In Vadodara, one of our favorite dishes is ‘LAAL MAAS’; or in short RED MUTTON CURRY prepared in an authentic Rajasthan Style. One of the restaurants in Vadodara, ‘Khama Ghani’ introduced the dish in here. The very first time when we tasted it, we loved it. After that we have tried the dish numerous times in the same restaurant; but the quality keeps getting worse. One day, I asked them about the reason. The manager told me that, if we want to get the original flavour, we have to ask them before ordering. Then they will start preparing it in the authentic way as it is a very HOT and SPICY dish; and people from Vadodara are not able to ‘digest’ it properly. So, we thought, forget about the dish, and let’s prepare the same at home. Then last weekend, on 23rd November 2014, we tried it at home and it was simply great.
We haven’t tasted LAAL MAAS in Jaipur or in Rajasthan, so we cannot compare it, but the result was great. We have tried different sources to get the authentic recipe, from books, from internet and from friends. And then we improvised it a little bit, because we were not able to get one main ingredient. Here is the cooking procedure.
What we need:
To prepare the Laal Maas, go the market and buy 500 grams of Mutton; cut into medium pieces; if you can manage to get it from a baby goat, it would be great as the meat will be very tender and it will change the taste of the dish as well.
Next, you need 150 grams of plain curd; 4 large size onions; 1 teaspoon of Turmeric powder; 5-8 pieces of Garlic; similar quantity of Ginger strings; 2 pieces of Bay Leaves; 2 pieces of Black Cardamom; 2 pieces of Green Cardamom; 1 medium piece of Cinnamon; 3-4 pieces of Clove; 1 medium size Mace; 100 grams of Ghee or Clarified Butter; 1 teaspoon of Kachri Powder (Kachri is a wild variety of cucumbers; it helps to make the meat tender); 4 teaspoon of Degi Mirch Powder; 4 teaspoon of Kashmiri Chili Powder; 3 teaspoon of Red Chili powder and 15-25 whole red chilies (depending upon your taste; this is a very ‘HOT’ dish so you need them); 1 teaspoon of Garam Masala Powder; 1 teaspoon of Clove Powder; Salt as required and water.
How to prepare:
Make paste of all the whole chilies and keep it aside.
Make thin slices of all the 4 onions;
Cut the Ginger Strings and Garlic in small pieces; (Note: You can prepare Ginger Garlic paste as well; but in my opinion, if you will use small pieces of Ginger and Garlic, that will give a better effect in taste).
Blend the curd in a mixer or using a hand blender for 30 seconds atleast.
Now take a deep pan (it should come with a lid) and pour atleast 3/4th of the ghee and switch on the burner in medium flame. Now add bay leaves; black and green cardamom; cloves and cinnamon. Crush the mace in small pieces and add it as well. Sauté all the whole spices for another 1-2 minutes. Now add onion slices and ginger and garlic as well. Sauté all the ingredients till the onion slices turn into golden brown color.
Add mutton, turmeric powder and salt in it and mix it well with all the whole spices and cook in the medium flame for another 12-15 minutes. You can see juices from mutton are coming out. When most of the juices came out from the mutton and the mutton is cooked well, add curd in it. Add red chili paste; degi mirch powder; red chilly powder and Kashmiri chilli powder in it. Add Kachri powder. Mix it very well and cook the entire mixture in low flame until no watery part left. Add 2-3 cups of hot water clove powder and garam masala powder and close the pan with the lid and cook it for another 15-25 minutes. (Note: here you can add ‘KHAS KA PANI’. To prepare, take 4 tablespoon of poppy seeds and soak it in water for 5-6 hours. This will give great flavour to the Laal Maas).
After 15-25 minutes, switch- off the burner and open the lid. In another pan, pour the rest of the ghee, add 3-4 whole red chilies and 1 teaspoon of red chili powder and sauté it for 1 minute in low flame. Add this on the prepared Laal Maas and mix it well.
Your Laal Maas is ready to serve and eat.
Accompany:
Laal Maas will taste best if you are taking it with Bajre ka Roti or Naan. You can also eat it with plane white rice as well. You can prepare it using Chicken as well.
Note: we haven’t used any Cumin powder or Coriander powder. Also, one can eat it in a dry form as well. For that, you do not need to add water at all. The mutton will be prepared from its own juice and curd.
GB's Kitchen 