My Diwali Dinner - Bihari Style Mutton
It was my nephew’s first Diwali.. He’s just 11 months old and such a cutie! And I went over to my sister’s place to celebrate Diwali with her and her 2 kids. Her husband was traveling out of town for some work, so the celebration was just amongst us at her home.
Instead of getting the regular mithai (sweets), i made cinnamon rolls and brought that to her place... Yes yes... recipe coming in the next post!!
And for dinner, we decided to keep it simple by making just one dish. She’s a good cook too, but i decided on cooking at her place. I knew she hadn’t ever tried Bihari mutton, so decided to make that. Otherwise we just make punjabi mutton curry at our homes which is equally delicious (will post recipe some other day for that). She said that she will make maida roti/parantha to go with the mutton. I thought yeah that would be a lovely combination! And it sure was!! :)
I learnt this recipe from a friend who belongs to Bihar (India), so credits go to him too ;)
So here are the list of ingredients and the Recipe...
INGREDIENTS:
Mutton (1kg)
Mustard Oil (7-8 tbsp)
Ghee (2-4 tbsp) (more or less according to taste)
Jeera (Cumin) (1tsp)
Bay Leaf (2-3)
Star Anise (2-3)
Cinnamon (1/2 inch stick)
Green cardamom (4-5)
Black cardamom (3-4)
Cloves (5-6)
Whole black peppercorns (8-10)
Dried red chillies (2-3)
Turmeric powder (1 tsp)
Red chilli powder (2-3 tbsp)
Coriander powder (2 tbsp)
Mutton masala (3-4 tbsp)
Salt (to taste)
Ginger Garlic paste (3-4 tbsp)
Finely sliced onions in half (roughly 8 in number)
Coriander (to garnish)
RECIPE:
Take a thick bottomed wok. Heat 7-8 tbsp mustard oil. Now let it actually burn. The thing with mustard oil is that if you don’t let it burn, it tastes raw in your dishes. Once smoke starts coming out of it, turn off the gas. Now let it cool for around 5-7 minutes.
Turn on the gas again and after about 30 seconds, add jeera (cumin), bay leaves, star anise, cinnamon stick, green cardamoms, black cardamom, cloves, whole black pepper and dried red chillis broken with hand. You can just take all these out before hand and add them all together into the oil. Sauté till 10-15 seconds. Make sure not to burn them. Now add in sliced onions (for 1 kilo mutton). Sauté till golden. Now add combined ginger garlic paste. (If you have ginger garlic paste separately, then add in 2 tbsp of each. Sauté the onions till golden-brown.
Now add in turmeric powder, salt to taste, coriander powder, red chilly powder (to taste; but i added in around 2-3 tbsp, coz this mutton is supposed to be super chilli !), mutton masala (now if you don’t have mutton masala at home, you can also add in chicken masala - they are more or less the same) . Now keep on sautéing further for around 10 odd minutes.
Now add in the mutton pieces. Mix well and keep cooking on slow flame uncovered for around 30-40 minutes. (Remember to keep on mixing in between,otherwise the masala will stick to the wok. Now you don’t want that, otherwise you will be struggling to let it off from the sides of the wok, plus once stuck, the masala will burn - you definitely don’t want that burnt taste!). After about 30-40 minutes,add in 1 cup water and mix. Cover and keep on cooking on low flame for another 20-30 minutes. Keep on checking the mutton in between. It might dry up and you’ll need to add in more water.
The consistency should be more or less thick. This dish doesn’t have too much gravy. It would have been perfectly cooked till now. Soft, succulent pieces would be inviting you to take a bite... Do that so that you can check how well they are cooked. Now add in desi ghee (I prefer around 4 tbsp to add in the rich taste. You can even add in 2 tbsp. Yes, this dish has a combination of mustard oil and ghee! And the flavor.... Truly divine!. Mix a bit after adding ghee and turn off the gas and garnish with coriander leaves. It’s ready to serve!.
Enjoy with roti/parantha or rice.
Note: be generous with red chilli and mutton masala ;)