Mutton Curry / Mamsam Kura | Andhra Mutton Curry | Step By Step Recipe

I am sure the Mutton Masala paste that I shared couple of days back, made it interesting enough to see how the gravy was made. In fact in my previous posts on the authentic mutton gravy that was prepared in my inlaws place, I realized now that it's a different recipe. so I got geared up with the camera and warned my sil and her husband, who was the chief chef of the day, that I might as well be an underfoot for the entire period.

I was always told that my bil makes the non veg dishes very well and I was eager to capture them for the blog. My sil was in charge of grinding the masala for him, while I was busy clicking away every small step. In fact I got so busy that I called in Konda to help me jot down the recipe. She so happily obliged, in fact refused to leave after a while. I had to literally force her out, else we were so cramped.

PS: This post features uncooked meat pictures, please skip if you are not used to seeing them.

When it comes to the traditional non vegetarian dishes that are made in Andhra, it is bound to be spicy and delicious. I am not sure how much of a chilli powder I would have added for the amount of meat used for this gravy, but I was shell shocked seeing the chilli powder that went.

The menu that was decided was to make Mutton Kura, Chicken Roast, Fried Keema Balls, Keema Gravy (Keema Kofta curry), Masala Annam etc. I know I was just tired writing down the different methods they followed on the way. Both of them were very humble and kept saying the masala used were all the same for all dishes. Well I know that though it's true, few things were added or removed, which surely made lot of difference to the end dish.

For the Keema Varieties, hubby dear's aunt was in charge. He used to say so much about her dish, that he finally requested her to show me by cooking it. So I was again fixed to a spot trying to capture every single move of her. Will write more on this in the Keema Kofta post that will follow.

Step by Step Picture Recipe

Ground Masala paste / Mutton Masala paste

Wash and drain the mutton pieces until to be used.

Heat about 4 -5 tsp of oil in a pressure cooker

Add onion julienne, green chilies

Saute till the onions are turning brown.

Add the mutton masala paste.

Saute till done.

Next add the drained mutton pieces.

Cook on high flame and at this time you will start seeing water coming out.

This is after 5 mins.

Add coriander powder, turmeric powder

Chilli powder and salt

Mix everything well and continue cooking on high flame.

Add about 2 cups of water and bring to boil.

 Add chopped tomatoes and cover with lid. Pressure cook till done.

Mutton Kura | Mamsam Curry

Ingredients Needed:

Mutton Masala - 2 - 3 cups
Onions - 3 medium
Green Chillies - 4 -5 medium
Coriander powder - 7  8 tsp
Chili powder - 8 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil - 4 -5 tsp

How to make the Mutton Kura

Wash and cut into bite size pieces. Keep it on a colander for it to drain completely.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add onion julienne, slit green chilies and saute well.

When the onions starts browning, add the drained mutton pieces and mix everything well.

Bring to boil, you will find the mutton leaving lot of water, it shoudl almost evaporate.

After about 10 mins or so, add coriander powder, chili powder, salt, turmeric and mix well.

Add 1 -2 cups of water and cover with lid. Pressure cook till done.

Notes:

Since it's mutton it normally takes about 10 whistles depending on your cooker.
All the masala were added to the ground mutton masala and nothing else was added.

Check for other Mutton Dishes

Mutton Roast ~ Andhra Special Weekend Cooking!

I took half of a boiled corn cob to office to eat for breakfast. These days its back to my self diet, so no idli or dosa or any of the convectional breakfast dishes. Though Corn may not fall under the items I am supposed to eat, who care when you heart a corn cob? I love love a corn and long many a times to bite into one. Since it's the season now, I feel frustrated that I couldn't get my share of corn to eat. This is one of those reasons why you miss your Mom's place right! The luxury of all things readily available before the thought could get processed in your mind. I am amazed at how well Amma would always have all my dishes ready at their seasonal pace.

Yes remembering those days, even with missing my own favorites, I remember to get things that Konda likes ready. And one of the things that Konda loves is the corn cob, she and chinnu between the two of them, ensure everything is finished off the moment these are boiled. Seeing how much they like this, I forget I like them too. So this time hubby dear ensured I get my share and packed in a whole lot of them. I have been enjoying these the last two days. Looking at the steel Tiffin box that I brought it in. I saw that it was the box that I have been using since I was 10 years old.

