Kerala Mutton Roast

Mutton Roast is another culinary speciality of Kerala. The non-veg roast dishes of Kerala, have a unique flavour, taste and aroma that you will definitely miss once you move out of the state. Starting from the proper blend of aromatic spices, the way the marinated ingredients are cooked, the use of coconut oil contributes to the unique taste of the dish. Just have a bite and you will literally fall in love with it.

If you have read my Kerala Beef Roast, Chicken Ularthu & Beef Ularthu posts you would be quite familiar with the Kerala cooking style. Though the preparation of these dishes is quite a task and demands much of your time and energy, the final outcome is truly worth the effort. How else can you make a proper Kerala style 'Ularthu'(Roast)?

For those who haven't tried the traditional 'Ularthu' dishes, I should say, you shouldn't get intimidated or turned off seeing the numerous amount of spices that goes into the preparation. After all the spices are what that makes these dishes so unique! After moving to US I missed these authentic dishes so much that I finally ventured into making these. And can anything ever beat the taste of home made food?

These dishes always tastes better the next day because sufficient time has to given to the spices to properly infuse into the meat. So all you have to do is to resist your temptations until the next day! All Ularthu dishes pairs well with Appam/Idiappam/Steamed Rice with a dollop of ghee.

Ingredients:

Mutton(Goat Meat)- 2 lb

Big onion - 1 chopped(18-20 Shallots preferred)

Tomato - 2 chopped

Fresh Ginger minced - 1 tbsp

Garlic Cloves - 2 minced

Green chillies - 4 split

Chilly Powder - 3/4 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp

Meat masala - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp

Curry leaves - 3 sprigs

Thin Coconut slices - 3/4 cup

Coconut oil for cooking

For marinating mutton:

Ground roasted spices(Recipe follows)

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 3/4 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tsp

Meat masala - 1 tsp

Ginger Garlic paste - 1.5 tsp

Salt to taste

For ground roasted spices:

Cinnamon stick - 2 each 2.5" long

Cloves - 7

Cardamom seeds - 1/4 tsp

Star anise - 1

1/2 nutmeg

Fennel seeds - 1.5 tbsp

Method:

• Dry roast the ingredients mentioned above at medium heat until the colour slightly changes and you get the aroma of roasted spices.
• Cool and grind to a fine powder.
• Marinate mutton with the above roasted spices and all other ingredients mentioned above under marinade.
• Keep marinated mutton for at least 30 minutes.
• Cook mutton in a pressure cooker adding little water. Keep aside.
• Add some oil in a pan and roast the coconut slices until the raw smell goes. Keep aside.
• Add oil to the same pan and splutter mustard seeds.
• Add freshly torn curry leaves and saute till it turns crisp and gives out aroma.
• Add chopped onions/sliced shallots along with green chillies and saute till onions turn brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes.
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook till it turns mushy.
• Add chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, meat masala, salt and mix everything together and saute till raw smell of spices go.
• Add cooked mutton along with water obtained from pressure cooking along with coconut slices.
• Mix everything well.
• Increase heat to high and saute till the water has evaporated and dish turns dry. You'll need to keep stirring at intervals to prevent mutton from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• When the dish has turned dry and the dish has turned dark brown, remove from heat.
• Serve hot with Appam/Idiappam/Steamed Rice with ghee.

Pooja.

Other Non-Vegetarian Dishes:

Chicken Ularthu(Roast)-Kerala style

I have been thinking to post this recipe since few days but conveniently forgot about this until I came across 'The Potluck-Chicken' event hosted by Vicky. And if you have read one of my earlier posts on Kerala chicken curry you will be knowing how crazy I'm about chicken dishes! I'm happy to indulge on it at any time of the day and due to my cravings for chicken I was the obvious target of my friends who loved to tease me on this craziness of mine. So here is another one of my favourites-Kerala style Chicken Roast.

I adopted the recipe from my husband's Kerala Beef Roast recipe which I had posted days ago but changed the quantity of ingredients used to suit the preparation. My husband is crazy about whole fresh spices and try to include them in any dish which doesn't even call for one. Though I use whole spices in some preparations, pairing with him turned me to a spice addict too and since then I have been generous in the usage of whole spices! I love the flavour imparted by freshly roasted and ground spices especially in meat preparations much to the delight of my husband who revels in his achievement of transforming me into a spice addict!

