Mutton curry is a borrows ingredients from both Indian and Chinese cooking, fusing traditional Chinese spices like white pepper, coriander and ginger with typical Indian ingredients including yogurt, cumin and turmeric to make a dish that is fragrant and spicy. Though typically prepared with chopped mutton, other meats like chicken or beef can be used in its place, and vegetarians can make this curry with firm tofu or tempeh. Mutton curry makes a satisfying main course when served over a bed of steamed white rice with a crisp mixed greens salad.
Instructions
1. Combine garlic, ginger, cashews and ground chilies in a mortar and pestle and pound for approximately 2 minutes or until ingredients form a thin paste.
2. Combine the mutton, salt and 1/3 of the paste from the mortar and pestle in a shallow dish. Cover and let marinate for 2 to 3 hours.
3. Cook the coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, white pepper, turmeric and cooking oil in a small frying pan over low heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside.
4. Heat the butter in a large sauté pan and fry the onions until brown. Transfer the cooked onions to a small bowl and set aside, reserving the butter in the pan.
5. Add the remaining mixture from the mortar and pestle to the large sauté pan and cook over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes. Add the spice mixture from the small frying pan and cook for 2 minutes. Add the water slowly while stirring over medium heat.
6. Place the marinated mutton and coriander leaves in the large sauté pan and cook for 10 to 12 minutes over high heat. Add the yogurt and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour or until the meat is tender. Serve hot.
Tags: large saut, mortar pestle, cook minutes, dish that, from mortar