Yes, it was the same box that I have been carrying since I was in 5th std, the small steel box. I continued carrying it to college, then my work place too. My lunch, until I started cooking, had always been Tiffin items, other than those mixed rice like Pulihora, Coconut rice etc. Infact as a dowry, these were the things I got from my mom's place! All those things that I used as a kid. Imagine my joy seeing and caressing something that has been with me the past 20 years! It may be a material thing, but I hardly think of it as such. One of these days I should take a photo of the box. I was always teased on carrying such a small box, but it can easily fit four idlis and 2-3 dosas. What more does one want?

Ok coming to recipe for the day, it has nothing to do with the corn or my box, rather the traditional recipes of Amma, which she keeps making for us and which I end up making it again because it is liked so much!

Preparation Time : 10 mins
Cooking time - 10 mins for pressure cooking
Cooking time for mutton - 20 mins
Cuisine : Andhra

Mutton Roast ~ Andhra Style

For the Roast

Mutton - 250 gms
Onion - 1 small (100 gms)
Tomato - 1 small (100 gms)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp

For Dry powder

Coriander - 1 tsp
Cardamon - 1
Cinnamon - 1
Clove - 2
Gasa gasa/ Poppy Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Peppercorn - 5 whole
Cumin 1/4 tsp
Fennel - 1 /4 tsp

Dry roast all above and powder

For garnish:

Roasted Cashew nuts and curry leaves
Coriander leaves


Method to prepare:

Heat a pan with ghee and roast the cashew nuts till golden. Wash and pat dry the curry leaves. Drop them in ghee and remove when they turn crisp. This doesn't take more than 1 minute.

Meanwhile wash and cut the mutton pieces to small bite size. Pressure cook mutton with little water, salt and turmeric for 3 -4 whistles or till tender.

Dry roast all the spices and cool. Powder to a fine powder and keep aside.

Heat a kadai that has a lid with oil. Saute onion till golden, then add ginger garlic paste. Saute till the rawness leaves.

Then add the chopped tomatoes along with chili powder and salt. Simmer for few minutes with the lid covered.

Next add the cooked mutton, cook well. Cook on high for 5 minutes, you will see water coming out. Stir well so that it doesn't get burnt or struck to the pan. Cover and simmer for 5 mins.

Check in between, When you find the mutton has little water still add the dry powder, mix well. Cooked it covered in simmer for 10 mins. Add chopped coriander leaves.

When it is done, you will find the roast all golden all over, at this stage add the fried curry leaves and cashew nuts to the pan and toss around.

Serve hot!

This since it was first prepared few months back, this has been prepared again some 4 or 5 times, so I highly recommend this. The judgment of course, was given by hubby dear!

I have some four lunch boxes to share, I am sure they will get featured soon!

Have a great weekend!

Mutton Kura ~ Weekend Cooking with Sunday breakfast!

Having a two week off from cooking on Sundays is good enough reason to indulge in elaborate cooking I should say. That's exactly what I did. The last two Sundays were either spent on visiting friends or touring around the place, that I somehow had a relaxing day. Of course the breakfast has to be Poori with Channa Masala. Even if I want something else the kids won't let me think. So I decided when I am at it, I might as well enjoy it. Not that I don't ok!

Its a race against time trying to make it on time for the kids to be ready to eat, else they get hungry and eat something junk. And because I had planned on an elaborate lunch, hubby dear took the kids for shopping. I was happy that all 3 of them came back only with 2 sets for each. But that time off came me all the time I needed to get my act together. Though nothing major got done during their absence, I had time to plan. We had invited Daddy to join us. The kids enjoyed their time with their Thatha.

Before that since I remembered that I had to send Divya something for her interesting post, I clicked my plate. Afterall whats so tough about just clicking one's plate right, you need not think much or plan for something new!..

I also made Mutton keema balls to be featured in my book. So getting them in the prefect shape was another story!

Mutton Kura:

Ingredients needed

Mutton - 500 gms
Onions - 2 medium
Clove - 2
Cinnamon - 1"
Cardamon - 1
Tomatoes - 1 medium
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Mint leaves - handful
Coriander Leaves - handful
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Coconut paste - 2 tbsp


Weekend lunch Menu: Masala Vada, Mutton Keema Balls, Mutton Kura, Plain Rice.

