After friends got married, the ever so frequent weekend binging sessions got thrown out of the window.But now, whenever such an opportunity becomes available, we utilize it through and through.A few days before the year end(’12), a good friend of mine (whose wife was visiting somewhere else) along with a still bachelor friend(who are considered the priciest commodities amongst us nowadays) rolled up at my place on a Friday evening.We knew exactly what we wanted – being WILD HOGS.We brought some Roti from the para shop, a bottle of vodka and some beers from the liquor shop and some good quality mutton.This was a mutton curry,which really didnot have any name or inspiration. It is a Mutton Curry that – a part from the usual ingredients -uses Cashew Nut Paste, Poppy Seed Paste and a whole lot of Garam Masalas.So, I would like to call it “Poppy-Cashew Mutton Curry”.
Serves: 3-4
Preparation Time:30 mins
Cooking Time:1.5 hrs
Ingredients:
- Mutton: 1 kg.
- Onion: 350 gms.Cut into longitudinal slices.
- Garlic:One whole.Crushed and made into a fine paste.
- Ginger:A 3 inch piece.Made into a fine paste.
- Whisked Yoghurt: 150 gms.
- Poppy Seed Paste: 4 heaped tbsp
- Cashew Nut Paste:4 heaped tbsp
- Vegetable Oil: 6-8 tbsp
- Melted Ghee(to be added at the end): 3 tbsp
- Sugar: 1 tbsp
- Salt: To Taste
Garam Masala(The Whole Spices)
- Bay Leaf:3-4
- Green Cardamon :5-6.Crushed.
- Black Cardamon:4-5.Crushed.
- Cinnamon Stick: 2 inch sticks.
- White Pepper:10-12.Crushed.
- Black Pepper:10-12.Crushed.
- Cloves:5-6
Powdered Spices:
- Turmeric Powder: 1 tbsp
- Coriander Powder: 3 tbsp
- Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder: 2 tbsp
Procedure:
- Heat 6-8 tbsp of vegetable oil in a kadai. When the oil gets hot, add all the whole spices to the oil.
- A strong aroma to the spices will evolve in sometime.Then add the ginger and garlic pastes. When the ginger-garlic smell comes up, add the sliced onion to the curry.
- Sprinkle some sugar on the onion slices and stir under high heat till the onion turns brown.
- Then add the mutton pieces and the powdered spices.Stir and cook under high flame for 15 mins.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the poppy seed paste and the cashew nut paste.
- Stir for 10 mins.Then add some amount of salt according to taste.
- Continue stirring for 20 more mins to ensure uniform mixing of the ingredients.This is the key to getting a balanced dish in the end. It was at this point that my friends started snopping into the kitchen for get a “hang” of how the mutton was faring.
- After that transfer the mutton into the pressure cooker with some amount of water and pressure cook it for 45 mins.
When I served the mutton, I wanted to ensure that it was “melt in the mouth” soft. And when I was able to cut through the mutton pieces with the spoon, I realized that that was it.It was an excellent way to catch up and chat about old days.We had originally planned to pay a visit to Balwant Singh’s dhaba at Bhawanipore early in the morning for some Stuffed Paranthas. But when we woke up the next day, it was past 10 in the morning.
The guys woke up and left and thats how it ended.
