Slow Cooked Dum Mutton

Ingredients
Mutton – ½ Kg
Curd – 2 tbsp
Papaya paste – 1 tbsp
Onions – 2
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Green Chili – As per taste
Mint Leaves - handful
Coriander Leaves - handful
Bay leaves- 2
Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder – ½ tsp
Garam masala powder – ½ tsp
Salt – As per taste
Peppercorns – 1 tbsp
Cinnamon stick -1
Mace- 1 small strand
Nutmeg – 1 pinch
Cloves – 4
Black Cardamom- 3
Green Cardamom – 2-3
Anise star – 1
Instructions
Clean the mutton thoroughly. Transfer mutton in a bowl and add curd. Add papaya paste, ginger garlic paste, salt, bay leaves, chopped mint and coriander leaves, turmeric, coriander, red chili and garam masala powder. Mix it well.
As I mentioned, you can cook mutton without any oil using dum method. In that case you can chop the onions and add in mutton. But as brown onions tempted me so much, I fried onions before adding in.
Now we’ll make bouquet garni of raw spices to add the beautiful flavor in mutton. In a cheese cloth, put peppercorns, cinnamon stick, mace, nutmeg, cloves, black and green cardamom and anise star and tie it. This goes straight to mutton mix.
Cover the bowl and let meat marinate for 1 to 1.5 hrs. Longer the better!!. Papaya paste will tenderize the meat in the meantime.
Now transfer the marinated meat as it is in a vessel which you can cover and seal the lid. This cute little handi was my Dhanteras purchase.
Knead a cup of flour to seal the lid. Cover the cooking vessel, and seal the cover with kneaded flour. Now mutton has to be cooked on a very low flame for 45 minutes. I used tawa (used to make chapatis) and kept my handi over it.
Mutton will slowly get cooked extracting all the flavors and aroma of the spices. In no time you’ll realize how beautiful your kitchen smells.
After approximately 45 minutes mutton is ready. Serve with chapatti or rice. It’s simply brilliant!!