MUTTON STEW WITHOUT OIL

PAPA’S MUTTON STEW ( WITHOUT OIL)

Well, this one is dedicated to my anonymous friend, who said s/he is looking forward to this !! And yeah , I gladly accept the suggestion- not to call it a diet – red meat never really is a diet .

I fondly recall, we actually used to call it “Papa’s ” Mutton stew. Anytime, my mother or anyone else( including me ) dared try this, we used to reject saying – no , it does not give that “ papa, papa” flavour !! I have made it quite a few times – comes out nicely – but not as good as when bapa used to do it . Perhaps, his trick was being subtle with each of the ingredients – I tend to be a little louder .

A confession ! Although no oil is used for this recipe, we do require good quality goat meat with fat of its own . Yeah, it would be like soup only – so may not look too great to many ( my photo has not come out properly – actually it was looking much better ) – BUT , I and my family just love the aroma and the great taste of the stew.

How to make : Mix all ingredients , goat meat and water in a pressure cooker . Put it on high flame till full pressure ( i.e. one whistle comes) ; then lower flame to simmer and continue for about 25 minutes ( usually , meat takes about half an hour in pressure to become tender ). Take off the flame – leave it to cool for about 10/15 minutes , so that the cooker cover can be opened without having to vent extra gas from inside. DONE !! serve hot . Can there be a simpler process for red meat ?

Ingredients : For ½ kg goat meat – take 2 medium sized Onion ( sliced ), ½ inch ginger ( crushed), 7 to 8 big garlic flakes (crushed ), one tomato ( cut into pieces )

Whole dhania ( 1 teaspoonful), whole jeera ( ½ teaspoonful), whole black pepper ( about ½ teaspoonful), cinnamon pieces ( pounded lightly), small elaichi ( 3 to 4 , pounded lightly ) , laung ( 5 to 6 pieces pounded lightly) , 2 whole red chilly ( de-seeded and halved), 2 bay leaf

Dhania powder( about 1/3^rd teaspoonful), zeera powder ( ½ of dhania powder), red chilly powder, dalchini powder, Haldi powder, salt, sugar

water - generously , about 2 to 3 tea cupfuls

[ I am horrible in giving measurements, because I myself never measure – it is always an eye estimate – and usually it works ! So, please decide for yourself – given photos for rough proportion of various ingredients . Particularly, give less of powders as whole dhania , jeera etc. are also going into the recipe and ultimately , it should be like watery soup , not gravy .]

AND do try it out – you would love the flavour when the very first whistle comes !