Kerala Mutton Stew

Christmas is a time that brings back so many memories. Some are funny as can be!

Good food comes with any celebration and Good food comes after so many failed attempts too! Christmas is no less.

Our first Christmas together was within a month of moving to Dubai. The cooking range oven and the griller were totally new to me. All that Shibin wanted for Christmas was 'Karangunna Chicken' - loosely translated rotating chicken. Don't whack your brains! He only meant to have those rotisserie grilled chicken :) I had my chicken marinated and for reason best known to no one I decided to place the marinated chicken in the freezer! We went out shopping got back a little late - just in time for dinner which was till in the freezer. I had no time to defrost. I placed it in the oven to melt the stubborn ice. After a while onto the rotisserie. The chicken was big and the marinade was all dripping down which is when I realised that I needed a dripping pan too. After all the trials , we still had an uncooked chicken two hours later and a messy oven. Then we did what we could do best. Cut the chicken and pan fried them. That is how we ended up eating our Christmas dinner at 12 am! Boy, I am glad we did not have any guests.

Moving onto the recipe. Whenever I hear mutton stew I cannot help but suppress a smile. Tell the same to my mother - she will have her volley of justifications. You will know why soon:) We were never very fond of mutton, so mutton was almost never bought at home. Once I happened to taste mutton stew with appam at a friends place for a wedding. I came home with a demand that it be mutton stew for Christmas morning instead of the usual chicken stew. Pappa bought mutton and Mamma set out to make it. The stew turned out fine but it tasted a wee bit different and had a sour taste. We went on to eat a stomach full. On her hunt for the curd she kept in glass mug to marinate the chicken for biriyani  (our Christmas lunch) did my mom realise that she had poured the curd into the stew instead of coconut milk that was in a similar cup! Nevertheless she says the stew turned out good and this how new things are discovered:) She is not going to spare me for this!

Here we go - 

Ingredients

1. Mutton  – 500 gms
2. Potato – 2 medium sliced
3. Onion – 1 big thickly cut lengthwise 
4. Green Chilly – 3-4 slit
5. Ginger – 1 tbsp finely chopped
6. Cardamom – 3 to 4
7. Cinnamon sticks – 2 sticks of 1 inch
8. Cloves – 3 to 4
9. Thin coconut milk – 2 cups
10. Thick coconut milk – ½ cup
11. Salt as needed
12. Water as needed
13. Coconut oil

For Tempering

1. Coconut oil – 2 tbsp
2. Curry leaf – 2 sprigs
3. Onion – 1 small sliced in cubes
4. Peppercorns – 3 to 4

Method

• Heat oil in a thick bottom pan. Add the whole spices and fry until aromatic.
• Next, add onions, ginger and green chilly. Saute until the ginger is cooked.
• Add mutton pieces and cook until the mutton is almost done. Pressure cook if need be.
• Add the potatoes and adjust salt.
• Add thin coconut milk and cook it covered until the mutton is done.
• Add thick milk and switch off the flame as soon as the stew begins to boil.
• For tempering, crush onion and pepper in a mortar and pestle.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the crushed onion and pepper along with curry leaves. Saute till done.
• Temper the stew with this mix. Keep it covered for a while.
• Serve hot with appam!