Laal Maas

Serves 4–6. About 20 minutes of work, an hour of marinating, then an hour or so on the hob.

Every step below carries its own quantities, so once you start you never have to scroll back up. The shopping list is at the bottom.

Before you start

Deseed 15 Mathania chillies, and soak them if they are very dry. Take 1kg mutton out of the fridge. Total ghee for the dish is 300g — not a typo, it is what makes it laal maas.

1 · Grind the spice blend

Into a blender:

• 4 tsp coriander seeds
• 4 black cardamom
• 5 green cardamom
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cloves
• 2 pieces nutmeg
• 15 deseeded Mathania chillies

Blend to a coarse powder. Set aside 1 tsp for the garnish — into a separate bowl now, before you forget. The rest goes into the marinade.

2 · Marinate — 1 hour

In a large bowl, combine:

• 1kg mutton
• all of the spice blend except the reserved 1 tsp
• 150g whipped curd
• 100g ginger paste
• 100g garlic paste
• ¾ tsp turmeric
• 2 bay leaves

Mix so every piece is coated. Cover, leave 1 hour.

3 · Brown the onion

Heat 300g desi ghee in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add 1 onion, sliced thin, sauté until golden. Keep it moving near the end — golden, not brown.

4 · Build the gravy

To the onions add:

• 1 cup water
• 200g tomato purée
• 25g crushed ginger
• 50g crushed garlic cloves
• 2½ tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

Sauté until the oil separates and pools at the edges. This is the step that decides the dish — don’t rush it.

5 · Cook the meat

Add the marinated mutton, everything in the bowl. Stir to coat, cook until tender.

Salt goes in here, to taste — not before.

6 · Finish

Sprinkle over the 1 tsp of spice blend set aside in step 1. Serve hot.

Shopping list

Notes

• The original method said javitri (mace) at the grinding step where the ingredient list said nutmeg. Kept as nutmeg above, since that is what gets bought. To try it with mace instead: 2 blades rather than 2 pieces.
• Ginger and garlic appear twice on purpose — paste in the marinade, crushed in the gravy. Different jobs.