Mutton Bhuna

Bhuna means frying for a long time. This method is quite popular among Bengalis and we have a number of recipes owing to this particular technique of cooking. Bhuna or Bhuni Khochuri is the most famous of them, which is made with roasted moong dal, rice and vegetables. Then we have bhuna chicken or murgi bhuna and now...here I am sharing the recipe of bhuna mutton.

Mutton Bhuna gets a dark brown colour from the long cooking hours. You can definitely cheat by pressure cooking the mutton but then some of those caramelized flavours are lost in this process. Finally in the end...top the bhuna mutton with a generous amount of chopped coriander leaves and serve with lime wedges and onion rings.

Add the salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and ground radhuni to the mutton.

Add the yogurt and ginger - garlic paste. Mix everything and let them marinade for at least 2 hours.

Fry the onions until golden brown.

Add the marinated mutton to the fried onions.

Mix everything and cook for 12-15 minutes or until all the moisture evaporates.

Add the whole spices, i.e. cinnamon stick, green cardamoms, black cardamom. black peppercorns and bay leaves. Add water and cook, stirring often, until the mutton is cooked through.

Simmer until the oil separates.

Mutton Bhuna

Serves 4

Ingredients:

½ kg boneless mutton – cut into medium pieces

2 onions – sliced

6 fat cloves of garlic – paste

1 inch ginger – paste

¼ cup thick yogurt – whisked

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp ground black peppercorns

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 and 1/2 tsp ground radhuni 

3 green cardamoms

1 black cardamom

1 medium cinnamon stick

3 cloves

4-6 whole black peppercorns

2 bay leaves 

4 dried red chillies – broken into halves

A handful of fresh coriander leaves

4 tbsp pure virgin mustard oil

Salt

Method:

Marinate the mutton with salt, whisked yogurt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, black pepper powder and ground radhuni (leave a pinch), for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Heat the oil in a kadai / wok and add the sliced onions to them.

Saute the onions until they become golden brown.

Add the marinated mutton to the fried onions and stir to mix everything.

Put the flame on medium and cook the mutton, stirring every 2-3 minutes, until all the moisture is evaporated.

Add the cinnamon stick, green cardamoms, black cardamom, cloves, dried red chillies and black peppercorns.

Add 1 and ½ cup of water to them and cover the wok. Simmer until the meat is tender. If the water dries add more to continue cooking. Stir often so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the wok. This will take around 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the quality of the mutton.

Once the mutton is cooked through, simmer on high flame until the gravy tends to dry and the oil starts to separate from the curry.

Sprinkle the rest of the ground radhuni, chopped coriander leaves and stir to mix.

Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Switch off the flame and serve hot with chapatti / puri / luchi / pulao / naan.