Kadhai Gosht/Kadai Gosht (A North Indian Mutton Curry in Tomato Based Sauce)

This is one of most popular Indian non-vegetarian curry that you will come across almost every Indian restaurant menu anywhere in the world. Much before I started blogging, I was always tempted to try these popular dishes at home, and perfecting it as possible as I could. One among them was this Kadai gosht. When I started preparing this curry dish at home, the recipe was quite different, and I was not 100 percent satisfied with the outcome. Either it was a bit to tang from the tomatoes and the curd and sometimes the lemon juice that was added in the recipe. Made it several times making few tweaks here and there and this is so far the final version that I make these days and the best that I could make. Kadai gosht also known as Karahi gosht is prepared in large woks called ‘Kadhai’ or ‘kadai’ or ‘karahi’ and hence it gets its name. The curry is normally red in colour, quite a delicious one and it’s one of the best combinations of naan bread. Whenever we get it ordered from restaurants, many a times I have also found capsicum added to it. Capsicum would’nt be fully cooked, but crunchy. And I guess that is added at the final stage of cooking to bring that flavour and hold its shape without overcooking it. I have never tried with capsicum though since the capsicum taste will overpower the taste in the dish. You may try it at home, if you love the taste of capsicum in your dish.

Here, my meat got slightly overcooked because I forgot to take into account the time that I simmered the mutton before pressure cooking it and cooked it as it should be done without sautéing. You can see that in the outcome. My meat has started breaking down from overcooking. But apart from that the curry was really good and my hubby even asked me if it was Mutton Kadai even before I told him that it was. It pairs the best with butter naan, or simply plain naan and may be served along with rice, tandoor roti and even chappathis along with plain curd, raita and pickle.

Ingredients:

½ kilo lamb meat cut into 2 inch chunks

Marinade:

2 medium onion grated (scant 1 cup, 220g)

1 Tbsp dry fenugreek leaves (Kasury Methy) crushed using fingers

3 Tbsp creamy yogurt

1 tsp garam masala

½ Tbsp minced ginger

½ Tbsp minced garlic

Salt

Others:

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 cardamoms

3 cloves

2 small pieces cinnamon stick

2 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder

1 tsp roasted coriander powder

¼ tsp fennel seeds/aniseed

¼ tsp cumin seeds

¼ tsp turmeric powder

2 large tomatoes chopped (1 cup, 200g)

2-3 green chillies (Optional, add only if you need to give some heat to the curry)

Preparation:

1. Wash mutton pieces and drain well. Marinate lamb with the ingredients under marinade and refrigerate in a container with lid for a minimum of 4 hours or over night. (I always marinate it for one day.)

2. Bring the marinated meat to room temperature before cooking.

3. In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Add cardamom, cinnamon and cloves and sauté for few seconds till it leaves aroma. Add in the marinated meat and sauté for 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

4. Add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, green chillies if adding and tomatoes and stir fry for 8-10 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked and the meat is smothered in thick spiced gravy.

5. Add ¾ cup water, stir well and cook till done. Adjust the salt if need be. Normally the gravy is very thick and is delicious that way. But if you want little more gravy, add few tablespoons of water. Since we already sautéed meat for sometime, it would take less pressure cooking time. So don’t forget to check in between for doneness.
Garnish with coriander leaves and ginger juliennes and serve hot with naan.