Method to prepare:

Clean and chop mutton to required size. Wash and let drain. Chop Onion, tomatoes to fine pieces.

Heat oil in a kadai, add the whole spices. Then add onion and sauté till its brown in colour. Add ginger garlic paste, fry well. Then add mint leaves and half of coriander leaves.

After few mins, add mutton pieces with salt and turmeric powder. Cover it with lid and let it get browned well. Water will come out at this stage, so you got to cook till its all evaporated.

Add the chopped tomatoes along with chili powder and coriander powder. Cook for another 10 mins.

Then transfer this to pressure cooker, add required quantity of water and cover with lid and pressure cook for 5 whistles or till the mutton is well cooked.

Once the pressure is off, remove add coconut paste and coriander leaves.

Notes: There is lot of difference with cooking directly in the pressure cooker and cooking it first in the kadai and transferring it .

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Momos, Fried Momos and a Birthday Bash!

Today is very special to us as its Konda's Birthday! The birthday baby was all excited and couldn't sleep much and got up early too. She turns 8 today, and dislikes being called a baby and carries herself very mature. I was really sad when I realized she didn't ask for a treat to her school friends as she does every year. It is so hard to accept our kids being all grown up! I remember a time when I used to bake for such occasions and hope sometime in future I get back to it!

Though her cousins had planned to be staying here till her birthday they left rather early due to other reasons. So plans were very much restricted with the family. The boys were all so sweet in wishing their sister birthday greetings. And infact wanted a similar dress as hers! The boys are somehow fond of Konda's dresses. I guess they are so bored with their routine dress patterns. Amma always made my birthdays very special and used to make Gulab Jamun, which was my favorite growing up. Guess its been ages since I had one. It was pretty late when we went to bed, discussing with Konda on her plans. I was insisting her tell me what she wants as in some sweet. She never being a person to eat anything in excess, was perplexed to choose something. She finally narrowed it to Payasam, with a judgmental point to be made as how her Ammamma makes. Well that's a tough yardstick for me to be measured. Still I tried and I carried some for my colleagues who licked the last bit off the bowl. I was satisfied that it must've been good.


We had a great time but most times yes, of course it was tough managing all the kids around. I made PBM and Parotta as its Konda's favorite and the party went way down late.

Coming to the Momos, these I prepared yesterday. Ever since I knew about the Momos, they have been on my list to make. Finally hubby dear forced me to get down to business, by forwarding few links for me to refer. I finally came up with my own version of the stuffing after reading on them. Not sure if this is the traditional stuffing, but I ensured I followed what was common among all links. Though I simply loved the pictures, I was told that the wrappers were hard!

I made with Mutton Keema with home made wrappers made with All purpose flour. When I got down making the moulds, I remembered Gudumulu, but that's with Rice flour and this is wheat. Dad said he had only eaten Veg Momos and the outer wrappers were extremely soft and thin. Hubby dear said the same. So I fried some to get the fried Momos, which I guess were little better.

So I need advice from the Momos experts on getting the correct wrapper, I am sure going to make it again!

I made Momos with Mutton Keema stuffing, and Tomato Achaar as the dip!

Momos with Mutton Keema!

For the wrapper:

All purpose flour - 1 & 3/4 cup (makes about 9 medium sized momos)
Salt to taste
Water to kneading

For the stuffing:

Mutton Keema - 250 gms
Onions - 1 medium
Green Chillies - 4 long
Tomatoes - 1 medium
Ginger - 4 -5 flakes
Garlic - 3"
Fresh Coriander leaves chopped handful
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric a pinch
Coarse pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 -2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method to prepare:

For the Momos:

Take the flour and mix with salt and enough water to get a pliable dough. Let it rest for an hour, with covered muslin cloth.

Before making the dumplings, knead again. divide into equal balls.

For the stuffing.

Wash and let the keema drain.

Heat a pan with oil. Add cumin seeds, then sauté in finely chopped ginger and garlic. I used grated ginger and garlic. Sauté well.

