Ever thought of upgrading the Vitamin A in your body with chillies? Chillies are spicy, kicky, sharp, unnerving, amazing, interesting, red, uplifting, nerve-racking and yes nutritious. They help as migraine relievers. They help in digestion. They act as antioxidants. They reduce blood sugar levels. They improve heart health.
Chillies are also entertaining. Their mere presence makes a recipe nuanced. Maybe Shahrukh Khan and Gauri Khan had this in mind when naming their film production company “Red Chillies Entertainment”.
Madhulina shared this recipe with me. M is a brilliant cook. Her innate generosity adds to this brilliance. She does not refrain from being bountiful which attributes to the largeness of spirit in her food. Every meal at her home reflects this trait.
My food word for this recipe would be stunning.
When you go shopping look for:
Mutton, curry cut
Whole onions
Ginger
Garlic
Red chillies
Ghee
Green cardamoms
Cloves
Cinnamon
Salt
Pepper
The recipe would be:
For a kilo of mutton on the bone, you will need a kilo of onion. Chop the onions roughly. Make two tbsp of ginger-garlic paste. Next take about twelve to fourteen dry red chillies. Chop six of them in three parts with a pair of scissors and keep the rest whole.
In a pressure cooker, warm about three tbsp ghee. Or you can also instead use two tbsp ghee and one tbsp cooking oil. When warm drop in five pods of split green cardamoms, six cloves and about an inch bruised stick of cinnamon. Once these sputter a bit, add the ginger garlic paste and toss for a min. It is time to add the red chillies. Give it all a toss and add half the chopped onions. Please do not stir this or anything any further. Next goes in the fresh mutton and post that the balance onions. Lid the cooker and allow two whistles to blow and make noise in your kitchen. Switch the flame off.
Once the cooker is released on its own of its vapour take off the lid. Switch the flame back on. Add salt to taste. Now in medium heat keep on reducing the liquid which has got created in generous volume till now. Toss once in a while. The mutton will start to get tender. Once the gravy is thick and more like coating the mutton, add a tsp of freshly ground pepper. This step is optional as the original recipe did not include the pepper.
Seasoned with salt, turmeric and red chilly powder and then fried potatoes can be added with the mutton. They make the dish very sumptuous.
Serve with luchis, puris or parathas.
