This dish was created by my mother when she was just eight years old. My grandmother’s early death meant my mother had to take up the reins of the kitchen at a very young age. Those were hard times for the family financially, too. On Eid-ul-Adha or Bakri Eid, one year, my grandfather brought home a small quantity of meat that a friend had given him and left it to his eight-year-old daughter to cook. The little girl was in a fix. She only had a few basic ingredients, including some whole spices, at home. My mother borrowed a lime from a neighbor, added whatever she could scrape together in her humble kitchen into the dish of meat and placed it on the chulha to cook slowly. The result was fantastic. Her father was so impressed that he gave her Rs 5 as Eidi – that was a very generous amount at the time. Today, this is one of our signature dishes at Ammeez Kitchen.
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Serves
5
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Cook Time
02 h 30 m
Ingredients
- 1 kg mutton with fat, cut into medium pieces
- 100 gm ginger-garlic paste
- 50 gm whole spice mix (cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves, black pepper, cumin and shahi jeera)
- 2 tbsp oil
- 6 green chillies, slit
- Juice of 2 limes
- Salt to taste
- Fresh coriander leaves, to garnish
Preparation
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Toss in the whole spices and let them crackle.
- Add the meat and braise for 5-10 minutes
- Stir in the ginger-garlic paste, slit green chilies and salt. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat and slow-cook the meat on a mellow flame until it is tender. Stirring often to ensure the masala doesn’t stick to the pan or burn.
- Once the meat is cooked through and the liquid has evaporated, pour in lime juice, and take the pan off the flame.
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with shirmaal or chapatis. This dish can also be served as a starter.
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