Restaurant style MUTTON CURRY

Even though I love cooking, in a way its passion and hobby for me I must admit that, daily cooking routine and same repated menu is something which I really don't enjoy and tiring at times, the worst part being cleaning the post-cooking kitchen mess. Once a while, to add twist to my normal boring routine,I make excuses, and pamper my hubby to agree to enjoy restaurant meals, the best part being not having to wash plates and wipe messy table.
We have this weird habit of visiting every new restaurant that we come to hear and experimenting typical malabari dishes... Though I do not recommend having restaurant food on daily basis, due to the unhealthy food style and hygienic issues, once a while it is ok to forget about all the demerits involved. And lately, we discovered a restaurant in our neighborhood, actually quite far, but we don't mind in taking the trouble to drive to our favourite restaurant, which restaurant I think serves the best Malabari food in the world...
Since 2 months I was aloof from cooking, as mom-in-law was staying with us and she took all the authority over the kitchen. Also as her great food put my confidence in cooking down, I dint even bother to interrupt her way of cooking. For a change, and to give her a little break, and to introduce her our favourite restaurant, we decided to have a grand dinner in this favourite Malabari restaurant of ours. And to our delight, she was more impressed than we used to be...
As we placed our order for any mutton dish, as we were just bored of chicken and beef, we just couldn't imagine that we were on the verge of tasting the best mutton curry we have ever tasted. Though it did not look appealing to my hubby's eye (anything red in color is always the only appealing dish in his eyes), the tempered glazing dried red chillies and curry leaves topped over the curry looked just so inviting to me. As it was served hot, I cannot tell you how beautifully the aroma spread around.
Once we had this dish, we studied what ingredient and method of cooking imparted this taste to it, and what could be done to try this at home whenever you feel like you need to enjoy it...
As the weekend approached, not allowing to put down our usual weekend routine, mom-in-law was all set to give the dish a try, and started her mission. Though I did not want to spoil the dish and lay my hands on it, this dish was prepared in my presence, and I observed her steps of cooking. It involved cooking of meat with onions, tomatoes, ginger garlic paste and spice powders until tender and then sauteeing onion in oil in a hot wok and then drying the water in the gravy of cooked mutton to semi thick gravy. A handful of pearl onions, sautéed and ground to smooth paste was added to the semi thick gravy. Also coconut milk was added. To give it a final touch, it was served with tempered dried chillies and curry leaves. And when it came to the tasting part, I think mom-in-law was nearly just close to what we tasted in the restaurant.
Ingredients:
  • Mutton- 1/2 kg
  • onion- sliced thinly-1
  • tomato-chopped- 1
  • ginger garlic paste- 1 tbsp.
  • green chillies- 2
  • crushed pepper- 2 tsp
  • coriander powder- 3-4 tsp
  • turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
  • garam masala powder- 1/2 tsp
  • salt to taste.
  • coconut oil-1 tbsp+ 1 tbsp
  • onion- 1 extra sliced thinly
  • pearl onion/small onions- a handful
  • thick coconut milk- 1/2 cup
For tempering:
  • dried red chillies- a few
  • curry leaves a few
  • coconut oil-1 tbsp

Preparation:
Cook mutton with 1 onion, tomatoes, green chillies, ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, salt and 1 cup water in a pressure cooker for about 15 minutes. Saute sliced pearl onions in a tbsp coconut oil till light brown. Turn off the flame. Let cool and grind to a smooth paste, add water if necessary to get the perfect smoothness.
In a wok, heat a tablespoon of oil, add one sliced onion, sauté till golden brown, add the mutton and its gravy, and boil the gravy to semi thickness. Add the onion paste and mix well. Cook for about five minutes. Add in the coconut milk. bring it to just boil. Do not over boil or the coconut milk will separate. Off the flame. In a small pan, add oil, and add curry leaves and dried chillies when the oil gets hot. Take off from heat, and add the tempered chillies and curry leaves on top of served curry.
Serve hot and enjoy with battoora, ceylon paratha or rice.

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