Indian Mutton Curry

Indian mutton curry is a finger licking preparation prepared from Indian lamb or goat meat. It goes very well with rice, pulao, mutton biryanis, rotis, puris and naans. I am showing you an easy and less time consuming method of cooking this delicious dish.
Serves-2-3
Cooking time - 60 minutes
Difficulty level – easy
Preparation time - 60 minutes
Ingredients –
Mutton pieces of medium size - 1/2 kgs
Yogurt-200 gms
Green papaya grated 3-4 tbsp
Turmeric powder-1tsp
Coriander powder-1 tsp
Cumin powder-1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder-1/3 tsp
Garam masala powder or hot spice mix-1 tsp
Green cardamom pods-4
Black cardamom- 1 pod
Cinnamon sticks- ½ inch pieces-2-3
Cloves-2-3
Bay leaves-3
Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp
Dry red chilly- whole 2 pieces
Green chili-1 crushed
Ginger paste-2 tsp
Garlic paste-2 tsp
Sugar-1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Onions two medium sized-chopped
Tomatoes-two medium size puree
Hot water- 500ml
Cooking medium- mustard oil or white oil- 100 ml
Ghee-1tsp
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Method
1.Marinate the mutton pieces with the yogurt, ginger garlic paste, grated papaya, green chilly and all the powdered spices except the Garam masala for about 50 minutes.
2.In a thick bottomed pan put the oil. When it is hot give the sugar and heat it till it turns into caramel. This gives a rich color to the gravy. Then give the cumin seeds, bay leaves, and the whole red chillies. After the seeds crackle, pour the chopped onions and fry till golden brown.
3.Then pour the meat (without the liquid portion of the marinade) first and cook for about 7-10 minutes in a medium to high flame. Then reduce the flame and cover with a lid.
4.Cook for another 25 minutes in a low flame with occasional stirring.
5.When the oil starts to separate fry the mutton spices well. Then pour the leftover liquid marinade and the tomato puree and cook covered in a low- medium flame for another 15 minutes. Add salt to taste.
6.Now add hot water and transfer the whole into a pressure cooker.
7.Pressure cook for about 10 minutes till the meat gets soft.
8.When done, add the garam masala powder and the ghee and cover again for five minutes.
9.Garnish with coriander leaves (optional) and serve hot.
Tips
1.Grated papaya used to marinate, makes the meat softer and takes less time to cook.
2.In place of yogurt you can also use 3 tsp of white vinegar. The yogurt makes the gravy richer and more flavorful.
3.Garam masala powder is mainly a mixture of green and black cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon.

Indian Chicken Curry

It is a delicious yellow colored Chicken curry loved greatly by the people of Northern part of India. The specific flavor and the aroma of the preparation with the melting softness of the chicken pieces is a delightful dining experience. It goes very well with the Indian flat breads (Nan, chappathis, puris) and steamed basmati rice. Some like it with Mutton Biryani also. I will show you the easiest way to prepare this curry at your home.
Serves-3-4
Preparation time - 25 minutes
Cooking time - 50 minutes
Difficulty level - Easy
Ingredients - Cooking medium – Mustard oil or white oil-50 ml,
Chicken pieces (skinned, bone-in and medium sized)-750gms
Onions-two large or three medium sized finely chopped,
8-10 cloves of garlic half crushed,
2 tbsp of ginger paste
1 tsp of turmeric powder,
1 tsp of coriander powder,
½ tsp of cumin powder,
1 tsp of cumin seeds,
150 grams of yoghurt
2 medium sized tomatoes made into puree
White sugar ½ tsp,
Salt 1tsp
Red chili powder ½ tsp
2 green chilies chopped,
3-4 bay leaves,
4-5 green cardamom pods,
2-3 cloves,
2-3 small cinnamon sticks
Garam masala powder or hot spice mix
Hot water- 300 ml
Clarified butter or ghee-1tsp (optional)
Handful of chopped coriander leaves (optional) for garnishing
Method
Marinate the chicken with the yoghurt, ginger- garlic paste, turmeric powder, cumin, coriander and chilies for about 15-20 minutes. This will make the chicken softer, and the aroma of the spices will be absorbed well into the chicken pieces.
Heat oil in a wide and thick bottomed vessel. Add the sugar first and heat it till it turns into brown colored caramel. This will give the curry a rich, natural brown-yellowish color. Then add the bay leaves, cumin seeds, cloves and the cardamoms till the aroma comes out. Then add the chopped onions and fry in a medium flame till it is golden brown. Then put the chicken with the marinade into it.
Cook the chicken in a medium- high flame for 5mins. Then cover the pan and cook in a low flame stirring occasionally. After 10 -15mins of cooking add the tomatoes and the salt and stir again so that it mixes well with the chicken. At this time the chicken will be runny again. Cover it again.
Continue cooking till all the water dries up and the oil starts to separate. Occasional stirring is necessary to make the spices well fried and avoid sticking in the pan. Then pour hot water and cover it again.
Continue to cook in a low flame as slow cooking makes it tastier.
After 20- 25mins check with the help of a fork whether the pieces are tender. If you want some more gravy you can add some hot water again and give it a boil. Or if you want it to be dry open the cover and increase the flame till the water dries up. Then add the garam masala powder and the ghee (optional) and the coriander leaves and cover the vessel for a few minutes. This standing time is required so that the aroma of the spices go well into the chicken.
Serve hot.
Tips
1. Ghee enriches the flavor of the preparation.
2. You can also use boneless chicken pieces; the cooking time will be less but the ingredients will remain the same.
3. If you do not want to marinate the chicken with the yoghurt and the spices, you can also add the spices and beaten yoghurt one by one after adding the chicken into the fried onion. Marinating makes the chicken softer and lessens the preparation time.
4. Do not use salt in the marinade as it dilutes the mixture of chicken and the spices.

