Leavenworth - a charming town in WA where we spent a relaxing July 4th weekend. A beautiful house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Pear orchards and the stunning Wenatchee river in the backyard; lots and lots of food, drinks and games… it was truly the perfect weekend! Inspired by the resemblance of its countryside to Bavarian Germany, Leavenworth was remodeled as a Bavarian village in the 1960s. The town center is beautiful with its quaint Bavarian architecture, but sorry, I didn’t take any pictures of the buildings on our very brief trip into the town. We spent most of the time in the house, so all the pictures I have are from there.

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What does this gotta do with a mutton stew? Nothing really, other than the fact that I cooked it during this trip. Our group is made of some extraordinarily talented chefs, so we all took turns to cook. There were some scrumptious dishes, wish I’d clicked some pictures, but I was having way too much fun to care at the moment. So all I have is a picture of the stew I took sometime ago.

This stew tastes better a day after it is made, letting it rest in the fridge overnight helps the flavors to blend well, so I made it one night and we all had it for a late brunch next day. The best accompaniment to stew is Appam (hoppers), but it is not an easy task to make Appams for nine hungry souls, so we had to make do with bread.

Kerala Mutton Stew

mutton stew

Ingredients

Method

In a large pressure cooker, heat some oil and add the cardamom, cloves, pepper, cinnamon, star anise and bay leaves and sauté for a minute. Add the sliced shallots, ginger, garlic and green chilies and saute till soft. Add the meat and curry leaves and mix well. Fry for a few minutes till the meat pieces are heated through.

Add the coconut milk. vinegar and 1/2 a cup of water and mix well. Add salt to taste and close the pressure cooker .Cook on high till the first whistle (when the pressure cooker has reached the full pressure). Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool.

The meat has to be fall-off-the-bones tender to get the full impact. As I mentioned before, I like to keep it in the fridge overnight and heat it up next morning.

Serve with Appam, bread or rice.



Comments

28 Responses to “Mutton Stew and a Weekend Getaway”

  1. arundati on July 11th, 2008 2:35 am

    fabulous pictures reflectant of a lovely time you guys spent!!

    Thanks girlie, good to see you here… We sure had a lovely time!

  2. Meeta on July 11th, 2008 3:19 am

    Lovely pictures Sig! I am looking forward to my break - Austria for a week! What I love is that mutton curry - I have lamb cubes frozen in my freezer and i think when we get back I’d like to give this a try! Meat for the people! ;-)

    Thanks Meeta… Ah, Austria, can’t wait to see the fabulous pictures! Have a great time!

  3. rachel on July 11th, 2008 5:38 am

    wow pear orchards..now that must be something magnificent!

    The mutton stew looks perfectly done..ideal for a meal with appams…. :smile:

    Thanks Rachel! :)

  4. Laavanya on July 11th, 2008 8:14 am

    That sounds like heaven on earth and looks so scenic! What a fun group with such cute kids too :)

    :) Thanks Laav! Yep, those are some cute kids :)

  5. A&N on July 11th, 2008 8:51 am

    Great pics Sig! Looks like you guys had a ball :grin:

    Thanks A&N, we sure did! :)

  6. Padmaja on July 11th, 2008 9:21 am

    Lovely pictures and hey u changed your hairstyle and you look smashing :wink:

    :) Thanks Padmaja… and yeah, I went short to celebrate summer, glad you liked it, I am having mixed feelings :)

  7. Shantanu on July 11th, 2008 10:49 am

    Oh I love this dish! I guess I love anything mutton, it’s my favorite meat in the whole world. Looks like you had a lot of fun together!

    Oh mine too… I love mutton in any form, but this stew is one of my favorite ways to have mutton. :)

  8. shilpa on July 11th, 2008 11:51 am

    Love your new hairstyle Sig :).

    Leavenworth looks like a beautiful place. Glad to know you had a great time.

    Thanks Shilpa, I did it on an impulse now I can’t wait to have it grow back! :)

  9. richa on July 11th, 2008 1:37 pm

    surrounded by pear orchards :drool: look at that lush greenery! lovely, isn’t summer beutiful :wink:

    Summer sure is beautiful, and some places more than others :)

  10. richa on July 11th, 2008 1:37 pm

    i mean beau..

  11. Mythili on July 11th, 2008 2:32 pm

    I *LOVE* Leavenworth and the Bavarian quaintness and I wanted to do an article on it. Even got some pictures.. let me do it .. thanks for inspiring me:)

    Oh I will look out for that article, I was sad that I didn’t get any pics of the town itself, the buildings were so quaint…

  12. musy on July 11th, 2008 5:05 pm

    That looks like one great, relaxing weekend! Glad you had a chance to relax and enjoy, dear. The pictures look really lush, and your new look is stunning!

    Have a great weekend ahead, girlie.

    hugs,
    musical.

