Mutton Chukka - Mutton Varuval - Dry mutton curry

We all make the assumption that cooking techniques, spices the way of cooking - all make a dish taste good. IMHO these are all just secondary reasons. The first and foremost is the quality of the ingredients. If you source good ingredients, that should pretty much take care of the taste mostly. Everything else you do is just icing on the cake :)

If you don't do anything specific for the earth and sustainability but decide that you are going to be particular about where you source your meat and don't eat meat or chicken from factory farms, that should make big enough a difference and will be your greatest contribution.

The quality of meat from small farms is always much better than something that is shipped from overseas or bought from huge grocery chains. If the quality of the meat is high just a few spices and cooking technique should bring about the great taste. Like this recipe with very few ingredients and the cooking method is very simple but the taste is huge.

As for this recipe, cooking the meat on a slow flame till it is nice and dry brings out the taste of the spices and also of the mutton. I chanced on this recipe on YouTube and used it as guide to make this recipe with a few slight modifications. Recipe Source

Recipe in pictures,

Wash and clean the mutton pieces. In a pressure cooker heat oil and add grated garlic and ginger, saute, add turmeric and chili powders and add the mutton pieces.
Add 1/2 cup of water and add onion and let it cook for 3 whistles.
In a saute pan, roast the spices - coriander seeds, cumin seeds, pepper corns and red chilies. Cool and powder.
Let cool and set it aside. In a wide mouthed mud pot, add oil and when hot add the seasonings - cumin and curry leaves.
Now add the onions and saute till translucent.
Add in the chopped tomatoes and let it get mushy. Add in the mutton pieces and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the coriander leaves.
Add the powdered spices and saute till it becomes nice and dry.

Mutton Chukka
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Cooking Time:25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 lbs of Mutton
2. 1/2 cup of shallots (or red onion) finely chopped
3. 2 tbsp of garlic finely chopped
4. 1/2 tbsp of finely grated ginger
5. 2 medium sized tomatoes chopped (optional)
6. seasonings: cumin seeds and curry leave
7. salt to taste
8. 2 tbsp oil
9. 2 tsp chili powder
10. 2 tsp turmeric powder
11. 2 tsp of garam masala
To Powder
12. 1 tbsp of coriander seeds
13. 1 tsp of cumin seeds
14. 6 red chilies
15. 1 tsp of black peppercorns

Method

1. In a pressure cooker add a tsp of oil and add in half the ginger and garlic and saute.
2. Add in the mutton pieces and saute for a minute or two. Add 1/2 cup of water, some chopped onion, turmeric powder and chili powder and close the lid. Let it cook for a the desired amount of time about 2 whistles for it to be 3/4th cooked. I left it for 3 whistles.
3. In the meantime in a saute pan add all the spices and saute till they turn brown. Cool and powder.
4. In a wide mouthed pan (I used a clay pot) add the rest of the oil and when hot add the seasonings, followed by the chopped shallots/onions. Saute till it turns translucent. Add in the tomatoes and let it cook till it is completely mushy and then saute some more to remove most of the moisture.
5. Open the pressure cooker and give the mutton a good mix and it to the tomato mixture. Add the chopped coriander leaves. Mix it well, put a lid and cook for about 5-6 minutes.
6. Add in the powdered spice and salt, mix it and saute till the moisture completely evaporates and the spices coat nicely on the meat pieces.

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"Cheater's" Tandoori Raw Banana Roast - Vazhakkai Roast

The thing about Tandoori Masala is the bright red color. That bright red color is what I don't like. Why add some useless color with all the other good spices. So I skip the color and use the spices that I have on hand like my friend did. She is the one who introduced me to this quick Tandoori recipe. She made it with chicken but I pretty much use it for fish, chicken, paneer and now this recipe with raw bananas.

Read in the paper today that this month marks the 100th anniversary of Reader's Digest. I guess I started subscribing to it because my dad did when we were growing up. I also learned that Alex Hailey the author of Roots, the book that kept me engrossed for hours together during the summer holidays when there was practically nothing else to do. No internships just summer fun with absolutely nothing to do :) I digress, apparently Alex Hailey worked at Reader's Digest when he wrote Roots. Did not know that. Thought that was interesting because that book changed a whole lot of people's minds about what it means to be brought to a country unwillingly and so brutally.

With that tidbit, let's move on to this recipe which is beautiful in its simplicity. Here's the recipe in pictures,

Steam raw banana with a couple of tbsp of yogurt.
Peel and slice the raw banana and add the powdered spices.
Mix the banana pieces with the spices with the addtion of some oil.
Roast the spice coated raw banana pieces till they are nice and roasted.

These are tasty enough to be eaten as is or can be eaten as a side with rice.