Then add finely chopped onions, along with green chilies, coriander leaves.Fry well till the onions start sweating. Add the chopped tomatoes along with all the spice powders except pepper. Simmer for 5 mins, till the tomatoes turn soft.

Add the drained keema, combine everything well. Simmer for 10 mins, for the meat to get cooked. When the meat is done, sprinkle the pepper and mix again.

Allow it to cool down before you start making the Momos.

For the Momos:

Dust the rolling board, take one ball, roll out a circle of 5" diameter or you can flatten in your palm as how you will make your stuffed parathas. Only difference being you don't flatten them. Observe the pattern in most Momos, you can stick to opposite layer as in pleats once you have the stuffing within.

Place the stuffing in the center and cover together. Place the Momos in a vessel and steam for 10 - 15 minutes or till done. I used my Idli vessel, guess it will work out well.
Fried Momos:

Once the Momos are steamed, you can deep fry them in oil and you have another tasty dish on hand.

These are normally served with Tomato Achaar or dip.

Will post the Achaar later. I hope to get enlighten on the making soft Momos, so let me know!

Mutton Fry ~ Mutton Vepudu!

We went out for burgers for dinner, with the hope that the kids would enjoy at the Kids corner that's there in the restaurant. And did they play? they refused to get back home. Athamma didn't join us as she is still recovering, but its much better. stitches are removed but the bone is yet to join back. So it was just us for the outing. The kids were so excited on going out, you might think we don't take them anywhere. They go on a bike ride atleast some 3 times in a day, be it morning or even as late as 10 in the night. Still we enjoyed seeing their enthu.

The Kids play space had two riders, a toy car and a house that had few kids chairs. Peddu wanted me to get into the house, I was trying to feed him and he was running around the place. Chinnu refused to eat, so my target was Peddu. He made sure I ran around to feed him. He went into the doll house saying "Jolly, the house is nice". We were quite surprised at him using the word Jolly. He wanted me to enter the house, I told him its quite small for me. He was looking surprised for that!

Thanks to her friends Mom, our little madam is busy these days trying her hand at Stitching. I must remember to thank her friends Mom for coming out with such a brilliant idea to keep the girls engaged. Her friend K, is a year older than her and they are always together during the weekends. If I remember correctly, this is the first summer they are at home. Normally she leaves to her granny's place for Summer. Konda somehow forgot to discuss her birthday. She normally takes toffees to her school friends during April. This is the first year we completely forgot about it! When I remembered, I was feeling so awful. It was almost like my lil one has grown out of her childhood. Of course not, atleast I hope so!

Coming to today's recipe this is something I made many days ago. I haven't got around making anything new, so this is from my draft and it was good that I had it all typed as I had already shared it for a reader. So guess I am now sharing with the rest!

Ingredients Needed:

Mutton - 250 gms
Onions - 1 medium
Green Chillies - 2 medium
Curry leaves 5-6
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Cashewnut powder - 1/2 tsp (opt)
Crushed peppercorns - 2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp

Method to prepare:

Wash Mutton and chop into medium sized chunks.

Pressure cook the mutton with 1/4 tsp of ginger garlic paste, a pinch of salt, turmeric powder along with 1 cup of water. Pressure cook till the mutton is well cooked and tender. Drain the stock from the mutton.

Heat a pan with oil, sauté chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves, then add the remaining ginger garlic paste, Fry for 2 0 3 mins, till everything gets done.

Then add the cooked mutton pieces, add all the spice powder except peppercorns. Combine everything well and cook it covered under sim for 5 mins.

Remove the lid and sauté well. By now the spices are well coated. Sprinkle in freshly ground peppercorns. Mix well. It gets done in 5 mins time after adding the peppercorns.

Note: I used the stock from this cooked mutton to the rice. You can make soup with it. Peppercorns have to be freshly ground and it should be coarse, not too fine not too coarse.

The taste of the fresh pepper along with curry leaves gives a heady taste!

Hope you make this and enjoy!

Andhra Mutton Kura, Masala Annam ~ Weekend Cooking!

There is always something magical about leaves falling down! It symbolizes new growth and a sense of well being. It transports me to my early youth, walking down with full energy and a high expectations of what else life might offer me. I was on the threshold of a new chapter. I was rethinking on what to do in life. Well thinking back, I can see that its not been an updraft, rather I have sailed along the waves. I have trodden the path that was not less frequented The road not taken will always be a mystery for me. Looks like my poetic senses will have to wait for another lifetime to get fulfilled.

