Kosha Mangsho or Bengali spicy
sautéed mutton curry (Mind it......spicy is not synonymous with chilli hot) is one of those dishes that I love but
do not cook often as we are minimising our consumption of the mutton or lamb or
any other red meat for that matter. However, no festival is complete in Bengal
without a mutton dish. This is also a dish for which a Bengali would trade off
rice for ruti (roti/round Indian flour bread) or Luchi ( puri/ Indian fried
round bread) or porotha( paratha).
I cooked this dish for Eid, which
was on 20th October 2012 to give the festival season a boost. I
could not post it immediately as I was shifting home so was busy packing. This
dish is usually cooked with goat meat (mutton) but you can also use lamb/beef
or pork. However, in Bengal it is cooked with mutton and usually will have
thick gravy with lots of spices like cinnamon, cardamom and clove. You can
adjust the use of chilli according to your taste. I am not a chilli person so
mine is usually very mild. But for the red colour of the gravy I used roasted
red pepper powder. You can also use Kashmiri chilli powder if you like. Also this
dish usually have lots of oil, which again is not my type of food. Therefore, I
reduced the use of oil. According to many without oil food doesn’t taste the
way they should be. But I think it doesn’t compromise the taste...well at least
it comes out the way I like it. I like to eat and do not want to ever give up
eating. So I ensure that I make them a little healthy so that I do not have to
totally give up. To that end, what I also did is, boiled the mutton for 5 mins
with little bit of salt and turmeric and drained the water to get rid of the
meat fat. However, this is not usually done or needed for this recipe. Do not
do this if you are not as concerned of high fat or cholesterol. But if you
decide to do, I can vouch that the taste does not change
Hope you like the dish.
Kosha Mangsho or Bengali spicy sautéed mutton curry Recipe
Preparation
time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves: 3
Ingredients:
500gms- Mutton/lamb leg or shoulder cut into medium pieces
1-teaspoon turmeric
2-teaspoon
ginger paste
2 –teaspoon garlic paste
2- teaspoon roasted cumin powder (dry roast the cumin seed and make powder)
1- teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder (optional or depending on taste)
2- large tomatoes de-seeded and chopped
2-large
onion chopped
½ Cup Yogurt
1-teaspoon sugar
5- Cardamom
2-inch cinnamon
2-bay leaves
5-cloves
Method:
1. Optional process: Boil the
mutton for 5mins with little salt and turmeric.
2. Optional process: drain
the water to get rid of the fat.
3. Marinate
the mutton with ginger, garlic and yoghurt. I marinated it for 30mins. You can
keep it as long as you like even over night, but freeze it while marinating for
longer hours
4. In a deep
and heavy bottom pan heat oil
5. Add cinnamon
,cardamom, clove and bay leaves
6. Sprinkle sugar
and add chopped onions
7. Fry the
onions until golden brown. The caramelised sugar will also add to the colour
8. Add the tomato and fry until oil separates
9. Add the mutton and cook slowly for 10/15 mins
10. Take coriander, cumin, red chilli
Powder and turmeric Powder in a bowl
11. Add little water and the ginger and garlic paste to make it a smooth
paste
12. Add the mixture to the mutton
13. Cover with a lid, on low heat and
cook till the mutton is soft
14. Uncover and check for burning at the bottom, if required sprinkle little
water
15. When the mutton becomes soft, sprinkle some garam masala ( powder of
cinnamon and cardamom )
16. Serve with rice, roti, puri or paratha
