Mutton Curry

Directions

1. Wash and drain all the moisture from the meat. Grind to a smooth paste the garlic cloves, ginger and green chilies. Add minimum water to this mixture.
2. In a glass bowl, mix the meat, ginger-garlic-chili paste, turmeric, Kashmiri lal mirch powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and two tablespoons mustard oil. Give everything a good mix and marinade for 5-6 hours. Since I was making this curry for lunch, I did the marinade overnight in the fridge.
3. Heat mustard oil, add the bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and cardamoms. Sauté for a minute and add the slivered red onions. If you want your onions to caramelize quickly, add a pinch of sugar in the hot oil and then add the onions.
4. Keep stirring the onions on low-medium heat till they turn golden brown in color. Add the marinated meat and start stirring to mix it thoroughly with the onions. Keep stirring so that the meat at the top changes position and goes to the bottom of your pan. Get a light brown color on the meat. You can even cover and cook the meat right from the start.
5. After browning the meat, add salt to taste. Adding salt tenderizes the meat and it starts cooking in its own moisture. Keep the pan covered but stir from time to time.
6. You will see the meat and the spices changing color from a raw, bland look to a rich, dark brown color. It takes about 40-45 minutes for the meat to cook in it own moisture. But since we want some “curry” in our meat, we will add little by little water and cook the meat covered.
7. Check the meat if it has been completely cooked. Garnish with chopped coriander and remove from heat.
8. Mutton Curry is best served with plain white rice, rotis or even pulao (something which I personally love!).