Expecting new things and doing things differently, doesn't mean I wasn't up to my regular things. I still got to get up early for the morning walks and yes, as I might have said, Dad has a penchant for getting up early, it always rubbed off me too. Early never meant the wee hours, but please 6 or 6.30 am was pretty early in my books then. If there was one thing we could do, and get Daddy happy, it was getting up early and going either for a jog or a walk. Dad liked us getting up early and lazy slumbering beneath layers and layers of blanket never came to picture! Well I have finally come to conclude that this again changes with the life juncture one is at! Right now, I would prefer my kids not being so bent on pleasing their Thatha, guess I could do with some peace to complete my morning chores on time! They not only get up early, but are very active right from word go!

Anyway there I was, standing for the signal to go green, while the branches were shedding its leaves. I was transported to a different time and place. I could see myself walking brisk, every step becoming more aggressive, in tune with Sukhwinder Singh shouting at his top of the voice, Chaiyya Chaiyya...

Well today's post has got nothing to do with either autumn or my walks, rather my eagerness to cook something new and special on Sundays for hubby dear. I guess I am one of those lucky few who have got willing guinea pigs. Though I must hasten to say he wasn't always this willing, but guess growing old together has lot to be said about! But my litmus test was in making him remember his childhood days or as cooked from his side of the family. Though I have a long way to go, to reach up my Athamma's expertise, I was happy I climbed few notches with this fare!

Andhra Mutton Kura!

Ingredients Needed:

Mutton - 500 gms
Onions - 2 medium
Tomato - 1 medium
Mint leaves - handful

Coriander leaves - few stacks
Poppy seed powder (Gasa gasa) - 1 & 1/2 tsp
Chili powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Curry leaves
Green chilies - 1 long
Oil - 2 tsp

Masala to be ground

Fresh coconut, chopped- abt handful (50 - 60 gms)
Green chilies - 1 long
Coriander leaves - handful
Fennel seeds - 3/4 tsp
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon - 2"
Cardamom - 1
Ginger - 4"
Garlic - 10 flakes
( I took about 2 tsp from this ground masala for the rice)

Method to prepare:

Wash mutton and let it drain. Get the ground masala ready. Keep it aside.

Then heat a pressure cooker pan with oil. Add curry leaves, green chilies and onions. Sauté the onions till they start turning brown.

Add the drained mutton, sprinkle the turmeric and salt. Cook on high flame, while you keep stirring it. Then simmer it for 2 -3 mins.

Then add the ground masala (keep about 2 tsp for the rice) to the mutton, again cook on high. This time you will find water coming out and you should cook till it evaporates. Add the mint and coriander leaves. Then chopped tomatoes.

Simmer again for 3 - 4 mins, by this time you will have a good masala coating the meat. Add in the chilli, coriander, garam masala, fennel and poppy seeds powders. Combine everything well and cook till you find it letting out a little oil.

Then add required water and pressure cook till the meat is tender. Once the pressure is off, remove lid and cook again if the gravy is not thick.

Note: This is a typical Andhra dish and is bound to be spicy, so please be cautious in using the chilies, its added in three different ways. But believe me, the aroma was your typical 'sweep your feet' kinds.


Masala Annam!

This is very typically like the Colour rice that I have already blogged about. Plain rice is very so appealing, so having the rice taking a different drab looks more attractive right! And more specific, certain non veg dishes require regular rice accompanying and not the aromatic Basmati, so I cooked with our regular rice that I use, it could be Ponni or Sona Masuri. Another interesting fact being we don't add ghee to this, unless you want.

Ingredients Needed:

Sona Masuri/ Ponni - 1 & 1/2 cup
Onion julienne - 1 medium
Bay leaf , Mace or Javatri , Star anise, Clove, Cinnamon, Cardamom - 1 each
Salt to taste
Ground masala - 2 tsp
Oil - 2 - 3 tsp
Water - 2 & 1/2 cup

Method to prepare:

You can either cook this in pressure cooker or directly. So water measurement depends on which method you want to follow. Thumb rule being, you need to let the rice absorb water or allow it standing time.

