How I met your Mother; oops I meant your perfect Sunday mutton curry.

As I write this blog today, a train of images rummages through my photographic mind.

An usual Sunday morning. A 6-year old me has the amnesty to wake up at 10 in the morning today without Maa screaming, “You’re going to be late for school!” Brushing can clock-watch its event for a while too, it’s a Sunday after all! Grandma is basking herself on the photons in a wooden armchair as she reads the newspaper. Yawning and rubbing my eyes, I sit on Thakuma’s lap to celebrate my kinda Sunday. Dad sets out to the Maagshor Bazaar (meat shop) with this bajaarer thola (jute bags for shopping vegetables) to catch hold of his favourite meat vendor to get the freshest meat. You see, the quality of the mutton is of premium importance. The tender (kochi), the better. Dad brings home the mutton and it’s an alarm for mother dear to arrange the ingredients for the cooking. My kaku (younger uncle) loves cooking and helps Maa to prepare the meat; cubing large-sized potatoes and smearing them with turmeric and salt. Maa does the arrangement and slyly adds a whole garlic into the setup to add to the mutton gravy (As it’s her personal favourite).

Thakuma starts cooking the mutton in a stove sitting in her armchair in the verandah and the rest is history. Patience, dedication, time and Grandma love. You do not compromise on that!

Over the years, Maa inherited Thakuma’s cooking skills and her area of expertise in a mutton recipe to keep the ball rolling in Das family. I could trace her lineage to the Maangshor Jhol but could not replicate whatsoever; until I cracked the one a few days back, the taste that I was lingering for in my mutton curry for several years.

A “I hit the century!” moment, I decided to share the recipe with everyone after much trials and attempts. Let me tell you, it is a basic Sunday mutton curry, you can add temper with the ingredients to your preferences based on the curry you’re making.

I have added a couple of pictures of the Mutton preparations that I have made and tempered with the method & ingredients slightly based on how I wanted it to turn out, but the basic method remains the same.

Ingredients:

1. Mutton – 1/2 Kg (A mixture of fatty, bony, boneless pieces)
2. Onions – 1 finely julienne
3. Garlic and coriander roots – freshly pounded with salt 1/2 tsp
4. Onion paste – 2 tbsp
5. Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
6. Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
7. Cumin paste – 1 tbsp
8. Green chili paste – 1 tbsp
9. Red chili paste – 1 tbsp
10. Green chilies – 2 Slit
11. Whipped yogurt – 3 tbsp
12. Garam Masala Powder (Cardamom (4), Cinnamon (2), Cloves (3), Star Anise (1), Black peppercorns (4) – Dry roasted and grounded into a fine powder)
13. Turmeric – 1 tsp
14. Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
15. Red Chili Powder – 1 tsp
16. Jeera Powder – 1/2 tsp
17. Bay leaves – 2
18. Potatoes – 2 (cut into halves and smeared with turmeric, salt and red chili powder)
19. Raw papaya paste (Optional for meat tenderizing, very popular method in Assam)
20. Mustard Oil – 3/4 cup
21. Sugar – 1 tbsp
22. Salt to taste

Recipe:

1. Marinate the washed and soaked mutton with yogurt, half portion of all the pastes mentioned in the ingredients, salt and 1/4th cup of mustard oil, massage all the pieces thoroughly and rest it for an hour (3 hours if you want best results) .
2. Fry the marinated potatoes in mustard oil and keep it aside.
3. In the same kadhai, add 2 bay leaves, 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder (mentioned in the ingredients) and remaining garlic-coriander paste and fry till the raw smell is gone.
4. Add julienne onions and sugar and fry till the onions are golden brown.
5. Once done, keep adding the remaining pastes one by one after an interval of a minute so that the pastes fries individually and is cooked evenly leaving no raw smell.
6. Once the oil starts separating, add the marinated mutton cubes brushing the excess marinade, to the pan. Fry the mutton pieces till they are evenly fried.
7. Now add rest of the marinade and start the slow cooking (koshano). At this point, you got to be patient. Leave it for a couple of hours (minimum 1 hour) and stir them occasionally to avoid burning at the bottom.
8. Once your mutton is properly cooked and tender and you see the oil oozing from the masala, add 2 cups of warm water with desired amount of salt and 2 slit green chilies and let it cook on a medium-low flame for about 20 minutes.
9. Adjust the seasoning if needed.
10. Add the fried potato chunks at this point and sprinkle the garam masala.
11. Once it’s ready, serve your Sunday Mutton curry with steamed rice, gondhoraj lebu (kaffir limes) and kaacha pyaaz (onions).

If you liked this recipe and want to see more of this mother-daughter duo, don’t forget to reach out to us at rannabaati00@gmail.com and our Instagram Handle @rannabaati by Oliva Das. We look forward to your requests and feedback!