Method:

1. Marinate the mutton overnight with yoghurt.

2. In a flat skillet dry roast Coriander seeds and fennel seeds for a 3-4 minutes until fragrant on a medium flame and stirring frequently. Once fragrant transfer them to a grinder and coarsely grind it. 

Note : I used a mortar pestle to roughly grind the roasted spices.



3. Dice the onions and separate out all the layers. On the same skillet dry roast the onions (refer to image). Keep turning the sides until they get slightly charred in the edges. Similarly char the ginger, garlic and 2 dried red chilli. It should be done in about 2 to 3 minutes on medium flame.

Then finally add one 1 tsp oil to the tawa and fry the grated coconut till a nice aroma comes and it starts to lightly brown on edges.

Tip: Charring the onion has two fold benefits. It adds a distinct flavour to the curry and secondly due to charring most of the water is evaporated, hence it cooks faster. 

Note: No oil is used for onion, garlic and ginger. This is simple dry roasting method.



4. Grind the charred onion, garlic, ginger, dried red chilli and coconut to a smooth paste with a little water and mix it with the marinated mutton. This needs to be done before you start to cook. Add the red chilli powder to the mutton as well and mix well. Also add about 1 tsp of grated raw mango and fold in.

5. Take a deep bottomed pan and add ghee. Let it get heated and become fragrant. Lightly fry the diced potato for 2-3 minutes and keep aside.

6. In the same ghee, break the red chillies into two and toss into the ghee. Add one bruised garlic clove with it. Sauté it for about a minute. Now add about 1 tsp of the grated mango and saute.

Tip: If you do not purely want to use ghee, you can take half and half of ghee and refined oil. But for a robust flavour ghee is recommended.

Note: Reduce/Adjust the number of chillies as per your tolerance level


6. Add the marinated mutton along with the marinade. Stir everything in nicely. Cook it for about 5-10 minutes on medium to high flame without the lid, stirring frequently. Adjust the salt and sugar.

Note: No turmeric is added in this preparation.


7. At this stage you can lower the flame and cover and cook it on dum till mutton is cooked. Or else if you want to save time, you can transfer it all to a pressure cooker, add enough warm water to the cooker and cook it for required number of whistles. I used the cooker here.

Tip: If you are adding the potato along with the mutton like I did, cook it for one or two whistles, take out the potato and then again put the mutton on pressure and cook it for about 5-6 more whistles or as long as your mutton takes to cook.


8. Transfer the mutton and the potatoes back to the deep bottomed pan and cook on medium flame.  Add the ground masalas to it which you had prepared in step 3. give it a nice stir and let it cook for about 5 minutes covered.


9. Now add the remaining grated and chunks of mango to the curry and fold everything in. Let it cook for about 5 more minutes covered.

Tip: You can chop or dice the mangoes instead of grating as well and add to the curry.


10. Once the cooking is done, top it off with a little ghee and let it remain covered till you are ready to serve. It will be a nice sweet, sour, and salty curry which pairs well with about anything.

11. Slit some green chillies and fry them in oil and then garnish the mutton before serving. The green chilli will add a nice zing to the tangy mutton gravy.

Serve it with steamed rice or Indian flatbread.