Wash and soak rice for 15 mins.

Heat a pressure cooker pan with oil, add in all the spices. Then sauté the onions till they are pink, then add the ground masala. Cook well. Then add the drained rice.

Then add the water along with salt. Cover and pressure cook till rice is done.

The entire cooking time for both these dishes was within an hour, provided you have things within reach. And more than me, hubby dear was eager I capture these. So it proves it was very well received!

And the unexpected excitement and approval got from hubby dear goes to prove that I better remember my Amma's cooking and get to do them again. This kura was what my mom used to prepare long time ago, it just flashed through the memory and I was glad it did!

Spleen Roast ~ Weekend Cooking!

Time seems to be flying like it has no business! I desperately want to log each and everything my little boys do. As I know after a while we forget they did any of those things. Like hubby dear keeps saying he doesn't remember Konda doing any of those antics that kids get too. Peddu can say many words now and each one sounds such an heavenly note from his mouth, I feel like hugging him for each one he utters. Chinnu is still yet to start saying things. But he has own words for different things. Like he says "Kalali" for sugar. God knows how and why he says that. One fine day, he came asking me for "Pathathi", while I was making Chapathi. I said I will make it for him and he should wait. When his plate was ready with Chapathi, he went on to say he wants "Kalali". He normally says he wants Chutanay, so I thought he was referring to it. He didn't want that. I asked Athamma to see what he was asking for. Nobody could understand what he was saying. He literally rolled on the floor, crying for Kalali. Something struck me and I thrust sugar to him. He, with pearls, ready to flow down his cheeks, nodded his head.

When I make Dosa, they want Chapati. When Chapati is ready they want Annam. God help me, please, is what I think most times. Its become much better with Konda these days. She eats most things without much fuss, though pecks at it all the time. But when we had gone to my sil place, we decided we are not going to worry about what the boys are going to eat. Konda, of course has company and will eat atleast for her cousins sake. And the twins surprising didn't give us much trouble with their food. They eat what we made for the rest. Sunday was expected to be special, so I was gearing my camera to click the pictures. Chinnu, was bent on the camera and infact woke midnight asking for foto, foto. I had to give him just the case. So except of rare times when he wasn't looking, I didn't click much pictures. Of course, I couldn't get away without clicking the special lunch his sisters prepared for hubby dear.

They made Colour Rice, Mutton Pulusu, Spleen Fry, Gongura Pachadi and Aloo Mochi Curry for me. This Gongura Pachadi they made is yet another version of Athamma's, I am not going to ask her. With so many different pachadi she makes, I know I will loose track!

The Spleen Fry was actually prepared by sil's hubby. He is an expert in cooking non veg dishes. And its really an interesting sight, seeing him walking around the house, in and out and by then he would've completed the preparation too. Hubby dear told me to lookout for such action and it did happen. He also warned that the Roast is so delicious, it won't wait for my pictures. So I had to hurriedly click few pictures.

Spleen Roast

Spleen - 200 gms
Onion - 2 medium
Curry leaves - 5- 6
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Ginger, garlic, green chili paste - 1 tsp
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 2"
Turmeric powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp

Method to prepare:

Grind Ginger, garlic, Green chilies, cloves and cinnamon together to a fine paste. Heat a pan with oil. add the curry leaves, then sauté in ground paste. Once its well fried, add the chopped onions.

Fry till the onions starts browning, then add the spleen and simmer with lid covered for 5- 7 mins. Then remove the lid, add the turmeric, chili and coriander powders, season with salt. Combine everything well.

Again cook under covered for 10 mins, till oil starts coming out. Add little oil if required. Cook till its well roasted.

I was sure this tastes great as I could see happy faces around me.

Before I sign off, just wanted to update on the MLLA, thank you everybody who have sent in your entries. I am overwhelmed at the response. But its been a bit slow on my side. Will try to post the round up by next week. I am sure you will all enjoy it!

Mutton Biryani ~ Weekend Cooking!

