traditional

Mutton Curry

Rich & Spicy Mutton Curry Recipe

I do like chicken and lamb in a curry. Sometimes though you want a more traditional dish, cooked long and slow. Mutton is ideal for this. Mutton Curry is ideal if you’re looking for an Indian dish for a special occasion. We had this dish as part of an Indian meal.

Where To Get Mutton?

It’s not something you’re going to get from the supermarket!

Ask your local butcher or get some direct from the farm yourself.

If you’re in the Sheffield area you could pay a visit to Whirlow Hall Farm Shop. It’s where we got ours from but it is advisable to give them a bell first to make sure they have some in.

Be warned though. I only went in for Mutton and make a delivery but came out with mutton and a hefty piece of Sirloin steak! It was calling me!

If you are struggling to get mutton you can use lamb, just cut down on the cooking time. You could even use chicken thigh but again decrease the cooking time further.

What Cut Of Mutton For A Mutton Curry?

This is entirely up to you. I just asked for a little over a kilo of diced. I think it was shoulder. To be honest any cut will be good enough for a mutton curry. As it needs slow cooking any fat will render down and give a lovely rich sauce. If you want a really traditional Indian dish you could of course cook the mutton on the bone. This way you will get even more flavour in your gravy.

How Spicy Is Spicy?

Most of the spice in this recipe comes from Kashmiri chilli. This recipe isn’t blow your head off spicy. It’s quite easy to adjust the spiciness by either using more chilli powder or adding more fresh chillies. I added some whole fresh birds eye chillies towards the end of cooking to give it an extra kick.

If you like the look of this curry you may want to have a look at my recipe for Lamb Madras

Rich Spicy Mutton Curry

Slow cooked diced Mutton with onions, garlic and ginger in a rich tomato & yoghurt sauce, thickened with cashew nut paste.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 3 30

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Servings 6

Ingredients

Marinade

1 kg mutton diced
3 garlic cloves crushed
3 tsp chopped ginger
6 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder use 3tsp chilli powder and extra 3tsp sweet paprika if you can’t get hold of Kashmiri
6 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp yoghurt

Curry

1 onion sliced
2 onions pureed in a food processor
6 cloves garlic finely chopped or grated
1 inch cube piece of ginger finely chopped or grated
4 tbsp of oil or ghee
2 sticks of cinnamon or cassia bark
2 whole star anise
12 fresh curry leaves if you have them
1 tsp of salt
3 tsp tomato puree dissolved in 300ml of hot water
140 g cashew nuts just covered with hot water and left to soak for 20 minutes and then blended
1 tbsp of ‘Ome Made B.I.R Curry Masala (or other curry Masala)
400 g tinned tomatoes pureed in a food processor with 3 red chillies (more if you like heat, or fewer for a milder curry)
500 g natural plain or Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp of Kasoori methi or fenugreek leaf
2 tsp dried mint
2 tsp of ‘Ome Made Garam Masala or any other brand
1 tsp of ground all spice optional
1 tbsp of sugar jaggary or a dark sugar is better
2 limes juice of
1 bunch fresh coriander chopped
Salt to taste
Toasted almond flakes optional

Instructions

Put the mutton to marinate overnight or for at least 3 hours.
Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan
Add the sliced onion and gently fry until brown and caramelised. Once the onion is browned remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve for later.
Add the curry leaves, cinnamon and star anise to the pan (careful they may splutter)
Add the onion puree and 1 tsp of salt. Continue to fry gently for 15 minutes
Add the garlic and ginger and fry gently for 30 seconds
Add the curry Masala and fry for 20 – 30 seconds
Add the mutton and any marinade, stir and let seal
Add the watered down tomato puree, stir and let reduce back down to a thick paste.
Add the blended tinned tomatoes and chillies. Bring back to a simmer
Add the yoghurt and cashew paste, stir and again bring back to the simmer.
Turn the pan down and cover with a lid. Either cook on a very gentle heat on the hob (use a heat diffuser if you have one) or cook in the oven on a low temperature around 140°C. It wants to cook for around 2 ½ – 3 hours. If the sauce is looking to thick after an hour of cooking then you can thin it with a little water.
After 2 ½ – 3 hours you can add all the other ingredients, including the caramelised onions from earlier (keep a few almonds and coriander leaves back to garnish if you wish). Cook for another 20 – 30 minutes on the hob, lid off, before serving with pilau rice & Indian style breads.

Keyword curry, Indian, Mutton, spicy

Have Your Cake & Eat It… Just not until Christmas!

Last year I posted a blog on Stir Up Sunday with a recipe for Christmas Pudding. Click on this link ‘Christmas Pudding’ if you want to see it.

This Year I’m giving a recipe for Christmas Cake. You may think it’s a bit early but this cake tastes better for a bit of maturing. Put it this way. Last year we made two cakes. We started the second in the Summer holidays it was superb and still lovely and moist (something to do with the alcohol content me thinks!). In fact this year I’m wondering whether to do extra so we have a cake for next Christmas too!

