Sunday 4 October 2009

Mutton Ularthiyathu (A Kerala Mutton Dry Curry)



Goodness, winter is almost here and I have started shivering already! Yeah, cold weather is a bit too much for me to bear. I really shiver like the way Tom in Tom & Jerry shivers...lol....These days it has been very windy and chilly as well.....During school days, I remember learning about all four seasons, but being in the gulf Area, I never noticed much of seasonal change apart from the winters and the ‘terribly hot’ summers. Autumn and spring were never felt much until I came to UK, where you notice the weather change due to change in the surroundings. I didn’t know the autumn had started until I saw the leaves of the trees in front of my balcony started getting beautiful red and golden colours and falling off. And the spring at its prettiest, you can see blanket of yellow daffodils all over the place.......but red and few other colours are also seen. They are so beautiful.....You know what, I get to see rainbows a lot these days!!I saw one ground to ground rainbow when I went for a morning walk in a vast, open and empty field....I always feel so exited at the sight of a rainbow. It is amazing......



Now, how I came to try this recipe out......when it comes to cooking, I always have to think sooo much what to cook!!It’s like an international issue for me at times.... Most of the time, it happens that I start thinking the previous day what to cook for next day! Since some of the foods that I make has fermenting and soaking of rice, earlier plan should be made. But I hate it sometimes, because there will be so many ideas and recipes that I end up getting confused and finally I seek my husband’s help asking him what he wants to have the next day...And all I get is his usual answer, “I will have what evvvver you eat”...or... “What’s in your mind, give me options.....” etc...

On one such confused day, I started skimming through my old collections of recipes in a recipe book which has no pictures and came across this recipe. I remember having one mutton Ularthu in of the Keralite restaurants here and had fallen in love with it, and I think that was the first time when I had a dry preparation for mutton. When it comes to cooking mutton, I usually make a gravy dish or end up making Biriyani. Unlike all other recipes that I made, mutton Ularthu had a typical Kerala taste and I just loved it. It was well seasoned and was not overpowering at all. It may be served as a thick curry by adding a bit more water or as a dry dish as I prepared here. We loved it so very much.....My husband being a gravy person told this would go perfectly with porotta! He has an eternal attachment with porotta too....


Mutton Ularthiyathu
Recipe Adapted from :Lalitha Pachakam by Nikhila Govind.
Serves 4
Ingredients:

½ kilo mutton cut into 1 ½” – 2” chunks
1 ½ Tbsp ground coriander
½ Tbs Kashmiri Chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt as required
½ cup water
2-3 Tbs coconut oil
2 twigs Curry leaves
220 g (1 ½ cups) chopped onion
6 cloves of garlic grated (2 Tbs firmly packed)
30g / 2” medium thick ginger (1 heaped Tbsp)
¼ cup Sliced coconut (Thengakkothu)
1 dried Red Chilli, chopped
1 medium size tomato

To roast and grind:
1-1 ½ tsp fennel seeds (Perumjeerakam)
2 cloves
2 cardamoms
2-3 small pieces of cinnamon sticks

For final sprinkling:
2 Tbs chopped coriander leaves
1 twig curry leaf
¾ tsp pepper powder
½ tsp spice powder (from the roasted and ground powder)

Preparation:
1.Wash the mutton, marinate with ground coriander, Kashmiri Chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt for half an hour.
2. Heat a pressure cooker, add this marinated mutton along with half a cup of water and cook till done.
3. In another pan, heat oil. Add onions, ginger, garlic, curry leaves, red chilli and sliced coconut and sauté until onions starts turning golden colour.
4. At this stage, add cooked meat along with the water and sauté until it gets thick. Add the chopped tomato and spices leaving ½ tsp behind for final sprinkling and sauté until the curry is quite dry and starts taking a light blackish/dark brown colour.
5. Add pepper powder, chopped coriander, curry leaves and the rest of spice powder and stir well. Close the lid and cook for a couple of minutes until the coriander leaves are wilted and the flavours all are well combined. If it becomes too dry, just sprinkle some water.

Garnish with chopped shallots, sliced coconut and coriander leaves. Can be served as a side dish for rice, chappathi, porotta etc. I prepared this as a side dish for chappathi.

23 comments:

Dori said...

