Mutton Rassa (Maharashtrian Lamb Curry) - Recipe with step by step pictures

Serving for – 4

Ingredients

Mutton / Goat meat – 700gm

Green chillies – 2 (slit)

Tomato puree of 2 small tomatoes

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Paprika – 1 tsp

Oil – 4-5 tbsp

Salt to taste

For marinating

Lemon juice – 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Spices to dry roast and grind

Dry red chillies – 7-8

Dry grated coconut – ¼ cup

Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp

Coriander seeds – 1 and 1/2 tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1 heaped tsp

Bay leaf – 1

Cinnamon stick – 1.5 inch stick

Cloves – 4

Black Peppercorns – 14-15

Green cardamom – 5

To make Masala Paste

Onions – 2 (Sliced)

Ginger – 1 inch pieces

Cloves of garlic – 4-5 (big)

Handful of cilantro

Poppy seeds (Khus khus) – 2 tsp

Method of preparation

Marinate the meat

• First cut the meat into medium sized pieces and wash under warm water. Add lemon juice, turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste. Mix well and let it rest for ½ hour.

Cook meat in a pressure cooker

• Heat up 1 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker. Add some finely chopped onion and sauté till translucent.
• Then add marinated chicken pieces, 4 and ½ cups of water and salt to taste. Mix well and put the lid on. Let the meat cook till 3 whistles. (Cook as per your own judgement. I used baby goat meat and I have big pressure cooker (5 litres). So, it took less time to cook the meat.) Don’t throw leftover water, we are going to use that to make curry.

Make the spice powder

• Dry roast all spices mentioned above except coconut and sesame seeds until you smell nice aroma coming out. Make sure gas heat is low, otherwise they may burn quickly.
• Once you are done roasting the whole spices, roast coconut and sesame seeds separately until coconut turns light brown.

• Add into blender or coffee grinder to make a fine powder. Now your homemade meat masala is ready.

Make masala paste

• Soak the poppy seeds in warm water for about ½ hour.

• Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add sliced onions and sauté till they turn slight brown in colour.
• Then add ginger and garlic and again sauté until raw smell from them goes away. It may take few seconds. Switch off the heat and let the mixture cool down.Add into a blender along with soaked poppy seeds and fresh cilantro. 

• Grind to make a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

Make the curry

• Heat around 3-4 tbsp of oil in a heavy bottomed vessel. (If you want to make nice red curry then you have to be little generous while adding oil and red chillies :))
• Add slit green chillies and masala paste (onions-poppy seeds paste which we made before) and tomato puree. Cook this mixture until moisture evaporates. It may take 5-6 minutes.
• Then add ground spice powder, turmeric powder, and paprika. Cook this mixture until oil starts to separate from spices. It may take around 6-8 minutes.
• Then add cooked mutton along with leftover water. We have already added salt while cooking meat, so add little salt if needed.
• Once the curry comes to boil, reduce the gas heat and let the curry simmer on low heat for about 15-20 minutes until oil starts to float on top.
• Switch off the heat and garnish with fresh cilantro.
• Serve hot with any Indian flat bread or rice. Traditionally it is served with bhakri (Jowar roti).

Note

• This curry tastes awesome if you have it on second day. If you have time then cook this curry 6-8 hours before your dinner.
• If you want to make Kolhapuri mutton rassa, then follow the same recipe, just replace spice powder with Kolhapuri masala. I will post the recipe for Kolhapuri masala soon.
• Adding red chillies depends on how much heat you can bear. If you don’t like very spicy, then reduce amount of red chillies and spices used in masala.