Mutton Biryani/ Mutton Dum Biryani

Mutton Biryani or Mutton Dum Biryani is a famous preparation in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is also well liked in the Muslim countries of Middle-East. Mutton Biryani is a delicious dish made from Mutton (meat of lamb or goat) chunks cooked with different spices and steamed with ‘Basmati’ rice.

It was invented by one of the royal Muslim bawarchis (cook) during the late hours of Mughal reign in India. According to the history, ‘Biryani’ was invented in the Hyderabad city of Southern India. At that time, people were suffering from severe famine. Some day, one royal cook of the then ‘Nawab’ (King) had discovered a new recipe. To reduce the wastage of foodstuff, he prepared a dish with ‘Basmati’ rice, mutton, vegetables and spices- all put into a big deep bottom pan and cooked in steam. This was the ancestor of Mutton Biryani. Very soon, this unique preparation became popular all over India. Gradually, many combination of spices were invented giving different styles.

At present, two distinct styles of Biryani recipes are popular-

· Hydreabadi style, and

· Lucknowi style

The Lucknow style biryani is a bit dry preparation and Hydredabadi style is juicy one.

Difficulty level- medium

Serves for- 4 persons

Marinating time- 6-7 hours

Preparation time- 1 ½ hour

Total time- ~ 8 hours

Ingredients

Basmati rice- 500 grams

Mutton- 500 grams (Cut into medium pieces)

Onion- 400 grams, chopped

Tomato- 200 grams, chopped

Ginger paste- 2 tablespoon

Garlic paste- 2 tablespoon

Mint leaves (paste)- 2 tsp

Clove- 12 pieces

Cardamom- 12 pieces

Black cardamom- 3 Nos

Cinnamon­- 8 strips

Black pepper- 15 Nos

Bay leaves- 5 Nos

Javitri (Mace) powder- 6 grams

Jaiphal (Nutmeg) powder­- ½ tsp

Saffron- 2 grams

Cumin powder- 2 tsp

Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Red chilli powder- 2 tsp

Garam masala powder- 1 tsp (find the content in the bottom of this recipe)

Ghee (Clarified butter) - 250 grams

Dahi (Curd) - 100 grams

Rose water- 10 drops

Cashew- 10-12 Nos

Salt- to taste

The Marinating procedure

Wash the Basmati rice and keep it soaked under water for 20 minutes. Wash the mutton chunks and add the curd, ginger paste and garlic paste, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp red chilli powder. Mix thoroughly. Keep it under refrigeration for 6-7 hours.

The Procedure

· Boil the mutton until it becomes half done. Keep the stock aside.

· Heat the 50 grams of ghee in a pan. Add half of the amount of cardamom, cinnamon, clove, bay leaves and black pepper. Stir fry until the spices become golden brown. Add 750 ml of water and 2 tsp salt into it. Add the soaked Basmati rice into it when the water turn to boil. Cook the rice till it is half done.

· Heat 100 grams ghee in a pan. Add the rest of the of cardamom, cinnamon, clove, bay leaves and black pepper. Stir fry till it becomes light golden in color. Transfer the chopped onion and stir for 5-7 minutes in low heat or till the onion becomes golden in color.

· Add the chopped tomato and stir fry for 2 minutes.

· Transfer the marinated and boiled mutton chunks.

· Add the garlic paste, ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder; rest of the red chilli powder, garam masala powder and mint leaves paste. Sauté for 15 minutes in low heat.

· Add a little amount of water if necessary. Cover the pan.

· Cook until the mutton becomes ¾ done.

· Soak the saffron with 20 ml of hot milk.

· Now, take a ‘Handi’ (deep bottom pan with round neck and opening with a lid). Brush ‘ghee’ all through the inner surface.

· Transfer half the amount of cooked ‘Basmati’ rice to the ‘Handi’. Spread some cashew, fried onion, 2 tsp ghee, javitri, jaiphal, and half the amount of rose water over the rice.

· Transfer all the mutton chunks with the spices over it.

· Add rest of the ‘Basmati’ rice over it. Spread the rest of the cashew, javitri, jaiphal, fried onion, 2 tsp ghee, saffron and rose-water over it.

· Transfer 500 ml of the mutton stock to the ‘Handi’.

· Cover the ‘Handi’ properly, so that steam can not escape from inside.