Ingredients:

Chicken- 1.75 lb cut into pieces

Red onions- 1 1/2 thinly sliced(the use of shallots gives an added taste to the dish)

4 slit green chillies(adjust according to your level of spiciness)

Fresh ginger minced- 1.5 tbsp

Fresh garlic-4 cloves minced

Tomatoes- 2 chopped

Freshly ground spices- 0.5 tbsp(see recipe below)

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp

Chicken masala- 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 sprigs curry leaves

Coconut oil for cooking

Dry roast and grind the following-Makes about 3 tbsp

2 cinnamon sticks each about 2.5" long

3/4 tsp cardamom seeds

6-7 cloves

1 nutmeg broken into pieces

2 tbsp fennel seeds

2 star anise

To marinate the chicken:

Freshly ground spices- 2.5 tbsp(from above)

Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp(or more)

Salt to taste

1.5 tsp ginger garlic paste(I used store bought one for marination only)

Turmeric powder- 3/4 tsp

Chicken masala- 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Dry roast the spices mentioned above at about medium heat in a pan until it starts to change colour or you get the aroma of the spices.
  
• Cool and grind to a powder without adding water. Keep aside.
  
• Marinate the chicken with the ingredients mentioned under marinade. Keep the marinated chicken for 3 hours in the refrigerator.
  
• Cook the marinated chicken in a pressure cooker. There is no need to add water to pressure cook chicken but in case you are concerned about safety(as I am!) you may add little water. Keep cooked chicken aside.
  
• Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds.
  
• Add curry leaves and saute for few seconds until it turns crisp and gives out aroma.
  
• Add minced ginger and garlic and saute till raw smell goes.
  
• Add chopped onions(or shallots) and green chillies and saute till onions turn brown.
  
• Add the remaining 0.5 tbsp freshly ground spices and saute for few seconds more.
  
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook till it turns mushy.
  
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, chicken masala and salt and saute for few minutes until raw smell of the spices go.
  
• Add cooked chicken along with water left after pressure cooking and mix well.
  
• Cook on medium-high heat until the dish turns dry. This process may take about 30 minutes depending on the amount of liquid and the heat. Note that during this process you need to stir continuously to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
  
• Add 1 tsp coconut oil and mix well.
  
• When the dish has become dry and has turned brown remove from heat.
  
• Serve hot with Appam/ Rice/ Roti/Chapati/ Naan.
  

This goes to The Potluck-Chicken event hosted by Vicky of Viki's Kitchen.

Pooja.

Other Non-Vegetarian Dishes:

Mutton Biriyani-Malabar Moplah Style

My mom's best friend hails from the famous Malabar region(the northern part) in Kerala and was born and bought up in a traditional Muslim family. Being also a childhood friend, my mom had the privilege of learning many traditional Malabar Muslim dishes from her. One among those being the Malabar Biriyani.

Since I loved Malabar cuisine, I researched more into it and as said in one of my previous posts I came across this book Malabar Muslim Cookery by Ummi Abdulla during a book exhibition in my home-town which enabled me to know more about Moplahs and their cuisine. The Malayalam speaking Muslims of the northern part of Kerala are known as Moplahs-the word Moplah being a variant of Mappilai, which means Bridegroom or Maha Pillai, which means a person held in esteem. It is an indication of the respect accorded to Kerala Muslims. They descended from the intermarriage of Arab traders, who came for trade initially, with local Kerala women. Later they proliferated with accretions to their ranks by conversion to Islam.

Many Moplah speciality dishes are for special occasions, the most festive one being a wedding in the family. Neichoru or Ghee rice is served during Mehndi night, the eve of the wedding when Henna is applied on the bride's hands and feet. Biriyani is served on the wedding night. Muttamala(Egg yolk garlands) is served with Pinnanathappam(Egg snow pudding) at the wedding.On the next morning a festive breakfast is served with pathiris-a pancake with rice flour, curries, puttu(another breakfast item of traditional Kerala cuisine made with rice flour), followed by tea etc.

