Slow Cooked Bengali Mutton Kosha

Slow cooked Bengali Mutton Curry is a labor of love. Fragrant and highly rich in its fat content this curry makes frequent appearances in the Sunday menus almost in every household...and it is loved by all!!! Before I proceed more I must warn you that it's not Bengali Mutton Kosha if their is not a pool of oil floating on top of the curry...so if you are already started to panic after looking at the photos, this recipe is definitely for you. 

As it is true for every recipe in the world, every family has their own recipe of mutton kosha passed on to them from generations and every family loves it in their own way. When I started cooking, I usually followed my aunt's recipe but now...I have upgraded the recipe a little. 

Generally I follow a few rules while preparing the mutton kosha...and it gives me perfect result every time. The fist requirement of this recipe is a good quality lamb or goat meat. You can take with bone or boneless meat but what I look for is a good marbelling of fat in it...which results in a tender soft and melt in the mouth meat. The second task that comes in my mind is I stop worrying about the calories..because if you are even a little bit of miser in use of oil and ghee...the curry will not be as rich as intended. Third you need to marinate your meat overnight. Fourth and the most important requirement is you can not hurry in this recipe. You need a good 2 to 3 hours in your hand to slowcook the mutton and if you want that perfect taste and flavour...using pressure cooker is strictly prohibited. 
So go ahead and make this lustrous Bengali Mutton Kosha and be blown away in its aroma.

Slow cooked Bengali Mutton Kosha / Bengali Dry Mutton Curry

Serves 5

Ingredients:

1.5 kg mutton on bone / 1 kg boneless mutton pieces

4 large / 6 medium onions -  thinly sliced

6-7 fat garlic cloves – minced / made into a paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

8 green chillies – stems removed, slit in the middle

10 dry red chillies – stems removed and broken into halves

2 medium cinnamon sticks

5 green cardamoms

5-6 coves

1 black cardamom

3 bay leaves

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder                                  

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

1 tsp whole coriander seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns

½ cup of virgin mustard oil

¼ cup of ghee

1 cup of thick yogurt

2 tsp lime juice

1 and ½ tsp homemade Bengali groom moshla

A handful of fresh coriander leaves – roughly chopped

Salt to taste

1 tbsp sugar

Method:

Marinate the mutton:

In a big mixing bowl whisk the yogurt until you have a smooth consistency.

To that add the lime juice, salt, ginger and garlic paste, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder and ½ tsp Bengali groom moshla.

Cover the bowl with a cling film and leave it inside the fridge overnight or at least for 2 hours.

Fry the onions :

In a kadai heat the mustard oil until its smoking hot.

Once the oil is hot throw in the sliced onions into it.

Add ½ tsp salt and 2 tsp sugar.

Stir and fry the onions on medium to high heat for until they are golden brown. You need to stir the onions every minute so that they can become golden brown evenly, otherwise you will end up with some unevenly fried onions or sometimes black onions, which just tastes bitter.

When the onions are perfectly fried take them out of the kadai straining the excess oil and then place them on top of some tissue papers.

Start cooking the curry:

Add the ghee to the remaining oil in which we fried the onions.

Add the dry red chillies, cinnamon sticks, green cardamoms, cloves, black cardamom and bay leaf.

Fry the whole spices on medium flame until the oil becomes aromatic.

Add the mutton pieces to the oil shaking off the excess marinade.

Stir and cook on high flame until the mutton pieces start to change their colour.

Add half of the fried onions to them and stir to well combine.

Switch the flame to its lowest.

Cover the kadai with a tight lid and place something heavy on top of it, so that none of the moisture can escape.

Now let it cook for 1 and ½ hours. (Cooking time can differ depending on the meat you are using.)

Finish the curry:

Dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns.

Grind them until you have a fine powder.

After 1 and ½ hours open the lid of the kadai.

Sprinkle 1 tsp of the above mentioned spice mix and the remaining groom moshla.

Add the remaining fried onions, chopped coriander leaves and the green chillies.

Give a good stir again.

Close the lid again and let the flavours submerge with each other.

Serve with plain white Basmati rice or any kind of pulao or Birynai(It goes so well with Basanti Pulao).