Shahi Mutton

Last week went pretty turbulently for me. My system went for a toss, thanks to my husband's over enthusiasm. All the hardware devices started malfunctioning including the USB ports, speaker and audio device and then a defect in motherboard was detected repairing which would equal to the price of a new laptop. So I preferred to go for a new laptop instead. It is baby pink Vaio. I just can't take my eyes off it. The earlier Vaio was turquoise blue in color and while buying that 2 years back I was looking for a pink color but due to its immediate unavailability, I settled for the blue. Anyway my dream of owning a pink laptop has finally fulfilled. I have this fetish for pink. I have plenty of pink dresses, tops and I usually go for pink lipsticks and my nickname 'Pinky' also finely fits into fascination with pink. So though I was very sad after the blue Vaio got damaged, I am equally happy now for the new possession.
 

 
Okay, so today I am going to post an awesome recipe of mutton that I have been planning for ages to post but somehow due to time constraint could not make it. Anyway, better late than never. Enjoy the mutton and let me know if you have any query.

Ingredients:                                                  Cooking time: 2 hrs. 15 mins approx.

ü  1 kg mutton

ü  2 medium size onions (ground into paste)

ü  2 large size potatoes (cut into medium size cubes)

ü  2 1/2 cups of shallots (peeled)

ü  2 tbsp. ginger-garlic paste

ü  1/4 cup cashew nuts (ground into paste)

ü  1/2 cup of melon seeds or char magaz (ground into paste)

ü  2 heaped tsp. garam masala powder

ü  Salt to taste

ü  1 tsp. sugar

ü  Mustard oil or white oil

ü  Ghee, as per craving (I used 1 tbsp.)

ü  1/2 tsp. rose essence

For sauté:

ü  3 bay leaves

ü  4-5 green cardamoms

ü  2 cinnamon sticks

Method:

1) Marinate the mutton with 1 tbsp. ginger-garlic paste and salt. Refrigerate for an hour or two.

2) Toss the potatoes in a pinch of salt and turmeric powder and shallow fry them in hot oil till golden brown.

 3) Into the same oil, add the ingredients for sauté and wait till they begin to crackle.

 4) Add ground onion into the wok and fry till onion turns translucent in color.

 5) Add the remaining tbsp. of ginger-garlic paste, sugar and stir in.

 6) Toss the marinated chicken into the wok. Shallow fry the mutton, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.  

 7) Add cashew nuts paste, char magaz paste and garam masala powder. Add the shallots and cook the mutton covered on slow heat for about 1 and 1/2 hours till mutton is 80% done. (Add splashes of water in between to keep the gravy from sticking at the bottom.)

 8) Toss the potato cubes in and add salt. Cook covered again till mutton is cooked through. Add ghee and rose essence. Keep the mutton covered for half an hour before serving.

 9) Serve with roti, paratha or pulao.