Hence this biriyani is rightly called Moplah Malabar Biriyani. The dish is known for its mild flavour. The meat and rice are cooked separately and finally layered in an oven safe dish. The dish is then placed in a hot oven for about 20-25 minutes so that the flavour of the meat is infused into the rice. Traditionally the meat is cooked on a stove top till tender but to reduce the cooking time I cooked the meat in a pressure cooker, then later added to the gravy. If you have lots of time at your disposal you may follow the traditional cooking method.

Ingredients:

For meat:

1 lb mutton(with bones preferred) chopped

3/4 tsp turmeric powder

Chicken masala/Garam masala-3/4 tsp

Salt to taste

For rice:

1 cup Basmati rice/Long grained rice

2 1" cinnamon sticks

5 cloves

1 star anise

1 tsp fennel seeds

Few cardamom seeds

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp ghee

Salt to taste

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup water

Juice of 1/2 lemon

For preparing gravy:

1 tbsp ghee

1 red onion thinly sliced

1 large ripe tomato

Garlic-3 cloves

Ginger- a small piece(12 g approx)

Green chillies-5(depending on your level of spiciness)

Poppy seeds-1/2 tsp

1/4 cup curd

1.5 tsp chicken masala/garam masala

Few Coriander leaves(Cilantro)

Few mint leaves

Salt to taste

For garnishing:

1 big red onion thinly sliced

Few raisins-1/3 cup

Sliced cashews-1/2 cup

Few saffron strands

Ghee for sauteing onions, cashews and raisins

Method:

For cooking rice:

• Wash rice and drain well in a colander.
  
• Grind together cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, star anise, fennel seeds.
  
• Heat ghee in a pan and saute the ground spices and bay leaves for few seconds.
  
• Add rice and saute at low heat for about 7-8 minutes or until the grains turn crisp. Do not allow the grains to change colour.
  
• In a heavy bottomed vessel add coconut milk, water, lemon juice and salt and bring to a boil.
  
• Add rice, reduce heat to simmer and cook with a closed lid till done and water is absorbed. Remove from heat and keep aside.
  

For cooking meat:

• Marinate mutton with ingredients mentioned under meat. Keep aside for 35-40 minutes.
  
• Cook the marinated mutton in a pressure cooker till tender.
  

For preparing the gravy:

• Grind ginger, garlic, green chillies and poppy seeds together. Keep aside.
  
• Heat ghee in a pan and saute onions till it turns brown.
  
• Add the ground paste and saute till raw smell goes.
  
• Add chopped tomatoes and saute till mushy.
  
• Add curd, cooked mutton, chicken masala and salt along with the water oozed out while cooking mutton.
  
• Bring to a boil.
  
• Reduce heat and add coriander leaves and mint leaves.
  
• Cook till the water is absorbed. Do not make it completely dry.
  
• Remove from heat and keep aside.
  

Preparing the garnish:

• Heat about 1 tbsp ghee in a pan and fry the onions till golden brown. Add little sugar while frying to give the caramelized flavour. Remove from heat and keep aside.
  
• Add more ghee and fry cashews and raisins. Remove from heat.
  
• Dissolve saffron strands in 2 tbsp warm water.
  

Final layering:

• In an oven safe dish greased with ghee add some prepared gravy at the bottom.
  
• Put some cooked rice as a layer on top of the meat gravy.
  
• Sprinkle fried onions, cashews, raisins and saffron water on top of this. This forms a layer.
  
• Repeat with any number of layers you wish to have depending on the quantity of meat and gravy. In this case I made 2 layers.
  

Final steaming:

• Preheat oven to 350 F(180 C).
  
• After the preheat mode place the dish in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes.
  

Serving:

• For serving the biriyani you need to slice through the layers at one go to get a serving size. Repeat the process.
  
• Serve with tomato-cucumber raita and hot lemon tea(believe me, this is a great combo!

This goes to Monthly Mingle-Ravishing Rice Recipes hosted by Nags and started by Meeta.

Pooja.

