My readers on this blog as well as my Instagram followers might already be familiar with my affinity towards non-vegetarian dishes. No offence to vegans but I really love some meat in my diet. Last week my dad asked me whether I could find a mutton recipe that is different from the usual that we prepare. I went looking for Iranian, Malaysian and Kashmiri recipes but all of them had one or two ingredients that we didn’t have. That’s when I looked for a Sri Lankan recipe and I found this really delicious mutton curry that I am sharing with you today. Of course we have made our own modifications to the original recipe. So, let’s get on with the dish:
Ingredients
For Masala
- Coriander – 1 tbsp
- Cinnamon Stick – 1 inch
- Fennel Seeds – 2 tsp
- Dry Red Chilli – 12
- Cumin Seeds – 2 tsp
For Main Work
- Mutton – 1 kg
- Onion – 4 large
- Fennel Seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Cumin Seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Cinnamon Stick – 1 inch
- Curry Leaves – 2 sprigs
- Cardamom pod – 2
- Turmeric Powder – 2 tsp
- Salt – to taste
- Green Chilli – 4
- Coconut Cream – 5 tbsp
- Coconut Oil – As required
- Coriander Leaves – For garnishing
Preparation
- Dry roast the ingredients for the masala in a frying pan for a couple of minutes (without burning) and let it cool
- Powder the ingredients in a blender
- Marinate the mutton with turmeric powder and a little salt and keep it aside
- Heat the oil in a pressure cooker
- Saute the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods along with the curry leaves for about 1 minute
- Add the onion and green chilli and saute for another minute
- Add the mutton into this and saute for about 5 minutes
- Add the masala with some salt and stir for 10 minutes
- Add water to this (do not add too much if the mutton already has water in it)
- Close the lid and let it pressure cook up to 6 whistles (for Indian mutton)
- Turn off the heat and let the steam pressure subside
- Open the lid and see if there is excess water in the gravy
- If there is, then heat it for some more time until the gravy is thick as per your requirement
- Add the coconut cream and mix well
- Simmer for about a minute or two
- You may garnish with chopped coriander leaves
So there you go folks. This is the Sri Lankan style Mutton Curry that I modified from this original version. I am pretty sure you will like it. One curious thing about these foreign recipes is the special masala mix that they use. Somehow the aroma is superb and it spreads in all neighborhood. This was the case when we cooked Uzbek Plov for the first time and it was repeated with this one as well. Enjoy!