PRESSURE COOKER E MUTTON

Pressure Cooker it is not much in use in my kitchen except for boiling certain variety of lentils, "thor & mocha, ghugnir motor" in it. Pressure Cooker when used wisely becomes important kitchen tool. I hardly use it for "cooking" purposes because I have seen final step if done in pressure cooker does not give same taste that cooking in wok gives. Because I may not know right use of pressure cooker that concerns mainly timing, recipe cooked in it doesn't appeal my taste bud. Only  meat stews I do in pressure cooker. People who make extensive use of pressure cooker would counter me saying curries done in it locks in nutrients. I agree! May be because I do  not know how to use it diligently, dishes done in it doesn't look good, tastes a bit bland. 

Same happened with microwave oven, it majorly remained a medium to reheat food. For quite sometime, I get to hear that using microwave oven for reheats is bad for our health but I cannot do without it. I remember how my side of family didn't accept it, reheated stuffs before dinner in wok, again cleaned gas stove before going to sleep.  I cannot even ask Cristine to perform this exercise each day, let me use both pressure cooker, microwave the way I wish to my convenience. Doing this mutton curry with lemon juice, tomato, plain yogurt in pressure cooker PRESSURE COOKER E MUTTON saved 1/2 an hour of total time I require doing it in wok. The taste was good but I would still hold the view that mutton or chicken cooked in wok tastes better.

It was a Saturday, so I did not make any effort to take stepwise pictures of recipe. You might have noticed  I don't click steps of recipes my family veterans may not doubt my limits. These simpler mutton, chicken, fish recipes don't need stepwise photo guide, anyone can do! I get mutton once every two weeks, wisdom is to restrict intake to once a month, red meat does no good to our body but we love mutton, cannot resist having. This is case for most in family, they definitely struggle to resist having it. 

I think I have mentioned earlier the following. It was 2017 February, our parents were in their yearly visit to Puri.... the land of fish. They used to stay there for 15 days every year, our mother preferred to cook herself given they get fresh fish there! Our father loved prawns so much, prawns in Puri are too fresh. In the land of fish, he got some mutton one day, had it in the land of temples just two months before his death. I prefer not to have mutton outside home, if its not cooked properly I get smell. 

Yesterday, the mutton of the mutton-rice of a famous Bangladeshi chain did smell. The mutton supply here comes from Kangaroo Land whose mutton & lamb variety is not per our likeness, We should have patience while cooking it. This Bangladeshi chain uses bigger in size, better quality of mutton pieces on Saturdays & Sundays. We better cook mutton with lots of love at home, somedays  in a pressure cooker like this PRESSURE COOKER E MUTTON.

INGREDIENTS :

MUTTON OR LAMB : 1KG
PLAIN YOGURT : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
CHOPPED TOMATO : 1SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED OR SLICED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
MINCED GINGER : 11/2TSP
MINCED GARLIC : 2TBSP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 4-5
LEMON JUICE : 4-5TBSP
VINEGAR : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TBSP
FENNEL POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP + 1TSP
CINNAMON POWDER : 1/2TSP
CLOVES POWDER : 1/4TSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
BAYLEAF : 2
SUGAR : 1TSP[OPTIONAL]
OIL : 2-3TBSP 

PROCEDURE :

Wash mutton thoroughly getting rid of any amount of skin, hair. This work took 40-45 minutes alone at our homes. Cristine hardly listens to me.

Drain water, marinate with vinegar for an hour. Wash mutton again thoroughly, discard any amount of water.

Marinate it with beaten plain yogurt+some salt+cumin powder+red chilli powder+coriander powder+fennel powder+1tsp turmeric powder very well rubbing for 3-4 minutes.

Keep it in a tightly covered container for at least 5-6 hours, I marinate it over night. Take it out an hour before starting to cook.

Heat oil in pressure cooker, temper with the bay leaves. Add washed & minced garlic, ginger, 1tsp turmeric. Stir fry for 1/2 a minute.

Add chopped onions, fry until brown at low heat. Add mutton pieces sans marinade. Stir at high heat for 4-5 minutes.

Reduce heat to minimal, add marinade, stir, cover with a plate, cook for 15 minutes. Remove cover, check level of water being released. Stir for 1-2 minutes, cover cook at minimal heat for another 15 minutes. Remove cover, stir for a while, cover cook again for 8-10 minutes.

Remove cover to see if water has dried. If so, add washed, chopped tomatoes, slitted green chillies, cinnamon+green cardamom+cloves powder. Stir well for 2 minutes.

Add 11/2 coffee mug of water to pressure cooker, stir, close tight lid. Pressure cook at low up to 1 whistle, switch off gas oven. Let cover open by itself. Add lemon juice, stir.

We are done. The curry tastes better next day. We also had simply made paneer curry, split urad dal with skin, thinly sliced egg plant fry on that day. Have it with steamed rice, pulao, fried rice, or bread varieties.