A trip to Rajasthan few times in a year was a norm for us while growing up. My parents were posted in UP, and the entire extended family lived in various cities of Rajasthan. The excitement to meet the family had no boundaries, and just the thought of gorging on the delicious fare that we got to eat for most meals, still make my tongue tickle.
One of the many dishes that were made at home under the guidance of my grandmom was this Rajasthani Laal Maas. Fiery red, as if someone who cooked it was really angry, and popped the entire stash of red chilli powder in the curry, is what you feel when you have a first look at the dish.
Standing true to its name, Laal Maas is dark red in colour and burst of flavour in every bite. Mathania chilies grown in a few areas of Rajasthan were traditionally used to make this dish, but today with lack of availability, any other chilli which gives good colour and heat can be used.
In the olden days, it was made using the wild game meat and to reduce the wild gamey odour of the meat, a lot of chilli was added while cooking it and the dish was cooked in either ghee or mustard oil for the very same reason.The curry is made with curd, garlic and lots of red chilli powder along with a few other spices, and can be paired very well with any Indian bread. I usually prefer to eat it with whole wheat chapatis or bajre ki roti.
Recipe for Rajasthani Laal Maas
Ingredients
500 gm goat meat
4 tbsp mustard oil/ gheet
3-4 cloves
2 black cardamom
2 green cardamom
1 inch cinnamon
5-6 black pepper
3-4 dry red chilies
3 cups onion (thinly sliced)
2 tsp ginger (chopped)
2 tsp garlic (chopped)
1 cup curd
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
5 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
Salt to taste
2 tsp lemon juice
Fresh coriander for garnishing
Method
1. Heat oil or ghee in a pan.
2. When the oil is hot, add cloves, black cardamom, green cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper and dry red chilies and fry for 20 seconds.
3. Add onions in the pan and fry till they turn translucent.
4. Add ginger and garlic and fry till onion turns golden brown.
5. Add mutton to the pan and cook it on high heat for 3-4 minutes.
6. Add curd, coriander powder, turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder and salt and 1/2 cup of water in the pan.
7. Cover the pan and cook the mutton on low heat for 1 and 1/2 hours.
8. You can also pressure cook the mutton if short of time, although traditionally it was cooked on slow heat for hours.
9. Once the mutton is cooked, add lemon juice and mix well.
10. Garnish with fresh coriander.
11. Serve hot with chapatis.
Neha believes in the adage 'pleasure in job brings perfection in work'. She loves to eat what she cooks, and also look forward to serve it in a perfect way. Neha also works with food brands and start-ups designing their menus, recipes, helping with food photography and contributing content.
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