Indian Goat (mutton) Curry with Spicy Yogurt Sauce + Sweet Rice Pulao Recipe

Happy Father’s Day and it’s Sunday!

It is Sunday! And It’s Father’s’ Day. How perfect. What better recipe to share on Father’s Day than of Goat Curry (for the non-vegetarian dads, of course) Want to treat Dad with a meal worth remembering? Try this rich, spicy and finger-licking-good goat curry and pulao dish which complements the meat perfectly. 

My Dad (Baba) and my father-in-law (Baba, again) love mutton or goat meat. My Jethu (paternal uncle) loved it too. He couldn’t imagine inviting people over and treating them with anything less than goat meat, unless of course, the guests did not eat red meat. Bengalis unanimously call mutton ‘mangsho’ and apart from the quintessential Sunday ‘mangsho’ curry or ‘mangshor jhol’ that is famous in Bengali households, mutton is prepared in various different ways all over India. I prefer using yogurt to make my mutton curry. You don’t need to add a ton of oil if you are using whole milk yogurt and the latter elevates the sauce to a whole new level! That and the other ingredients make the final dish extremely flavorful, to say the least.

So, without further ado, get into your kitchen and make this. I have friends who have recently become Dads. So this goes out to all the new mommies as well, treat the new daddies with this meal and he will be super-impressed. 🙂

Succulent pieces of goat (mutton) in a spicy, yogurt sauce

Ingredients you will need:

For the marinade:
2 lbs goat meat
5 tbsp yogurt
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
½ tbsp red chili powder
Salt (according to taste)

For the sauce:
2 tbsp mustard oil
2 cups chopped onions
1 tomato chopped
2-3 green chilies (adjust according to taste)
½ tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp paprika (optional)
4 cardamoms
4-5 cloves
1 large stick of cinnamon (broken)
¼ tsp whole peppercorn
¼ tsp sugar
Salt  (according to taste)

Method for cooking:

1) Wash goat meat thoroughly, drain and keep aside.  Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. Add the goat meat to the marinade. Mix well. Keep this for minimum 3-4 hours.

2) In a deep pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add the whole spices – cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorn. Let the spices crackle for a few seconds. Add the chopped onions, salt and sugar. On medium-high heat, fry the onions till light brown.

3) Add tomatoes, turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander powder and cook on medium heat for 7-10 mins. The more you slow cook these dry spices in low heat, the better it will be.

4) Then add the goat meat and marinade. Stir well and cook this on medium-high heat for 15-20 mins. Stir occasionally to see that the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. You will start to see the reddish oil surface on top.

5) Once you see the oil surface on top, you will know the meat is cooked, we just need to boil and soften it. Add 1-1 ½ cups of water to the goat meat in sauce. Stir and let this pressure cook for 20 mins on medium-high heat. Now, like ovens, pressure cookers can differ too, so please adjust accordingly. (I pressure cooked for 28 mins, but that is because I have a slightly moody pressure cooker.)

6) Serve this hot. Always.

The final product will be a tender goat meat in a luscious, spicy, flavorful, thick yogurt-based sauce, ready to be eaten with steamed rice, pulao, roti or parantha. I chose a  ‘mishti pulao’.

‘Mishti’ means ‘sweet’ in Bengali. And you need not be a culinary expert to cook this! Trust me.

This heavenly rice dish a Bengali favorite. A dish that makes it’s way into almost all special or not-so-special occasions. It is traditionally made with ‘gobindo bhog’ rice or ‘kala jeera’ rice. If you don’t find this rice anywhere use a white rice of your choice. Make sure that it is not sticky rice.
The final dish is a slightly sweetened, fragrant rice pilaf or pulao made with whole spices, a quick recipe that goes well with a number of dishes.

The mishti pulao or pilaf always reminds me of my younger brother. He loves this sweet pulao and goat curry combination. Recently he has been cooking a whole lot and if I know him, he will give this a try!

Ingredients you will need:

1 ½ cups rice, washed and drained
3 cups water
2 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
3 cinnamon sticks
4-5 whole cloves
3-4 whole cardamoms
few raw cashew nuts, halved
¼ tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp sugar
Salt (¼ tsp or according to taste)

Method for cooking:

1. In a saucepan, heat the ghee on medium heat. Add the cashew nuts and whole spices, excepting one cinnamon stick. Let the whole spices flavor the ghee for a minute or so till the cashews get a brown color to them, on medium heat.
2. Add the washed rice to this, sugar, salt and turmeric and stir fry the rice in this for a few minutes on medium heat.
3. Now add 3 cups of water and the remaining one cinnamon stick. Cover with a lid and make sure there are no openings on the lid. I covered the saucepan with a big round plate and put a heavy utensil on top of it to make it as airtight as possible.
4. Boil this for 5 mins on high heat. Steam will come out from the sides of the lids. Then put it on medium heat for 5 mins.
5. Lastly put it on low heat for 5 mins. So, its a 5-5-5 rule that I follow for cooking the rice to ensure that all of it is well-cooked and there is no water left. Eat this pilaf hot or warm with any sort of meat curry. Or you can actually eat it just like that! 🙂

p.s. You can also add raisins to this pulao recipe. Soak a few raisins in water for 20 mins or so before adding them along with the rice.

It complements spicy curries brilliantly

Make this for Father’s Day, for brunch on Sunday or ANY day, it’s a winning combination

 

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