Oh yeah, I like to have my meals all pre-planned... I hate going into the kitchen to cook something, and not having something I need... Then I improvise, and something good, or bad comes out! I am not fond of the cold weather, either. I shiver the same way you do, but I also cannot stand the super hot weather of summers. I am a moderate temp kind of girl :) My family is so much like your husband, I ask them what they want to eat, and they say, "Whatever you want to cook," or "I don't know,", or "Everything you make is good." :) Well It's good they trust us :)

Unknown said...

mouthwatering pic dear :) mutton olathiyathu ente oru fav dish aanu tgh I've never tried it with porotta, will do that sometime.

saffronapron.blogspot.com said...

Yes, to experience all seasons you have to be in N/S America , or Europe or Australia.It's becoming cold here as well.
Nice recipe shabs.

Unknown said...

That would make a perfect weekend lunch! looks spicy and delicious!

Varsha Vipins said...

wooo..total yum..I was dreading to open this post cos I miss mutton so much.:(..here we get lamb n that dont taste like our nadan mutton..I usually make the Ularthu like this..almost same...marination-nu coriander use cheyilla for mutton,as mom tells boil cheyyumbo with water,coriander taste kurayum athre..but for chicken n all its the same...:)

Tina said...

Iyooooo enne angu kollu....athinte colour kandalariyam oru sambhavam thanne anennu.......

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Hey looks so yummy shabs .. hey dear participate in "Garnish the dish event"

Faiza Ali said...

Sounds interesting with all those spices...have bookmarked it to try, inshallah.

Shabs.. said...

Meeso....I guess all men are same...isnt it..?they just want good food without being bothered about it much....i too hate hot summers and cold winters....

Maria, this one looks like a famous kerala dish and i had to wait so long to try this out!!!Glad i did...we dont make such dishes in kannur area...

Smitha..:)....u r ryt....

Divya....looooooooooong time no see...thx for stopping by n compliments..

Tina...hehe....

Pavithra....i wud sure participate in the event...actually forgot abou it..thx for reminding..

faiza, do try it out...hopt u will like it...



Varsha...i hate the smell of lamb itself....oru cheli naattam alley athinu?!and thx for that coriander powder info...

Vrinda said...

i lov mutton than chicken..looks superb with munchatty..

Sarah Naveen said...

Oh wow!!!
Adipoli dea..!!!
A must try version!!!

Anonymous said...

Tnx for stopping by simplydelicious
&for the nice comments.u have a fabulous space here!
Really amazing presentation!!!

Unknown said...

Kidilam!!Your dishes are simply mouthwatering and the pics make us more hungry!You rock !Thank u soooo much!looking fwd to more yummy naadan recipes frm u. :) :)

Unknown said...

Glad you liked the omapodi recipe. Yes ajwain lookks similar to jeera. It is smaller in size. Let me know how it turns out.

Saju Sharfu said...

hey got an award and tag for u..please check it out!

Shifa Firoz said...

lovely blog :) im a first timer here and ur recipes are similar to mine but in a different way :) are u from calicut?

Shabs.. said...

hey saju...thx for the award...Im very happy to receive that award and tag, but dono when im going to post next!!!

Hi shifa!Thx for stopping by and ur compliments....Im from kannur....but i think there are many recipes similar isn't it?....As u told similar in a differnt way:)....

To the other gorgeous ladies, Thx for the compliments and ur lovely comments....Much appreciated...

vidhas said...

Hi shabs,

A giant bear hug is waiting for u , come and collect it.

Arabic Bites said...

Hi shabs,
How are you???

I'm just like you... what to cook is defiantly an issue for me all the time & if I ask my family they don't help much :D

& you are so right about gulf Area weather I think it's hot all the time especially in uae but in Saudi Arabia you can feel some changing in winter weather :D

the Mutton Ularthiyathu looks so delicious...this the kind of recipe I love.. will try it soon & let you know...

Have a good day :)

Lena Jayadev said...

hai shabs...snap is awesome..Tina had told about your blog to me.but i couldn find your blog before this..then yesterday Tina n Noble was here..so they helped me to find it..this is a gorgeous blog dear..i loved all snaps.. :) .njanum athe naadanu.. :)..im from thrissure and got married to a calicut person..and settled in pune after wedding.. :)

Shabs.. said...

@vidhas....Thanks alot for the award dear...

@Arabic bites,
I am fine dear...Thanks alot fro the comments...While trying this recipe, try reducing the amount of chilli powder...They might be a bit spicy for ur taste...Let me know when u try them out ok...
Hugs,
shab..

Latha said...

Really mouthwatering.....lovely blog.

Just have a look at mine when u find time..

Anonymous said...

shaby, adipoli mutton..
will mail u soon, insha Allah.

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