Mutton and Aloo (Potato) Curry

Apologies for being MIA. My little boy has started pre-nursery now, so hopefully I should have more time for cooking and blogging! I thought I would kick start with mutton and aloo curry, which is one of my favourite curries, and reminds me of my mum. It's typical comfort food, especially with a good heaping of basmati rice. Aaaah, bliss. To make my curry, you will need:

1 kg mutton meat, mixed cut
4 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
A pinch of fennel seeds
4 peppercorns
4 cloves
4 green cardamoms
1 large cinnamon stick
3-4 bay leaves
1 1/2 inch piece ginger, minced
7 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium onions, cut into large chunks
Salt to taste
1 tomato, blended
Few stalks of coriander, chopped
2 tsp. Turmeric powder
2 tsp. Chilli powder (I used 1 tsp. red chilli powder and 1 tsp. Kashmiri red chilli powder)
3 tsp. Bolsts Hot curry powder
2 tsp. Coriander powder
2 tsp. Cumin Powder
2 tsp. Garam Masala powder
1 tsp. Paprika
5 medium potatoes, cut into 4 each
Coriander to garnish
Green chillies to garnish (optional)

Firstly, wash your mutton meat very well and allow blood to drain off completely leaving water clear. Keep to one side.

In a saucepan, add your oil, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. After infusing the oil, add your ginger and garlic and brown.

To this add your chopped onions, salt, and stir well. Then add your meat, and stir again. To this add your blended tomatoes and coriander. Stir this very well, cover and cook on a low heat for 45 minutes, checking regularly. Add water to this if necessary to keep meat and onions sticking to the pan.

Once onions have started dissolving, this is the time to add your spices. Add all the spices, mix well and then add a little water so the spices don't burn. Then add the potatoes, mix well and cook under cover for another 10 minutes. Once the potatoes start to soften, add water to cover the meat and potatoes (or according to how saucy you want it). Cook on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes, until oil separates. Garnish with coriander (and chillies), and serve hot!

You can cook almost any meat curry like this and change up the veggies. always cook the meat first and depending on what vegetable you'd like and how long it takes to cook, adjust that when you add it in at the end. If you like spinach, I would add it in about 5 minutes before taking the curry off the heat, and if you like mooli, I would add that at the same time as I have added the potatoes in this recipe.

Hope you enjoy!

Yaz ♥