Indian Mutton stew

In the life of a loner, nothing really happens much. On top of it, when you live in a completely unknown city or country, life becomes unbearable at some moments. The sole entertainers for me as of now are only books and cooking. In such a scenario, traveling is the most unexpected opportunity that has come to me a few days ago, and I grabbed it with all my heart and soul.

My husband was travelling to Bouake, for some work, and I tagged along. We drove through the not so dense African forest and for the first time I could relate my Geography knowledge to my experience. Within the forest, there were little villages, which were scattered around the main road. Some were very very small, constituted of only some huts and a church, and some were large, stretched for a kilometer or so. Small or large, the villages are far from the polish that I see daily in Abidjan. Without any electricity and education, these villages are nothing but fragments of reminder that how much more development Africa needs to give its people to provide a decent standard of living. On both sides of the main road, there were Cashew plantations, Banana plantation or Rubber Tree plantation.When we were returning, we stopped at Yamsoukro, to have lunch and then went to Basilic Church. This one is the minor Basilic church, built by the first president of Cote d'ivoire. It is the highest church of the world.

Coming to today's recipe, I am sharing today my much beloved mutton stew. It is not at all spicy and I love to have this with seasonal vegetables. Goes well with steamed hot rice. The mutton stew also becomes a little different in taste due to the added vegetables.

Indian Mutton Stew
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kg with bone mutton
• 1 onion - sliced
• 1 tomato - chopped
• 1 green chili - chopped
• 4 garlic cloves - crushed
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 3 cardamom pods
• 3 cloves
• 1 medium cinnamon stick
• 2 potato - diced
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1/4 cup beans - chopped
• 4 red radishes - halved
• 1/4 cup - fresh green peas
• 1 large carrot - cut in rounds
• 1 bunch of fresh coriander leaves - chopped
• 1/4 cup beet root - diced (I did not have them, but they add a nice flavor to the stew. Do add them if they are available)
• 2 tbsp oil 

Method:

• Boil the mutton pieces with salt, turmeric powder and 3 cups of water until the meat is tender and soft. Drain the mutton stock and keep the mutton pieces separately. I used a pressure cooker to do this. If you do not have cooker. use a heavy bottomed pan.
• Heat oil in a pan and the ginger-garlic paste in it. 
• Sauté the ginger-garlic paste until the raw flavor of the garlic is gone.
• Now add the sliced onions and sauté until they start to be golden.
• Add the mutton pieces. Add salt and give a good stir so that all the pieces get covered with salt and oil. Cook them until they change their color.
• In the mean time dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns. Then grind them to a fine powder.
• Add the cloves, green cardamom, cinnamon stick and 2-3 tsp of the grounded spices to the mutton and mix well.
• Add the turmeric powder, chopped green chilies and mix well.
• Add the mutton stock and give a good stir.
• Now add the potatoes and all the vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are tender and cooked thoroughly.
• Taste and adjust seasoning.
• In the end add a pinch of garam masala powder (this is optional) and chopped coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with steamed hot rice.