I am making North Indian Restaurant Style Mutton Masala (a lamb or goat meat curry recipe) in the pressure cooker with simple spices. Check my step-by-step cooking method with pictures and video (English and Bengali subtitles with Bengali voiceover) for reference.
About Mutton masala recipe
Mutton masala is a popular mutton curry from North Indian cuisine. Mostly seen in North Indian restaurants’ menus. This mutton curry is generally served with rice, roti, or chapati. However, also tastes great if served with chicken biryani, white pulao, lachha paratha, naan, kulcha, and even tandoori roti or rumali roti too.
Mutton (lamb or goat meat), whole spices (khada masala), ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, coriander powder, and garam masala powder are mainly required for making this recipe. This Mutton curry originated in India’s Royal Mughlai kitchen and was later passed on to North Indian cuisine.
Everyone wants to make restaurant-style mutton masala at home. Though using almost the same ingredients, don’t get an exact restaurant-style taste, right? So something must be special in this restaurant-style mutton curry, so let’s try to find out the secret of this recipe.
Actually, more than ingredients, restaurants’ cooking technique generally brings that mouthwatering taste to this mutton curry. That mostly makes the difference between our homemade and restaurant-style mutton masala recipes.
Even people say such traditional mutton curry recipes do not retain that authentic taste if made without using a kadai/pan. However, without using a kadai, my pressure cooker brings the same taste contained in the authentic restaurant-style mutton masala even in less time.
Pro tips for making Restaurant-Style Mutton Masala recipe
This Indian restaurant-style mutton curry taste depends on a few things. 1. how long fry the onions, 2. how long roast the tomato and curd?, 3. how long does roast ginger-garlic paste, 4. how to long roast the dry masala mixture(including dry red chilli powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, and coriander powder) in oil, 5. how long to roast the meat, If any one of these ingredients is not perfectly roasted then a raw smell will exist in this curry and won’t get that restaurant-style taste. I describe how to do this all through my step-by-step recipe, hope that will help you to do it perfectly.
Don’t put other ingredients into the oil till the onions are not perfectly fried. Onion raw smell will exist, even the crunchiness of onion will also exist and never allow it to meltdown in the gravy. If tomato-curd- green chilli- ginger-garlic paste is not perfectly roasted in oil then also the raw smell of these spices exists and spoils the taste of the gravy. Even dry spices like chilli powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder and coriander powder need to roast well to avoid their raw smell in the gravy. Even perfectly roasting meat is one more crucial task for making such recipes.
The Secret of this Indian mutton curry lies in roasting all ingredients till the oil is separated from the masala. Though more roasting may cause burning of the masala and as a result, the gravy may get bitter in taste.
Even the ratio of meat and spices used in such recipes should be perfect, as that is one more secret to getting a restaurant-style taste. If you use more masala (paste or powder) can spoil the taste of the gravy. As the same method can be used in making chicken masala curry too, however, the quantity of masala will be less than this recipe.
Even using whole spices in oil plays one more important role, as in this step, whole spices release their flavour in oil to make a flavoursome gravy.
To have a Punjabi restaurant or street-side Dhaba style taste, then must use Kasturi methi and must cook it in mustard oil.
Generally in restaurants, mostly curry-cut mutton is used for making these recipes, and whole cooking is performed in an iron kadai or handi. However, you can prepare this mutton curry with boneless goat meat too, simply cook it in iron kadai or handi though takes more cooking time than pressure cooker but taste delicious.
For making any mutton curry recipe, all the time simply use a combination of boneless mutton pieces and with bone mutton pieces especially Nalli(bone marrow), shoulder, raan or front leg portuin and puth or rump ) which are the best part of mutton(lamb or goat) which plays a crucial role to make delicious mutton curry. Though you may use mutton chops or ribs pieces too. As I used in making my mutton chops fry and Kolkata style mutton chaaprecipes.
Must add the salt when the meat(red meat like lamb or goat meat) is perfectly roasted in masala and starts releasing oil.
Though my own addition of a teaspoon of desi ghee at the last of this recipe makes this curry more flavourful as well as scrumptious. However, I do not have any idea whether ghee is really used in restaurants’ mutton masala or not.