· Keep the ‘Handi’ inside the oven for 20-25 minutes under 250˚ C.

· Your ‘Mutton Biryani’ is ready. Serve hot.

Note

· ‘Garam masala’ contains three ingredients- equal amounts of clove, cardamom and cinnamon.

You can try ‘Chicken Biryani’ if you like chicken. Get the recipe of ‘Chicken Biryani’ here.

Tip

· You can make layers of rice, spices, mutton then again rice and so on, if you are dealing with greater amount of ingredients.

· ‘Mutton biryani’ best goes with ‘Mutton Rezala’.

Chicken Biryani

Chicken Biryani is a ‘Mughlai’ dish. It is a mouth-watering preparation made from chicken chunks mixed with spices and steamed with ‘Basmati’ rice.

It was invented by the Muslim bawarchis (cook) during the late hours Mughal reign in India. It is said that ‘Biryani’ was invented in the Hyderabad city of South India. At that time, India was under attack of severe famine. Some day, one royal cook of the then ‘Nawab’ (King) had come up with an idea. To avoid wastage of foodstuff, he made a dish with rice, mutton, vegetables and spices- all put into a big deep bottom pan and cooked in steam. This was the precursor of Chicken Biryani. In no time, this unique dish became popular throughout the India. Later, numerous combinations of spices were invented giving different styles.

At present, two distinct styles of Biryani recipes are popular-

· Hydreabadi style

· Lucknowi style

The first one is juicy and the Lucknow style biryani is a bit dry preparation.

Difficulty level- medium

Serves for- 4 persons

Marinating time- 5-6 hours

Preparation time- 1 hour

Total time- ~7 hours

Ingredients

Basmati rice- 500 grams

Chicken- 500 grams (Cut into medium pieces)

Onion- 400 grams, chopped

Tomato- 200 grams, chopped

Ginger paste- 2 tablespoon

Garlic paste- 2 tablespoon

Clove- 12 pieces

Cardamom- 12 pieces

Black cardamom- 3 Nos

Cinnamon­- 8 strips

Black pepper- 15 Nos

Bay leaves- 5 Nos

Javitri (Mace) powder- 6 grams

Jaiphal (Nutmeg) powder­- ½ tsp

Saffron- 2 grams

Cumin powder- 2 tsp

Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Red chilli powder- 2 tsp

Garam masala powder- 1 tsp (find the content in the bottom of this recipe)

Ghee (Clarified butter) - 250 grams

Dahi (Curd) - 100 grams

Rose water- 10 drops

Cashew- 10-12 Nos

Salt- to taste

The Marinating procedure

Wash the Basmati rice and keep it soaked under water for 20 minutes. Wash the chicken chunks and add the curd, ginger paste and garlic paste, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp red chilli powder. Mix thoroughly. Keep it under refrigeration for 5-6 hours.

The Procedure

· Heat the 50 grams of ghee in a pan. Add half of the amount of cardamom, cinnamon, clove, bay leaves and black pepper. Stir fry until the spices become golden brown. Add 750 ml of water and 2 tsp salt into it. Add the soaked Basmati rice into it when the water turn to boil. Cook the rice till it is half done.

· Heat 100 grams ghee in a pan. Ad the rest of the of cardamom, cinnamon, clove, bay leaves and black pepper. Stir fry till it becomes light golden in color. Transfer the chopped onion and stir for 5-7 minutes in low heat or till the onion becomes golden in color.

· Add the chopped tomato and stir fry for 2 minutes.

· Transfer the marinated chicken chunks.

· Add the garlic paste, ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, rest of the red chilli powder, garam masala powder. Sauté for 15 minutes in low heat.

· Add a little amount of water if necessary. Cover the pan.

· Cook until the chicken becomes ¾ done.

· Soak the saffron with 20 ml of hot milk.

· Now, take a ‘Handi’ (deep bottom pan with round neck and opening with a lid). Brush ‘ghee’ all through the inner surface.

· Transfer half the amount of cooked ‘Basmati’ rice to the ‘Handi’. Spread some cashew, fried onion, 2 tsp ghee, javitri, jaiphal, and half the amount of rose water over the rice.

· Transfer all the chicken chunks with the spices over it.

· Add rest of the ‘Basmati’ rice over it. Spread the rest of the cashew, javitri, jaiphal, fried onion, 2 tsp ghee, saffron and rose-water over it.

· Cover the ‘Handi’ properly, so that steam can not escape from inside.

· Keep the ‘Handi’ inside the oven for 10-15 minutes under 250˚ C.

· Your ‘Chicken Biryani’ is ready. Serve hot.

Note

· ‘Garam masala’ contains three ingredients- equal amounts of clove, cardamom and cinnamon.

You can try ‘Mutton Biryani’ if you like mutton. Get the recipe of ‘Mutton Biryani’ here.

Tip

· Alternatively, you can boil the chicken until it becomes half done. Keep the stock aside. While transferring the ‘Basmati’ rice to the ‘Handi’, add some chicken stock to it. Rest of the procedure is same.

· ‘Chicken Biryani’ best goes with ‘Mutton Rezala’.