    Thanks Musy, hope you had a great weekend too!

  13. Kaykat on July 11th, 2008 7:05 pm

    Ok, finally getting a chance to read my fave blogs again :)

    Love that Leavenworth, *so* much of fun! You should tell me more about the house you guys stayed at, might be tapping into that sometime.

    yay, good to see you here after a long time girlie… Yep, I will email you the house details, it was a fab house with a huge kitchen, pefect for a group of 8-10.

  14. Mamatha on July 11th, 2008 10:01 pm

    I’m so making this curry as soon as I make a trip to the Halal meat store. I had a Sri Lankan curry once that had almost the same ingredients as this stew - it was delicious.

    Leavenworth looks like such a charming town.

    Oh yum… I have never had a Sri Lankan version of the stew, but I am sure that must have been delicious! Let me know how you like this if you end up making it…

  15. R.Punitha on July 12th, 2008 1:58 am

    Hai Sigma, i’m Punitha.
    Your service is Wondering!!!!!
    Please keep it UPPPP…..

    Thanks Punitha! :)

  16. archana mama of twins on July 12th, 2008 2:13 am

    The cabin came with a pressure cooker or you were uber enough to take one with you? Leavenworth is really fun, have you done the drive up in the fall? The colors are beautiful!

    :) We took a couple of pressure cookers and even the goat meat in an icebox with us…. We have done so many trips like this, now our group is savvy enough to take the right stuff with us… :) And no, I haven’t been to leavenworth in fall, can you believe that? Hoping to go there for Oktoberfest sometime!

  17. R.Punitha on July 12th, 2008 2:20 am

    :mad: :roll: :idea: :smile:

  18. Veda on July 12th, 2008 3:05 am

    Awesome pics there!!!!your group looks fun!!!!I have been to one like this….this is a place called frankenmuth in michigan…..awesome place….felt as if i was suddenly in germany…..http://www.frankenmuth.org/

    Its just beautiful there…..with the worlds large christmas shop bronners……its truly little bavaria…….

    Thanks for sharing your weekend fun with us!

    Veda

    Thanks Veda, Frankenmuth sounds awesome, looks like these two places are quite similar…

  19. Vikram Karve on July 12th, 2008 10:42 am

    Wow! Kerala Mutton Stew with Appams. You’ve left my mouth watering with nostalgic foodie memories.

    Thanks for dropping by Vikram!

  20. Kalai on July 12th, 2008 4:28 pm

    Leavenworth, huh? Went there when hubby lived in Seattle. Very cute town square! Stew looks amazing, Sig! :)

    Oh you lived in Seattle before? Too bad you moved! :)

  21. nags on July 12th, 2008 8:29 pm

    i dont eat mutton but chicken stew is one of my favourites and i even like it with bread, or dosa or whatever :)

    btw, lookin good with short hair!

    I don’t make chicken stew much, I should do that soon…. And thanks for the hair comment :)

  22. Pravs on July 12th, 2008 10:02 pm

    I have been to leavenworth …so beautiful ! Mutton stew anytime for me :drool: love it with appam or puttu. Not able to visit here as much as before..back in India now. You look lovely with new hair cut :smile:

    Oh I didn’t know you were in India! Have a great time there, and enjoy all the yummy food… :) Puttu and stew sounds like a great combo, I haven’t tried that yet!

  23. Jyothsna on July 13th, 2008 4:18 am

    Hey that haircut makes you look a 20 something….not suggesting you are older..!!! :razz: :smile:

    :) Thanks Jyo….. I guess that is a compliment now :)

  24. Nirmala on July 13th, 2008 5:38 am

    Lovely pics Sig! Long time no mails / comments :( Hope you had a wonderful time. Its visible in your sunshine smile! That stew looks really delicious. Cooking during the trip is real fun. sorry I missed your JFI !

    Hey Nirmala, good to see you… I’ve been too busy to bloghop lately…… :(
    I will be around soon! :)

  25. Cynthia on July 13th, 2008 11:24 am

    Washington state is sure beautiful!

    Yep, we are blessed to be in the midst of so much natural beauty!

  26. maheswari on July 13th, 2008 1:06 pm

    Beautiful pic.s sig.Looks like you all had loads of fun.Mutton stew is my fav combo for appam.I gotto stay again..beautiful place.. :smile:

    Thanks maheswari!

  27. Rajitha on July 13th, 2008 8:04 pm

    wow!! that place looks lovely sig!!…and u and siv look great as usual :)..btw. were u allowed to pluck those fruits or just gaze at them ??

    Thanks sweetheart! :)
    About plucking the flowers, I don’t think we were allowed, but the fruits were so young there was no point in plucking them anyway :(
    We did search quite a bit for a ripe one though, but there was none! :)

  28. Padma on July 23rd, 2008 3:52 pm

    You look great! Mutton stew sounds and surely must have tasted fab!

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