Mutton stew / Lamb stew

The memories of X'mas and Easter from my childhood days include of having Appam and stew as breakfast on X'mas /Easter morning. I still remember coming back home after the midnight mass and having it as a midnight snack before going to bed to catch up on 2-3 hours of sleep. It used to taste heavenly, esp. if we have given up non-veg during lent.

When we made it, we just couldn't stop ourselves from having it even after we had it stomach full. Such was the level of craving we had for this mutton stew. Even now when I am writing it down, I can feel my mouth about to overflow.

Have you tried Mutton stew? If not it is a must try for mutton eaters. If you plan to make it, let me share the way I made it.

Ingredients

1. 1 kg / 2 lb of mutton /lamb - washed, cleaned and cut into pieces
2. 1 1/4 cup of sliced onion
3. 1 1/2 tbsp of finely chopped or grated ginger
4. 1 1/2 tbsp of finely chopped or grated garlic
5. 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
6. 1/2 tsp of pepper powder
7. 1-2 green chillies slit
8. 2 strands of curry leaves
9. 2 whole cardamom
10. 2 cloves
11. 2 cinnamon sticks
12. 2 star anise 
13. 1 tbsp of coriander powder
14. 1/2 tbsp of garam masala
15. Salt to taste
16. 1 cup of thin coconut milk - refer tips if using whole milk
17. 1/2 cup of thick coconut milk
18. 2-3 tbsp of oil - preferably coconut oil

For garnishing

1. 1 tbsp of ghee/ clarified butter
2. Split cashews as required
3. 2-3 sliced Shallots

Method

• In a pressure cooker, drop in the mutton/ lamb pieces , half the amount of sliced onion, half the amount of grated garlic, half the amount of grated ginger, turmeric powder, pepper powder, 1 strand of curry leaves and salt. Mix it well and add about 2-3 tbsp of water in it. Keep it aside for about 20 minutes. Then pressure cook it untill the mutton/lamb pieces get tender and cooked. For me it took, 1 whistle on high heat , followed by 3 whistles on medium heat. 
• In a skillet, pour in the oil. Once hot turn the heat to medium and add the ingredients 9-12. Once they start giving out a nice aroma, add the remaining sliced onions, ginger, garlic and curry leaves and saute it. Let the onion turn tender. Then add in the coriander powder and garam masala. Give it a stir. 
• Add the thin coconut milk and let it come to a boil.  Add the cooked mutton/lamb pieces and the the thick coconut milk. Give it a stir. Let it cook untill the gravy just starts to boil. Adjust the salt and remove it from the heat.
• In another skillet, heat the ghee and roast the cashews in it. Drain the roasted cashews and spread it on top of the stew. In remaining ghee, caramelize the sliced shallots and spread it on top of stew.
• Serve it hot with some Bread or Appam or Chapati.

Tips

1. You could use milk to make stew instead of coconut milk. In such cases, boil the milk in advance and let it cool down a little. It should stay warm, but not too hot when adding to the masala to make the gravy. Add it at one go, after adding the coriander powder and garam masala to the sautéed onion and drop in the cooked mutton/lamb pieces. Let the gravy just heat up and not boil, else the milk may break. Since the milk and the lamb pieces are all cooked, just heating up a little would be enough for the gravy preparation. 
2. You could add carrot and potato pieces when sautéing the onion for the gravy, if you wish to.
3. You could add in ghee roasted raisins as well to garnish the stew.