Tandoori Banana Roast
Preparation Time:10 minutes
Cooking Time:15 minutes
Ingredients

1. 3 medium sized Indian raw bananas or 2 raw plantains
2. 1 tbsp of yogurt or buttermilk
3. 1/2 tbsp ginger powder
4. 2 tbsp garlic powder
5. 1 tsp turmeric powder
6. 1/2 tbsp chili powder
7. 1 tsp pepper powder
8. 1/2 tsp cumin powder
9. salt to taste
10. 2 tsp + 1/2 tbsp oil

Method

1. Cut the tips of the banana off and cut in half, steam tne raw bananas in a steamer (I used a pressure cooker) by sprinling the yogurt on them to avoid discoloration.
2. Once cool peel the skin and cut the into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Take them in a bowl.
3. Add all the powders, salt and the 2 tsp of oil and mix well so the raw banana pieces are all coated.
4. In a wide mouthed cast iron pan add enough oil to coat the pan, when the pan and oil get hot add the banana pieces.
5. Let fry for a couple of minutes and then flip around and cook for another couple of minutes. Trun off the heat. Do not overcook the banana becomes hard.

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Roasted chickpea flour coated Bitter Gourd Chips - Oven Roasted

Bitter Gourd is one of those vegetables that is not only good when eaten in any form but I do agree it has to be made agreeable to some of the palettes. We have one such in our household. DD2 is not very fond of it though she eats whatever is made out of it. But there is one preparation that does not need prodding. It is this roasted bitter gourd chips. To most of the bitter goud preparations I add a small quanity of sugar mostly jaggery to cut through the bitterness.

What is unique about this recipe is that it does not has any added sugar but the crunchiness makes it a picker upper as you would any crunchy snack. If we are being honest about it the bitter gourd chip is far superior to the over rated potato chip. I just cook this and put it on the counter top and it disappears in an hour and the person who has enjoyed it most is DD2 :)

I have been roasting bitter gourd chips following this recipe - broiled bitter gourd or using the same ingredients and transferring the contents to a baking sheet and oven roasting them fully. So over the summer a friend sends me a picture of her oven roasted bitter gourd chips coated with rosted chickpea flour (powdered pottukadalai or dalia ). What a fantastic idea. So glad she mentioned it.

So whenever I have excess bitter gourd, or ones that are starting to ripen, they quickly become chips :)The most time consuming task if you ask me is the cutting part. If you do not mind the seeds the process is much simpler but if you want to remove the seeds it becomes a slightly time consuming task.

Recipe in pictures,

Cut the bitter gourd to rounds and clean the seeds.
Spread them out on a cookie sheet to air dry for about 5-10 minutes.
Take roasted channa dal with dried red chilies in a coffee grinder or blender and powder them.
Take the clean bitter gourd pieces in a wide mouthed vessel and add the spices to it.
Add the powdered chickpea flour and toss, add the rice flour and toss.
Spray a cookie sheet with oil or spray and then spread the coated bitter gourd .
Place the cookie sheet in the preheated oven and roast for about 15 - 20 minutes.

This is a fantastic as a side dish or a snack by itself.

Roasted chickpea flour coated Bitter Gourd Chips - Oven Roasted
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time:20 - 30 minutes
Ingredients

1. 2 lbs of bitter gourd
2. 1 cup of roasted chickpeas (dalia, pottukadalai)
3. 1/4 cup of rice flour
4. 4-5 red chilies
5. 2 tsp turmeric powder
6. 2 tsp of chili powder
7. 2 tsp salt or to taste
8. oil as required

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. I used convection roast setting. If you are not using convection, increase the temp to
2. Wash and dry the bitter gourd and let it air dry.(See Note:) Cut the end of the bitter gourd and cut them into thin rounds.
3. Remove the seeds from the bitter gourd if you want else leave it be, the seeds also roast to a crunch.
4. Spread them out on a cookie sheet to dry if need be else transfer them to a wide mouthed vessel big enough to toss them with teh spices.
5. Add the turmeric powder, salt, chili powder and toss with the cut bitter gourd.
6. Add the powdered chickpea flour, followed by the rice flour and the oil.
7. Use your fingers to mix all together or toss to coat the bitter gourd.
8. Use a cookie or baking tray, line with aluminum foil, spray with oil and spread the coated bitter gourd pieces in one layer. This is very important for crisp chips.
9. Roast for 15 minutes. Open flip them around and roast for another 10-15 minutes. The time depends on your oven, the thickenss of the bitter gourd, so check for a few minutes. I left for a few minutes extra and it got dark brown.
10. Note:It is best to wash the bitter gourd the previous night and let them air dry on a kitchen towel.

Serve as a side to any rice dish or by itself. Like what you are reading? Subscribe!