As I stepped into the room, I was hit by the aroma of the freshly roasted peanut. It is not something one can miss even if it was the middle of the day, forgot it being the night. What you smell is not related to what you feel, but when it was almost midnight, your senses are more acute, the smell was so distinct that you can feel it washing all over you. Maybe the fact that the house was silent and I was more tuned to the smell that was wandering around I just roasted a batch of groundnuts, to be handy for the chutneys down the week. Its been a while since I roasted any.

Kids had gone to bed by then, while hubby dear was watching the tele, he wanted me to watch that program about Uganda. Though the program was compelling, the roasting was even more! All I could remember while roasting was, all those days back, when I was doing it at Parents home! Groundnuts are a staple at home. And I don't think I have met anybody else who can roast so perfectly as Amma does. The voices from the memory haunts me, and I can hear Amma calling me to come to the kitchen. Though we practically grew up on them, our love never daunts. Even more for Dad, as they had lands where they grew groundnuts. Freshly roasted groundnuts right from the stove, is Dad's favorite. I almost curbed the urge to call them, to tell that I am roasted peanuts. I can imagine the look that hubby dear will have!

Anyway, this mutton biryani has nothing to do with peanuts. It being a Sunday, I wanted to make a biryani. I called up the Aunty who gave me the Mutton Paya recipe. She wasn't in town and was expected on the day. But I couldn't reach her on time for me to prepare the biryani. That's when I decided that I should take a chance and go on my instinct to prepare my own biryani. The entire recipe was just cooked on instinct, will surely prepare it many more times. The verdict for both the Mutton Biryani and Mutton pepper fry was excellent. So naturally will be making it few more times.

Ingredients Needed:

Mutton - 500 gms
Basmati Rice - 2 & 1/2 cups
Onion julienne - 1 medium
Tomatoes - 2 medium
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 2"
Javatri / Mace - 1
Bay Leaf - 1
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cardamom - 2
Green Chillies - 2 long
Red Chili powder - 1 tsp
Mint leaves - handful
Coriander leaves - handful
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp
Ghee - 4 - 6 tsp
Water - 2 cups

For the paste:

Shallot Onions - 50 gms
Onion - 1 small
Green chili - 1 long
Ginger - 2 "
Garlic - 6-7 flakes

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak basmati rice for 15 mins

Wash and drain the mutton.

Grind the ingredients together for the paste, keep it aside. Chop onions as julienne.

Heat a pressure cooker with oil and 3 tsp of ghee. First add all the spices, sauté for a min. Once the cumin starts spluttering, add the onion julienne along with slit green chillies. Sauté till the onions start browning. Add the ground paste. Fry till it's done and oil comes out.

Then add the chopped tomatoes and chili powder, turmeric pwd, and simmer till the tomatoes are soft. Next  add the salt, mint leaves, coriander leaves, Cover with the lid and cook till the tomatoes are soft. Then add the drained mutton. Cook in high while you are stirring it. Then add enough water to cover and pressure cook it for 5 whistles or till the meat is done.

Update: The amount of water added is just enough to cover the mutton. Infact you can pressure cook without adding as mutton will leave out water after pressure cook. If you are unsure, maybe you can add 1/4 cup of water.

Once the pressure is off, remove the lid, cook till the water content is reduced and the mutton is well coated with the masala. The consistency should be a like thick masala coated mutton pieces.

Then add the rice and sauté well. Then add 2 cups of water, remaining ghee, mix well and cover again and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

Note: I added water on instinct. Like for basmati rice to get cooked, yet be separate grains, with 1 cup water to 1 cup rice, you need to sauté it well and do a dum cooking. Only then it gets done correctly. Else it will turn out very soft.

I didn't measure the water for cooking the meat, then I reduced it to half. Finally added about 2 cups of water after adding the rice. I used the stock that was left out from the boiling the meat for the fry. I am not sure if there will be lot of change in the taste if you don't add it.

Other notes that I made note is, I use wash the pan after cooking the meat. When I directly added the rice and pressure cooked again, it was little browned on the bottom. Either this or I could have just cooked the rice in dum as the meat was well cooked.

Most important is, you should be liberal with oil/ghee. This is a special dish and should not be minced on the oil/ ghee. Next time will surely add more so that you really get the restaurant effect.!

I was very happy that my own creation resulted in a delicious tasting biryani and is surely something I am going to improvise on!

We are off for a weekend visit to my sil's place. Will update with their yummy treats soon!