Other Rice dishes:

Other Non-Vegetarian Dishes:

Chicken Curry-Kerala Style

Right from my childhood days I could never stop having chicken dishes. I guess chicken was the only thing that I liked having those days. I never used to like vegetarian side dishes with rice and my mom had a really tough time making me eat. I used to enjoy chicken dishes made at home and at restaurants and on such occasions I didn't need any one to force me to have it. My brother too loves chicken and when a chicken dish was prepared at home it never had to be kept in the refrigerator for next day! As I grew up I started loving vegetarian dishes too especially with paneer but my love for chicken still remained the same. I always ended up in having food double my capacity when there was chicken and hence during my work days I used to get teased a lot by my colleagues saying, "Never judge by looking at her size..have to see her before a chicken dish! The poor chickens would have a hard time when she goes home". My work place was far from my home town and was in a different state and whenever I went home my mom used to make her speciality chicken dishes for me..yummy!

Still I love chicken but I always prefer having with lots of spices rather than with only salt and pepper. One point that I noticed after coming to US was the chicken that we get here cooks faster than the one we used to get in India(am I right?!!)..Back at home making a chicken dish used to take a lot of time and when there was shortage of time it used to be cooked in a pressure cooker.Now I'm happy that I can make my favourite dish in a short span of time!

In this post I have recreated my mom's dish. Some traditional Kerala style chicken dishes are prepared with coconut milk and other spices. But in this recipe I substituted ground coconut for coconut milk that makes the gravy more thick and used freshly ground roasted spices in addition to other spices that imparts a special flavour to the dish than when it is cooked with ready made spices. And as always true with non-vegetarian dishes this too tastes better the next day. This goes well with Appam, Idiappam, Puttu, Steamed rice, Indian breads like Chapati, Roti, Naan etc.

Ingredients:

2 pounds chicken with bones cut into pieces

2 red onions

2 large ripe tomatoes

4 garlic cloves chopped

1.5 tbsp freshly minced ginger

1/2 tsp chilly powder(adjust according to your taste buds)

Turmeric Powder- 3/4 tsp

Coriander Powder- 1 heaped tsp

Chicken masala/Garam masala- 1 tsp

Freshly ground pepper- 1/2 tsp(adjust according to your taste)

Salt to taste

Grated coconut - 1/3 cup

Bay leaves

Mustard seeds- 3/4 tsp

2 sprigs curry leaves

Coriander leaves(Cilantro) for garnish(optional)

Coconut oil for cooking

To dry roast:

2 one inch cinnamon stick

5 cloves

Few cardamom seeds

1 star anise

1 tbsp fennel seeds

To marinate chicken:

Chilly powder- 1/2 tsp

Turmeric Powder- 3/4 tsp

Chicken masala- 1 tsp

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp ginger paste

Salt

Method:

• Marinate chicken pieces with ingredients mentioned under marinade. Leave it for minimum 1.5 hours.
  
• In a pan dry roast the ingredients mentioned above at medium heat until you get the aroma of spices and the colour slightly changes. Cool and grind. Keep aside.
  
• Grind grated coconut to a smooth paste adding water. Keep aside.
  
• In the same pan heat 1 tbsp coconut oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves and bay leaves and saute for few seconds.
  
• Add chopped ginger and garlic and saute till raw smell goes.
  
• Add chopped onions and saute for few seconds before adding the ground spices kept aside before. Cook till onions turn brown.
  
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook till it turns mushy.
  
• Add chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, masala, pepper and salt. Saute till raw smell goes.
  
• Add ground coconut along with enough water for making gravy and bring to a boil.
  
• Add the marinated chicken pieces, reduce the heat and cook with a closed lid until the chicken pieces are cooked well.
  
• Open lid, increase heat and cook till the gravy turns thick.
  
• Add 1 tbsp coconut oil, mix well and remove from heat.
  
• Garnish with cilantro if you wish.
  
• Allow the dish to rest for few hours with a closed lid before serving to allow the flavours to set in.
  

For pressure cooking:

• In case you are short of time and want to pressure cook, follow the instructions till onions turn brown.
  
• Next add the spice powders mentioned and saute till raw smell goes.
  
• Add the ground coconut along with enough water to cook chicken and to make enough gravy.
  
• Bring to a boil.
  
• Add this to pressure cooker along with marinated chicken and tomatoes. Pressure cook till done.
  
• After the steam has been released, open the cooker, transfer the contents to the same pan and cook until the gravy has turned thick. Follow the rest of the instructions mentioned above.

Pooja.

Other Non-Vegetarian Dishes: