Bengali Style Mangsher Jhol Recipe-Mutton Curry

‘Mangsher Jhol’ and Sundays are synonymous in Bengali kitchen. I remember my childhood days when Sunday used to be dance classes in the morning, ‘Tekona Porota’ and ‘Aloo Chorchori’ for breakfast or ‘Luchi-Sada Aloor Chorchori’ for breakfast and Chicken Curry or Mutton Curry for lunch was a must. I still remember when Maa used to grind the masalas in ‘shil-nora’ (a traditional way of grinding spices with the help of a oblong stone piece on a large stone square piece). And the flavour or freshly ground spices were unparalleled to any branded spice powder. Course : Dinner Ingridients : 1 kg Mutton 3 Potato (Aloo) , peeled and cut into halves 2 cups Onion , finely chopped 2 tablespoon Onions , paste 2 tablespoon Garlic , paste 2 tablespoon Ginger , paste 1 teaspoon Cumin powder (Jeera) 1-1/2 teaspoon Coriander Powder (Dhania) 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 2 teaspoons Red Chilli powder , or as per your heat tolerance 1 tablespoon Vinegar 2 tablespoons Mustard oil , + 1/2 cup 150 grams Curd (Dahi / Yogurt) 4 teaspoons Ghee 1 teaspoon Garam masala powder 1 teaspoon Sugar Salt , to taste For tempering 2 Bay leaf (tej patta) 2 Dry Red Chillies 1 Black cardamom (Badi Elaichi) 4 Cardamom (Elaichi) Pods/Seeds 4 Cloves (Laung) 1 Cinnamon Stick (Dalchini) Instructions To begin making the Mangsher Jhol recipe, wash the mutton pieces and drain the water. Marinate the mutton pieces with 2 tablespoons onion paste, 1/2 teaspoon ginger paste,1/2 teaspoon garlic paste, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 tablespoon vinegar and 2 tablespoons mustard oil. Mix well. Cover and keep the meat with marination in the refrigerator at least for 3-4 hours.Smear little salt and turmeric powder to the peeled and halved potatoes. Heat oil in a kadai or wok. Fry the potato pieces till golden brown. Keep them aside.Add 3 teaspoons ghee to the oil. Temper the ghee+oil with the ingredients mentioned under 'For tempering'. When you get the aroma, add chopped onion and cook till the onion turns soft.Once the onions are soft, add sugar. Sugar when caramelize with oil will give very nice red colour.Add the rest of the ginger paste and garlic paste and cook till oil separates.Now add the marinated mutton pieces with all the marinade. Mix very well. Sauté the mutton for another 4-5 minutes.Beat the yogurt and pour it in the kadai. Mix very well. After adding the yogurt you’ll see that mutton start releasing water. Stir continuously for another 5-6 minutes. Add salt.Add all the dry masalas and stir continuously till oil starts separating from the sides of the kadai. The process of this continuous sauté is very important otherwise you’ll not get the red, velvety, tasty mutton gravy.Add fried potato pieces and give it a final mix. Now add 2 to 2-1/2 cups of warm water. Let it come to a boil.You can cook the mutton curry in two ways. Either you can cook it in a pressure cooker for faster cooking (On high heat one whistle and then 20 minutes on low heat. Let the pressure release of its own) or you can cook it in the kadai/handi with lid on slow heat until the meat is done.When the meat is done transfer it in a serving bowl. Drizzle 1 teaspoon ghee and a little garam masala powder. Cover and let it rest for few minutes. Serve hot.Serve this delicious Mangsher Jhol along with Steamed Rice for a weekend dinner. You can also serve Chaler Payesh as a dessert to end your scrumptious meal.