If you love red meat, then must try this restaurant-style mutton masala recipe with it at home. I hope my step-by-step recipe will help in the best way whenever you want to make this dish at home. Enjoy this mutton curry with plain rice/ghee rice, roti, chapati, or even with biryani or pulao. I mostly have it with my Bengali biryani and it tastes delicious, though you may try it with Hyderabadi biryani or Lucknow biryani too.
If you enjoy this mutton masala curry so please write down your valuable feedback about this recipe in the comment section below.
You may also check my Classic Bengali biryani and pulao recipes from my blog post to serve with this dish –
Recipe by Moumita PaulCourse: Main course, Lunch, DinnerCuisine: North IndianDifficulty: Easy
Servings
4
servings
Prep time
20
minutes
Cooking time
25
minutes
Calories
577
kcal
Total time
45
minutes
Mutton masala is the North Indian restaurant-style lamb or goat meat curry cooked in a flavourful spicy gravy. Serve rice, roti or chapati, goes well with this mutton curry.
Ingredients
○ 650 gMutton or lamb or goat meat (curry cut pieces)
○ Half Lemon juice
○ 3 Onions Finely sliced
○ One Tomato(medium)
○ 3 pcs Green chillies
○ 1 tsp Ginger paste
○ 2 tsp Garlic paste
○ 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
○ 1 tsp Red chilli powder(tikha lal)
○ 1 tsp Coriander powder
○ 1 tsp Turmeric powder
○ 4 tbsp Curd/Yogurt
○ 1/2 tsp Garam masala powder
○ 1/2 tsp Salt
○ 8-10 tbsp Vegetable oil
○ 1 tsp Ghee
○ A handful of chopped fresh coriander
Dry whole spices for making this mutton curry
○ 1-inch Cinnamon stick
○ 2 pcs Green cardamom
○ One Black cardamom
○ 8 pcs Black peppercorn
○ 4 pcs Cloves
○ One Bay leaf
Equipment required for cooking
○ A pressure cooker
○ A wooden spatula
How to make Mutton Masala step by step with pictures
Marination
Take meat (mix with bone and boneless mutton pieces), clean and wash thoroughly in lukewarm water and drain the water well. Marinate the meat with half lemon juice and mix it well.
Preparation
Cut the onion into fine slices and by using a grater, make the ginger garlic paste.
Grind one medium-size tomato and 3 green chillies, and make a smooth paste of it.
Making of gravy
Heat a pressure cooker, and add vegetable oil to the pressure cooker. Once the oil is hot, add the whole spices(described in ingredients) to the hot oil. Let the spices splutter, then add finely chopped onion to the cooker.
Fry the onion till gets soft and golden brown, then add the tomato-green chilli paste to the pan. Stir it well.
Saute it till the raw smell of tomato goes off. Then add ginger-garlic paste to the cooker, and stir it well. Again saute it till its raw smell goes off.
Then add spicy red chilli powder(I used tikha lal), Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, and coriander powder, and stir it well.
Cook it for a few minutes, then add well-beaten curd/yoghurt in the pressure cooker and mix it well with the masalas and saute it for some time.
Saute until the masala leaves oil and the masala almost gets dry. Then add the mutton to the cooker and mixwith the masala. Frequently stir the mutton to avoid sticking it to the bottom of the pressure cooker.
Once the gravy starts boiling, then close the pressure cooker lid. Reduce the flame of your gas oven to its minimum and pressure cook the mutton for the first 10-12 mins on slow flame.
When the meat releases the oil too then only add salt and mix it well. After cooking for 2 more mins, add 2 cups lukewarm water to it. Stir it well. Let the gravy boil.
Then raise the flame to high and let the pressure cooker blow 2 whistles. Turn off the heat, and wait until the cooker automatically releases its pressure.
Once the cooker releases its pressure, remove its lid and check whether the meat is perfectly cooked or not.
Then again turn on the heat, keep the cooker on a high flame and cook it for 5 mins to reduce the gravy. Stir it frequently to avoid burning from the bottom. In the meantime, add one tsp of ghee and 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder.
The gravy should reach its right consistency when bubbles come on the surface of the gravy, simply indicating the gravy is just right, not too soupy or not too dry.
Basically, we need a semy dry gravy, which is perfect to eat with roti, paratha, chapati, biryani, naan or kulcha.
Then add a handful of chopped coriander leaves from the top of the gravy. Mix it well. And mutton masala is ready to serve.
Notes
Check the detailed step-by-step recipe with a full picture description.
How to make Restaurant-Style Mutton Masala with step-by-step pictures
Instructions
Marination
Clean and thoroughly wash the mutton with lukewarm water, and drain the water well.
Mix the mutton with half the lemon juice and mix it well.
This marination with lemon juice will help to tenderize the mutton, make it soft & juicy, and help in fast cooking even when not using a pressure cooker.
Preparation
Cut the onion into fine slices and by using a grater, make the ginger garlic paste.
Grind one medium-sized tomato(cut into pieces) and 3 green chillies well to make a smooth paste.
How to make the gravy
Heat a pressure cooker, and add oil(any vegetable oil) to the cooker.
When the oil is hot, add the whole garam masala to the hot oil.
Once the spices splutter, then add finely chopped onion to the cooker.
Fry the onion till gets soft and golden brown.
Then add the tomato-green chilli paste to the pan. Stir it well.
Saute them till the raw smell of tomato goes off.
Then add ginger-garlic paste to the cooker, and stir it well. Again saute it till its raw smell goes off.
Then add red chilli powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, stir it well.
Cook the spices for a few minutes, then add well-beaten curd to the cooker and again mix it well and saute it for some time.
Saute until the masala leaves oil and the masala gets almost dry (Do not over-fry the masala).
Then add the marinated mutton to the cooker and mix the meat with the other masala.
Frequently stir the mutton to avoid sticking it to the bottom of the pressure cooker.
When the meat releases the oil too then only add salt and mix it well.
After cooking for a few more minutes, add the water to it. Stir it well. Let the gravy boil.
Once the gravy starts boiling, then close the pressure cooker lid.
Reduce the flame of the oven(gas oven) to its minimum and cook it for 10-12 mins on a slow flame.
After 10-12 mins raise the flame to high and let the pressure cooker blow 2 whistles.
Then turn off the heat, and wait till the cooker automatically releases its pressure.
Once the cooker releases its pressure, remove its lid and check whether the meat is perfectly cooked or not.
Then again turn on the heat, and keep the cooker on a high flame. Actually mutton masala has a thick gravy so to reduce the gravy cook it for 5 minutes.
Frequently stir the gravy to avoid the gravy burning from the bottom.
In the meantime, add one tsp of ghee and 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder.
When bubbles come on the surface of the gravy, indicating the gravy is just right, not too soupy or not too dry.
Basically, we need a semy dry mutton gravy, which is perfect to eat with roti, paratha, chapati, biryani, naan or kulcha.
Then add a handful of chopped coriander leaves from the top of the gravy. Mix it well.
Mutton masala is ready to serve.
Tips for cooking this traditional mutton (lamb) masala curry
Usually, in any mutton curry, nalli pieces (area of meat with bones) always taste more delicious than the boneless pieces. As goat meat with bone pieces are always softer and juicier than boneless meat, is the best reason to use in making any mutton curry recipes even cooked faster without marination.
Even you can make this recipe in a pan, though the method is the same however takes a long time.
When adding whole spices in oil be very careful as it splutters. Especially black cardamom, green cardamom and black pepper) and may cause burning your skin. Even you may little crush it before adding it in oil. Or just after adding the whole spices, close the pressure cooker lid immediately.
Here I have added red chilli powder as per my requirement, you may use it according to your taste. Even you may use slightly more Kashmiri chilli powder to bring more red colour to this gravy.
Ghee is not mandatory but it makes this curry just delectable.
You may try this recipe with any kind of red meat, like lamb, goat or beef.
As red meat is not good for health for containing high calories and fat. So if you have any restrictions on red meat, then try it with chicken too.
After cooking, you can store this mutton curry in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Don’t store it for more days as may lose its original taste.