What’s Goan Food without Coconut Curry??! A staple diet in most Goan houses, is Curry
(either veg, fish, chicken or meat) with Rice.
My holidays in Goa always leave with a few extra pounds than I fathom
for!
Today, I have made a Goan Mutton Curry.
This Mutton curry in a coconut spiced gravy can be enjoyed over a lunch,
brunch or dinner affair.
A bowl of this curry, some well-cooked basmati rice served with a pot of
yogurt and some salad on the side would make some souls happy for sure!
Ingredients:
500g mutton - cut into bite sized pieces
1 coconut - grated
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tsp Chilli Powder
2 tablespoons garlic and ginger paste
Juice of one lime / 1 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
15 curry leaves
2 black cardamom pods
5 cloves
15 black peppercorns
3 dried red chillies
2 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 bay leaves
2 onions – finely chopped
8 cloves of garlic
1 inch fresh ginger
Salt to taste
Fresh Coriander for Garnish
Method:
Place the mutton pieces in a large bowl
and mix in the turmeric, garlic and ginger paste, lime juice and salt. Allow to marinate for about four hours or
overnight.
Prep all the remaining ingredients to save time whilst cooking.
When ready to cook, heat the oil in a
large wok or pan over medium high heat.
When the oil begins to bubble, add the
curry leaves, cardamom pods, cloves, peppercorns, dried chilies, coriander
seeds and bay leaves.
Fry for about two minutes, stirring the
spices so that they cook evenly and don’t burn.
Add the chopped onions and the crushed
garlic and ginger and fry until the onions are soft, translucent and lightly
browned. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
Pour in the grated coconut and continue
to fry until it is light brown in colour.
Add Chilli powder to this mixture.
Remove the pan from the heat to cool.
When cooled, blend with about 250ml of
water into a fine paste.
Place the marinated mutton in a pressure
cooker and brown the mutton cubes over medium heat.
Add the onion mixture and pressure cook
it for 20 minutes or until the mutton is good and tender.
Add salt to taste. Adjust the consistency of the curry according to how you prefer your curries to be.
Garnish with Coriander.
Serve with
fluffy white rice and/or naans or pav.