This recipe will give a large 10″ cake and a smaller one. Or you could try two 8″ size tins. It depends on what sort of depth you want on your cake.

You can use whatever dried fruit you like in your cake. I put mainly vine fruits in mine with a little currants and angelica. If you want to push the boat out a few dried Morello cherries and cranberries make a luxurious addition.

Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake

800g Mixed dried fruit

300g nibbed almonds

200g glace cherries

100g crystalized ginger (roughly chopped)

Soak the above in 350ml of port, 350ml brandy and 1 bottle of Kreik overnight (or whatever alcohol you like)

4 medium eggs beaten

zest and juice of 2 oranges

200g melted butter

2 teaspoons of cinnamon and a good grating of nutmeg

1 teaspoon of all spice (pimento)

200g Muscavado sugar

2 tablespoons of black treacle

300g self raising flour

Method

Once your fruit has had it’s alcoholic bath simply put all the ingredients in a very big basin and give a very thorough mix.

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 4.

Grease and line your baking tins/moulds.

Fill your tins leaving at least 3cm gap from the top.

Bake in the oven for 2 hours 20 minutes to 2 hours 40 minutes.

If the top is browning a bit too quickly loosely cover with a little baking parchment.

Too check if the cake is done pierce the centre with a bamboo skewer. The cake is done when the skewer comes out virtually clean.

Leave the cakes to cool in the tin then take out.

Pierce the bottom of the cake with a skewer. Now you can feed your cake with whatever spirit you like! I find Brandy works the best but Whiskey also gives a great result. Simply spoon some alcohol over the cake and let it soak in. This can be repeated every 2 to 3 weeks or every week as it nears Christmas. Once the cake has had it’s first feed, wrap in greaseproof/baking paper then tin foil and then cling film. We keep ours in a cool box in a cool place.

We don’t ice our cake as we tend to enjoy it with a nice slab of vintage Cheddar and glass of wine, Port or Madeira but of course you can cover it with marzipan and icing of your choice or try glazing with some warmed apricot jam and decorating with nuts or glace fruit.

The only hard part I find about making this cake? Waiting until Christmas to eat it!

I wish I could have my cake and eat it now!

Stir-Up-Sunday…

If you haven’t already made your Christmas Puddings then Sunday the 24th of November is the time to do it, the last Sunday before the start of Advent and traditionally known as Stir Up Sunday.

Here is a fail safe recipe for a lovely moist, boozy pudding!

Ingredients

600g mixed dried fruit and nuts. I use roughly 500g of mixed dried fruits (predominately raisins, sultanas and currants with a few cranberries, sour cherries and a good handful of glace cherries). For the nuts I usually use nibbed almonds.

500ml bottle of Guinness

300ml port

100ml brandy

200g shredded suet (proper beef is best, you can use vegetarian of course)

zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon

2 medium cooking apples grated

freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

250g muscavado sugar

75g plain flour

3 medium eggs beaten

150g breadcrumbs

Method

Soak the fruit for at least 24 hours in the alcohol (if you don’t want to use alcohol then you could use tea and orange juice)

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together. Get the whole family to give it a stir and make a wish at the same time (my wish is that the pudding turns out ok!)

Grease a large pudding bowl and a few smaller ones (ideal for giving away to friends, family and neighbours), pour the pudding mixture into the bowls leaving an inch from the top.

Cover the mixture with a circle of greaseproof paper. cover the bowl with tinfoil (with a pleat in it to allow for the pudding to expand) and then place in a large pan on a trivet with a folded strip of tin foil underneath to allow you to lift the pudding out. Pour water into the pan to come up 2/3 of the way up the pudding basin.

Put the pan on to boil. When boiling turn down to a simmer and cover the pan. A large pudding will take 2 1/2 to 3 hours to cook (test with a skewer, the skewer wants to come out clean). I usually take the pan off the heat but leave the pudding in the water for an hour just to make sure the pudding is evenly cooked through.

Lift the pudding out of the water and set aside to cool. Once cool I take the pudding out of the basin, wrap in greaseproof paper, then cling film and then tin foil. I then put in a spare cool box where it stays until the big day.

On the day you are eating having the pudding it can either be put back in the basin it was cooked in and boiled again for an hour to heat up or it can be microwaved in short bursts (a couple of minutes at a time leaving a minute in between).

To serve place the pudding on a heatproof plate. Pour a couple tablespoons of Brandy into a ladle and gently heat over a low flame. Once the Brandy starts to shimmer pour over the pudding and light with a match.

Remember to have a bucket of water and fire extinguisher on hand… just in case!

Merry Christmas!

P.S try slices of leftover pudding fried in butter for breakfast… Fantastic!