Chettinad Mutton Curry

Chettinad Mutton Curry

Chettinad cuisine doesn’t need much introduction… its widely popular and known for its spice indulgence in any curry. Here is a preparation with mutton / goat meat made with my special chettinad blend. This is close to my chettinad chicken except have made some additions and entire masala is pressure cooked with meat.

Ingredients-1

2 nos Star anise (petals)
2 nos Cardamom
2 nos Cloves
2 nos Cinnamon stick (very small)
2 pinch Nutmeg powder(grated from whole nutmeg)
4 nos Dry red chili
6 tbsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
2 tsp Fennel seed
2 tsp Black peppercorn
1 tbsp Split roasted gram/pottukadalai
2 tsp Poppy seeds
6 tsp Dry coconut flakes/ desiccated / coparai thengai
4 clove Garlic
2 inch Ginger
2 nos Green chili (small)
3 nos Curry leaves
3 stks Coriander leaves
1 no Mace/jathipoo(just one petal)

Ingredients-2

2 lb Mutton (with bones /
1 tbsp Lemon juice
¼ tsp Salt (for marinade)
¼ tsp Turmeric (for marinade)

Ingredients-3

30 nos Shallots (sambar onions )(use 3 big instead)
1 no Tomato (diced)
2 nos Bay leaf
3 nos Black stone flower/ kalpasi
2 nos Kapok buds (marathi moggu)
10 nos Curry leaves (for tempering)
4 stks Coriander leaves (chopped for garnishing)
¼ tsp Turmeric powder (for gravy)
1½ tsp Salt (or to taste)
4 tbsp Oil
1½ cup Water (for pressure cooking)

Instructions

Starting from left to right dry ingredients involved in this preparation Star anise, Cardamom, Cloves, cinnamon, Nutmeg , Mace, Dry red chili, Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Fennel seeds, Black Peppercorn, Split roasted gram, Poppy seeds, Dry coconut flakes. Wet items include Garlic, Ginger, Green chili, Coriander leaves and Curry leaves.

Usually these spices are dry roasted and then added to the gravy. Since this preparation involves pressure cooking, I’ve decided to add them raw. You can also dry roast before grinding to add little punch to the gravy but not really necessary for this dish.

Marination : Combine washed mutton pieces, salt, turmeric and lemon juice and mix well. Let it sit for an hour before cooking. (Refer table-2)

Masala : Grind all the dry ingredients first in a mixie and then add the wet ingredients and grind to smooth paste. Add little water if you find difficult to run the mixie. Keep this aside. (Refer table-1)

Gravy : Take  a pressure cooker, heat oil, add bay leaf, black stone flower, kapok buds, and curry leaves. Toast them slightly, add the quartered shallots and fry till translucent. Now add the marinated mutton along with turmeric powder, ground masala paste and tomatoes. Cook for few minutes to brown them, add water and salt to it. Cover with lid and cook up to 3 whistles and switch off. When done, simmer for 15 minutes over low medium flame or until the gravy thickens to a semi thick state. You need not simmer if you wish to have it as a Kuzhambu, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice.

Kari Varutha sadam: At home we have this weird practice of torturing the Kadai or pan with which we prepare the gravy. After transferring the final gravy to a bowl, there will some masala sticking to kadai or cooker, we would add few drops of oil, temper with curry leaves, add little cooked rice and toss to scrape all the masala and make it stick to the rice. We call it kadai sadam or Varutha sadam, which taste very good when eaten plain straight from the kadai. You can make this out of any leftover gravy, try it!!!


Notes

Yield: 4 Adult serving + 2 kids (approx)

Can we pressure cook grated coconut?? This is one question which always prompts, the answer is Yes and its fine as it makes the grated coconut further soft and makes it easy for palate.

Its quite hard to get all the ingredients listed above, all these unique items contribute a lot towards the taste, so try to hunt or else make with what you have.