Mutton (Goat Meat) Soup...or, Mutton Curry

We are a family of mutton/goat meat lovers. Unfortunately, all the doctors in the world have conspired against us in enjoying this delectable meat. They say it is red meat and hence bad for cholesterol, bad for uric acid, bad for everything that you know. And since we do listen to the doctors quite reverently, mutton has disappeared from our lives and we rarely see them on our plates. A sad world, this is.

Anyways, this weekend when we were on our monthly shopping expedition (eh?) for groceries and other household items, we came upon a small package of happiness in the ‘Meat, Fish and Poultry’ section of the supermarket. It was a packet of mutton bones, the meat removed to make keema (minced meat) most probably. I have been making paya soup (soup made out of goat trotters) for some time, but this was the first time I had come across mutton bones which were marketed as ‘mutton soup-cut’.
 
It seemed to be an interesting prospect and I thought that maybe I could make these soup-cut pieces into a good, wholesome dish. So they went into my shopping cart, two packets of them. Finally, we were going to have some kind of a mutton related dish on our dining table! Let them be bones, they will do!

Back home, I did not have much time to prepare lunch. There were already subtle hints regarding growling tummies. That led me to turn towards my faithful friend in the kitchen, the pressure cooker. This appliance has saved me many minutes of cooking time and hunger pangs. I quickly took stock of the contents in my kitchen shelves and came up with a super-easy dish.

So, let me present to you the one-pot, or rather pressure cooker, recipe that I came up with:
 
Mutton (Goat Meat) Soup/Curry 

Ingredients:

200 gm mutton bones
2 onions, 1 finely chopped and 1 grated
1 teaspoon fresh ginger-garlic paste
2 green chillies
½ teaspoon each of turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder (optional) and Garam Masala/Meat Masala
1 potato, grated
1 tomato, chopped
1 tablespoon refined oil
1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter) or butter
Salt, sugar and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and put a pinch of sugar in it. Once the sugar caramelizes, tip in the chopped and the grated onion and fry till they turn brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and chopped chillies and sauté some more. 

Now, make a paste out of the spice powders (turmeric, cumin, coriander, red chilli powder, Garam masala/Meat masala) with a few spoons of water and add this paste to the fried onions-ginger-garlic mixture in the cooker. Stir well.

Next, tip in the chopped tomato and cook till the pieces disintegrates and becomes mushy. At this point, add the mutton bones and the grated potato and fry for a few minutes. Finally, pour in 2 cups of water (or the quantity of soup/curry you desire), add salt and pepper and close the lid of the pressure cooker. Once the whistle goes off, lower the heat and cook for 20-25 minutes. I chose to cook for 25 minutes as I wanted to extract as much flavor out of the bones as possible and lend them to the curry.

Take off the pressure cooker off the heat once done and let it cool off by its own. Open the lid and add a dollop of ghee or butter. Take in the ensuing aroma and transfer the contents to a deep bowl. You can serve the dish as either a soup, garnished with spring onions and croutons, or you can do what I did with mine. I served the dish as a curry with steamed rice, taking care to see that every plate contained some bones with tender mutton clinging onto them. A side dish of brinjal/aubergine fritters completed our lunch platter.  

The curry was not too watery and none of us complained about or missed the ‘real’ pieces of mutton, as the flavors were all there. It was a very simple yet satisfying meal that day.
 
I wonder how you would find this dish…would you rather prefer it as a soup? Since it is such an easy recipe and does not require buying the costly goat meat (it is amazingly expensive here in Bangalore), do try making it and I hope it brings happiness to you and your family!

Sending this to Ali's Recipe Sharing Monday.