Kerala Style Mutton Chops

Am I on a roll or what! Two recipes in a week, it’s been a long time since that has happened! Just trying to get all my drafts cleaned up before leaving for India. I have such mixed feelings about this India trip, while I am all excited about seeing my family, just thinking about being away from Siv for a month is making me really sad. Because of this, I’ve been treating him extra special these days. This dish was part of a special homecoming dinner I made for him when he came back from a business trip. It is almost like I want to make extra sure that he will miss me when I am gone. 

This recipe is originally from my favorite Kerala cook book, Flavours of the Spice Coast by Mrs. K.M.Mathew. I have tried this so many times, I don’t even have to consult the book anymore and of course I have adjusted the measures and ingredients to suit our palates and pantry. There are a few Kerala style mutton recipes in this blog, this one has most of the basic ingredients as the others, but the end result is quite different. It is amazing how by changing a few techniques, almost the same set of ingredients render totally different results. The meat is cooked first and then fried along with the spices in this one, where as in most of the other recipes the meat is cooked along with the spices. So the good news here is that it requires no marination, which means it takes less prep time, always a good thing.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs Goat meat), bone in, cut into large cubes
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 cup onions, diced small’
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp red chili powder
• 1 tbsp pepper powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

For the spice powder

• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 star anise
• 4 cardamom pods
• 1/2” cinnamon stick

Method

Wash the mutton and place in a pressure cooker. Add 1/2 cup of water and salt to taste and cook for 6-8 minutes after the first whistle. Alternatively, mutton can be cooked in a regular pan, just add enough water to cover the mutton, bring to a boil, cover and cook on medium heat for about 20-30 minutes till the mutton is soft. At the end of the cooking, there should be at least 1/2 cup of liquid remaining in the mutton.

Powder all the ingredients listed under the “For the Spice powder” using a spice grinder or a coffee grinder till smooth.

While the mutton is getting cooked, heat the oil in a large frying pan and sauté the onions till brown. Add the ginger paste and garlic paste and sauté for a few minutes.

Mix the chili powder, pepper powder and turmeric powder with a tbsp of water to make a paste. Add this paste to the pan and sauté for a few minutes till the whole mixture gets a nice brown color, making sure the spices are not burned.

Remove the cooked mutton pieces with a slotted spoon and add to the pan. Reserve the stock. Mix well to make sure that all the meat is well coated with the onion-spice mixture. Keep sautéing till the mutton pieces are well browned.

Now pour the reserved stock into the pan and mix well. When the gravy starts to thicken, add the curry leaves and the spice powder and mix well.  Continue cooking till almost all the liquid is gone from the pan and the mutton pieces are well coated with the remaining gravy. Add the lemon juice and mix well and immediately remove from the stove.

Serve hot.

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Category: Good with Drinks, India - Kerala, Lamb or Goat