transfer the cleaned meat into a pressure cooker, add salt and a little water, cover the lid, place the weight (whistle) and cook on full heat until the first whistle goes off. Then reduce the heat and cook for 8-10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the cooker cool down to room temperature. Then open and check. If the meat is not yet done, continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes. Cooking time will vary according to the tenderness of the meat
Disclaimer
The nutritional values are only indicative.
Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment & rate the recipe below or share a photo on Instagram and tag me @ruchikrandhap
That sounds spicy! I guess dealing with a fridge that breaks down is really a headache, at least we can be with the kids when they are sick but the fridge and the stuff in it – what do we do??? 🙁 I just love the color of the curry… bookmarked!
Not at all good.
@ Rafeeda: Thanks so much dear!
@ Shobha: What went wrong? If you have substituted ingredients or not followed the recipe it may not turn out good. I am eager to know why you didn't like it
Cooking 800gms of meat with 1 ltr of water and the cover on for an hour would produce quite a lot of gravy. What then????
@ Unknown: We are talking about cooking red meat which requires that amount of liquid to cook without burning. It's a different story when you cook it in a pressure cooker. Have you ever tried slow cooking a meat? If you want to try it differently, please use lesser water and top it up as you go. The 800 gms meat : 1 litre of water ratio worked beautifully for me
Hi Shireen Asha here.Thank you for the recipe. Wanted to try something different and I tried this. Everyone athome liked this specially kids. I tried adding tamarind while grinding the masala and since I did not have shahiJeera I added a little more Jeera. Overall nice recipe. Thanks again.
@ Asha: Thanks so much for your feedback! Glad to know that everyone liked this dish 🙂
Thank you Shireen for the nice recipe. It came out great.
As I had no copra I used coconut powder and cooked the mutton without pressure cooker.
Once again thank you and keep those recipes coming…..
Hi Daphne,
So glad to know that you enjoyed the curry! Thanks for the feedback!
Hii
my name is Sharnal i saw ur this recipe and was about to make but then realised that u added black cadamom is it ok to add black cadamom while making a roasted masala and u used 2 on top of that
Hi Sharnal,
I have followed Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipe and it worked fine for me. If you don’t like the strong aroma and flavour of black cardamoms you may reduce them or simply skip them
Hi Shireen – the first point under For the masala: is • 8 whole red chillies * see notes. Where are the ‘notes’?
Hi RSL,
I have updated the notes. Thanks for letting me know, I missed it earlier
The mutton came out very nice …thank u
Thanks a lot Dilavez!
Absolutely delicious ! Thank you so much
Thanks a lot for your feedback Veena!
Hi can’t see notes on how to pressure cook the meat. Thank u
Sorry I missed the notes, have updated it now 🙂
Love the colour of the curry.
Thank you so much for rating my recipe Loleeta!