Mutton Dak Bungalow Curry Recipe

Mutton Dak Bungalow (or Bangla) cuisine, sadly, is a near-forgotten culinary treasure that survives among a few remaining khansama families and Anglo Indian households. Dak bungalows were rest houses where the travelers used to take rest while on a journey, or used as a night stop during a trip. At that time the caretaker had their own Poultry, Goat at Dak Bungalows for easy milk and meat supplies. This kind of curries are always be the only Dinner/Lunch item. So it is always cooked along with Potato, Egg and freshly ground spices, as that time Store Bought spices were not being used in cooking. Course : Dinner Ingridients : 500 grams Mutton , bones 3 tablespoons Curd (Dahi / Yogurt) 2 tablespoons Ginger Garlic Paste 1 teaspoon Red Chilli powder 1 teaspoon Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 2 tablespoons Mustard oil For the curry 4 Whole Eggs , hard boiled 4 Potatoes (Aloo) , small, peeled 3 tablespoons Mustard oil 1 tablespoon Ghee 1/2 teaspoon Radhuni , special bengali spice (optional) 1/3 teaspoon Methi Leaves (Fenugreek Leaves) 1 Bay leaf (tej patta) 1 Onion , sliced Tomato , sliced 1 teaspoon Ginger , paste 1-1/12 teaspoon Garlic , paste Salt , to taste For special spice powder 1 inch Cinnamon Stick (Dalchini) 3 Cardamom (Elaichi) Pods/Seeds 1 Black cardamom (Badi Elaichi) 1 Mace (Javitri) , blade 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg powder 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera) 1 tablespoon Coriander (Dhania) Seeds 2 Green Chillies , as per taste Dry Red Chilli , as per taste 4 Whole Black Peppercorns Instructions To begin making the Mutton Dak Bungalow Curry recipe, we will first marinate the mutton.Take the goat meat under the water at room temperature, and clean very well. Now put the meat in a large pasta strainer for 30 minutes to drain all the excess water.Now put the clean meat in a large bowl, add sour curd, ginger garlic paste, red chili powder, kashmiri red chili powder, turmeric powder & mustard oil and marinate all together very well.Rub the pieces of meat with the marination. Cover the pan and leave the marinated meat for overnight or 6-8 hours.Remove the marinated meat 2 hours before cooking.In the meantime make the "special spice powder" by dry grinding all the ingredients under the heading of "Special Spice Powder", in a spice grinder. Pour the "Special Spice Powder" in an airtight container and keep aside.The next step is to prepare the gravy. Take the boiled egg and prick the skin of the egg to prevent from bursting while frying. Now marinate the boiled eggs and potatoes with some salt and turmeric powder and keep aside for 10 minutes.Heat oil and ghee in a large non-stick pan, fry the marinated eggs and potatoes till they are golden brown, take them out of the pan and keep aside.Now in the same pan add Bay leaf, Radhuni & Methi and fry for a few seconds, but be careful, do not let the Methi burn. Add sliced onion and some salt and cover the pan for 2 minutes.Open the lid after 2 minutes and fry the onion till golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste to the pan and fry again for 1 minutes. Add sliced tomatoes and fry till the tomatoes are pulpy.Now add the marinated meat and the "special spice powder" to the pan and cover it for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes open the lid, and start frying on medium heat for 30 minutes.If the masala starts burning at the bottom, sprinkle some water and again fry. Add the fried potatoes to the pan and 2 cups of water.Here you can cook the meat in Pressure Cooker or in the same pan. If you are using a pressure cooker, then add all the meat along with the spices into the cooker, close the lid and cook for 10 minutes or upto 4 whistles.Let release all the pressures of the cooker by itself, and open the cooker and add the fried eggs now. Boil the curry for 5 minutes and turn off the heat and serve with plain rice and cucumber salad.ORIf you are cooking the meat in the pan, then cover the pan, lower the heat and let the gravy boil for 20-30 minutes or till the meat is soft and tender. When the meat is well cooked, open the lid and serve hot.Serve Mutton Dak Bungalow along with Phulka and Jeera Rice for a weekday meal.