Dry Fried Mutton..labour of love

I normally avoid making mutton…especially Sookha Mutton...not because I don’t like it or because I want to torture my husband but because it requires too much effort and time as I refuse to pressure cook the meat…and not because I fear that it will lose some taste and can only be slow cooked but because I can’t figure out the whistles and time and fear that I will end up overcooking it (ok , not just fear but experience !!)…since I had to stand in the kitchen all this time stirring, I decided to divide the mutton in two and make two dishes instead…the other one to follow in a day or two.

Sookha Mutton

Ingredients:

• Mutton/Goat meat, small pieces, 500 gm
• Onions, finely sliced ,400 gm 
• Garlic paste , 1 tsp
• Ginger paste , 1 tsp
• Kashmiri Red Chili powder, 1 tsp
• Coriander Powder, 1 tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, ¼ cup ( I used mustard oil, you can use any vegetable oil)

For the whole spice powder:

• Green cardamoms , 2
• Cloves, 4
• Cinnamon, 1 small stick of 
• Black Peppercorns,10
• Bay leaves,2

For the marinade:

• Garlic paste , 1 tsp
• Ginger paste , 1 tsp
• Oil, 1 tbsp
• Salt, 1 tsp
• Red Chili powder, 1 tsp
• Coriander Powder, 1 tsp
• Plain Yogurt/Dahi, 1 tbsp

Instructions:

Marinate the mutton with all the ingredients mentioned under marinade for a minimum of 2 hours ( can keep overnight). Bring to room temperature before you start cooking.

Dry roast the whole spices mentioned under the spice powder, cool and grind to a fine powder. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and fry on low flame till the onions turn golden brown. 

Increase the flame to high and add the marinated mutton and fry till it starts to turn brown. 

Lower the flame, add ginger paste, garlic paste, red chili powder, coriander powder and the dry roasted whole spice powder. 

Stir and cover and let it cook till done – since no additional water is added remember we need to cover it but also need to stir it after every couple of minutes so that the onions and spices don’t stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. 

The mutton will take about 30 to 40 minutes to cook but will seem like forever because of all the stirring required…but sooooo totally worth all the effort.



Note:

• If and ONLY if, in spite of all your efforts (and do note I said efforts and not intentions!!) the masala keeps on sticking to the bottom of the pan, you can add additional couple of tablespoons of yogurt or a chopped tomato or sprinkle it lightly with some water.