Mutton Masala Restaurant Style Loaded with Mum's Love

Vacations... And Happiness... And Books... On my bedside at the moment is a big pile...the pile of books is my new bed side table... I have Inferno-Dan Brown's newest offering of the same old,same old but adorable Harris Tweed and Cordovan Loafers sporting Mickey Mouse watch wearing professor of iconology and symbology-Robert Langdon... Yes...the persona is as cool as the story... And then I have Baldacci... Clice Cussler... Ernest Hemingway... Mark Mills... Cecelia Ahern... A library at my disposal,and what daddy always said...in not so colourful a way though... So the at onset of the vacations,I wanted to nothing except read and lie in bed... So I read and lay in bed... Dinner time and an almost Yakhni later... Mutton masala that tasted better than any restaurant special... Almost YAkhni?North India has been reeling under a heat wave-44C to 46C just passing by.The heat you can stand,its the humididity that saps your energy. So we have to contend with air getting frizzier and sweat trickling down from everywhere along with the heat. From the air conditioned comforts of the TV room, I was beseiged with requests for Mutton Masala-Restaurant Style... So here it is... Greasy,with oil floating over well cooked pieces of mutton... Served with hand closed ghee laden chappatis and mum's love... Mutton Curry served in restaurants generally tastes similar.Just a few shades of difference -a bit spicier or a bit oilier. But across the board they are all tasty... And taste best piping hot with chappatis fresh from the tandoor-or in our case -at home fresh off the tawa or fresh off the gridle... It’s all about chance... All about watching a TV show-where the hosts waited for the mutton which was pre boiled... So that is what I have started to do... And ended up with mutton that tastes amazing! Just pressure cook the mutton with a little bit of water up to one pressure, make the base of the curry and then add the al dente  mutton and stock to the cooking base... Hey presto! You have restaurant style mutton at your table.
To start with For the
Mutton Curry Restaurant Style –served with Mum’s love...
You need 500 gms assorted cuts of mutton-ribs, shoulder and marrow bones 200 gms sliced onion 2 tsp ginger garlic paste ½ cup freshly grated tomatoes/2-3 tbsp packaged tomato puree Salt, red chilli powder to taste ½ tsp turmeric powder 2-3 tbsp Meat Masala Powder (basic garam Masala to which a few extra spices are added-I used Catch Meat Masala) 3 tbsp Mustard Oil/Ghee You need a pressure cooker for the mutton, and if you don’t have one...simple-just use a heavy bottomed pan. Place the mutton in the pressure cooker and add 2 cups of water along with ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp turmeric powder.
Open once the pressusre drops. If you do not have a pressure cooker, add 1 cup water extra. Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer, cooking for about 15 minutes. Just one whistle/pressure will do otherwise.
In a wok/kadai/flat bottomed pan, heat the mustard oil or the clarified butter to smoking point. Clarified butter or ghee tastes best but the cholesterol haunts!
Once the fat smokes, add the onions and fry till they are translucent.
So what are you baking today??? Now add in the ginger garlic paste. Either ginger or garlic will be fine too.
Now fry till the onions get a nice caramelised hue, adding the salt, turmeric and 1 tsp red chilli powder.
Add in the Meat Masala and add in some of the stock to deglaze the pan...
Place the pieces of cooked mutton in next and sauté...
Keep adding the stock at regular intervals... Add in the tomatoes and stir...
If you run out of stock, add water.
The mutton needs to be cooked on a medium to low flame till the sauce is thick and is napping and wrapping the pieces of mutton, coating it silkily and lovingly
By this time, the mutton will be cooked and the grave thick, with the oil/fat separated and floating on the surface...
You can add a little water for runny gravy, if you want to eat this with boiled rice...
Me? I prefer the gravy, wrapped around my ribs...
Accompanied by hot, hot chapattis, straight off the griddle. For this, sweet child and hubby dear, sit at the table. I make the chapattis, slather them with a wee bit of homemade clarified butter or ghee and close them in my fist and serve... They say that when the woman does this for her family...she is enclosing her love in the fisted chapatti. The wee bit of ghee, helps the spices go down easy, as they coat the lips and prevent you from feeling the heat of the chili laden super spicy gravy.
The Meat Masala is just a spicier garam Masala that helps to thicken the gravy and bring the right combination of spices to the curry. Simple meal, served with sliced onions, liberally splashed with lemon juice and loads of love. Ps raw onions help cool the heat in the body and reduce cholesterol. So you balance meats with a salad/salsa of raw onions... Try the fisted chapatti/chopri roti (as it is known in Punjab)...you may hurt your hands, but the chapatti is always tastier...
Coming up... A green chocolate cake, that brings back memories of After Eights...
So what are you baking today???