Hello!!!! Today I have the very special Bengali style mutton curry recipe for you all. I have already posted a few Bengali recipes here which were shared by my dearest friend, Zahera Ummat. Well , I have another neighbor who is also from Kolkata – Nipa Dan. She came to our neighborhood last year and I have had the greatest pleasure of tasting some of her yummy preparations. Her kid Ishaan is my son Aarav’s most favorite friend and they do spend a lot of time playing together.
Summer is really nice here at Seattle with all the kids in the neighborhood playing outside and their moms and dads chatting away. My 5 year old has lots of similar age kids in our neighborhood so he kind of gets bored and cranky when we go for short trips. His adventures happen right here in our neighborhood. 🙂 My 8 month old is the luckiest, she has almost the whole street to hold her and take care of her. Thank God for such sweet neighbors.
Nipa shared this mutton curry with us a few weeks back. The recipe calls for sugar but not to worry, it doesn’t taste sweet at all. The caramelized sugar gives a nice red color to the curry and balances the flavors. The authentic Bengali recipe for mutton curry calls for mustard oil but its perfectly okay to use any vegetable oil. Another feature of Bengali recipes is that they use potatoes in their biryani, fish curry, meat curry etc. I know most of us don’t experiment much with mutton as it is expensive. Usually we don’t buy and cook red meat as often as we cook chicken and other non-veg stuff. But I promise this recipe wont disappoint you and that you will enjoy this dish. I will be posting few more of nipas recipes such as her yummy rava paniyarams, aloo chorchori, rajma chole, khichdi etc. Hope you all will enjoy this dish. Happy cooking!
Ingredients (Serves 3 – 4)
1. Mutton – 500 – 600 gm, cut into medium pieces
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Chili powder – 1 tsp
Yoghurt – 1/2 cup
Mustard oil – 1 tsp
Sugar – 1/2 tsp
Salt – As required
2. Mustard oil / vegetable oil – 3 tbsp (I used 1 tbsp mustard oil + 2 tbsp vegetable oil)
3. Sugar – 3/4 tsp
4. Whole spices – cardamom – 2, cloves – 4, cinnamon stick – 1/2 inch
5. Onion – 1.5 cups, thinly sliced
Garlic – 5 large cloves, crushed
6. Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
7. Coriander powder – 1.5 tsp
Cumin powder – 1/2 tsp
8. Tomato – 1/2 medium-large, chopped
9. Hot water – 3/4 – 1 cup or as required
10. Potato – 1 medium-large, cut into large cubes
Turmeric powder – 1 pinch
11. Bengali garam masala powder – 1/4 – 1/2 tsp (Grind Cardamom – 3 – 4, cinnamon stick – 1/4 inch pieces, cloves – 4 to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle)
Method
1. Marinate mutton pieces with the remaining ingredients numbered 1. Keep in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. Take it out 30 minutes before you are ready to cook.
2. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker over medium heat. Add 3/4 tsp sugar. In 1 – 2 minutes it will caramelize and turn a nice golden brown color (be careful not to let it burn). Add sliced onion, little salt and saute for a few minutes. Add crushed garlic and saute until onion turns reddish brown.
3. Add ginger paste and saute until its raw smell disappears. Add tomatoes, little salt, coriander powder and cumin powder. Saute well until tomato turns mushy and oil separates. Add mutton pieces and cook for 8 – 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until oil separates. Add 3/4 – 1 cup hot water. Bring to a boil.
3. Meanwhile fry potato cubes adding a pinch of turmeric powder and salt. Fry for a few minutes until they are slightly colored (you don’t need to cook them). Add the potato pieces to the mutton curry. Pour some gravy over the potatoes (do not mix the potatoes with gravy, they will get mashed up) and cover with the pressure cooker lid. Cook over medium-high heat for 1 whistle.Bring down the heat to low and cook for 10 – 15 minutes. Switch off. open the cooker after 10 – 15 minutes. Mutton will be perfectly cooked with oil floating on top. Sprinkle the bengali garam masala powder and mix gently (you can also add a tsp of ghee for an extra taste). Keep covered for 10 minutes. Serve with rice / naan/ pulao etc. Enjoy!!
This looks sooo delicious! Mouthwatering actually ..yum