Kandhari Gosht - Mutton Cooked with Pomegranate Juice

Kandhari Gosht

This one is a lovely recipe which I prepared for Sunday's lunch.I tried it with Kashmiri Pulao and the combination was too good.In an endeavour to cook tasty,spicy and dishes with loads of vigour and flavour, I was researching on some dish which might give the omnipresent Gosht Awadhi Korma a run for its money.And here it is,presenting Kandhari Gosht, cooked with the most unusual ingredients  and is surely powerful enough to give the Korma a stiff competition.

When I say "most unusual ingredients" it implies - Loads of onion,whole raisins, cashews and a marinade of pomegranate juice - slow cooked to perfection. This recipe was prepared without a pressure cooker and by the time the recipe was complete the whole house was teeming with the smell of aromatic spices.It is also one hell of a rich dish - look into the oodles of oil and desi ghee(clarified butter) layered over the mutton and a perfect ingredient for Sunday lunches.Dishes such as these require a lot of patience and are complex preparations.

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 2 hours, if marinaded in the open.12 hours if marinaded in a refrigerator
Cooking Time: 2.5 hours.

Preparation:
Ingredients:

• Mutton: 750 gms on the bone along with some rewazi pieces.Rewazi pieces are those which contain a little amount of fat, which when melted, gives the dish its vigour. 
• Pomegranate Juice: Juice made from 300 gms of pomegranate.Be sure not to include the seeds into the marinade.
• Vegetable Oil: 6 tbsp
• Salt: 1 tb sp.

Marination Time: 

• If kept in the open, then then mix all the above ingredients together and set aside for 2 hours.
• If refrigerated, then mix all the above ingredients together and keep for 12 hours.Remove the marinade from the fridge atleast 2 hours before cooking and stir the ingredients once after removing from the refrigerator.

Cooking:
Ingredients:

• The marinade
• Onion: 350 gms.Chopped longitudinally.
• Garlic: 12-14 cloves.Crushed.
• Ginger: One 1 inch cube piece.Crushed.
• Yoghurt: 100 gms.Whisked finely.
• Cashew:50 gms
• Almond:25 gms
• Raisins:25 gms
• Vegetable Oil: 8 tb sp
• Melted Ghee: 50 gms - to be added at the end.
• Salt: To taste
• Sugar: 2 tsp

Powdered Spices:

• Turmeric Powder: 2 tsp.
• Coriander Powder: 3 tsp
• Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder: 2 tsp
• Cinnamon and Green Cardamon Powder: 1 tsp - to be added at the end.

Whole Spices:

• Green Cardamon: 6 pcs
• Black Cardamon: 3 pcs
• Nutmeg: 1/2.Crushed and Powdered
• Mace: 1/2.Crushed and Powdered
• Shahi Jeera: 1 tsp
• Black Pepper: 12-15.Crushed.
• White Pepper: 8-10.Crushed.
• Cinnamon Stick: One 2 inch stick
• Cloves: 6-8.
• Bay Leaf: 2

Procedure:

• Heat 8 tbsp of vegetable oil in a kadai.Once the oil gets hot, turn the heat to low.
• Add ALL of the whole spices mentioned above.Wait till the spices start to crackle and sputter,setting off a fragnant smell in the kitchen.
• Then add the crushed garlic and ginger paste into the sputtering whole spices.
• Wait for 2 mins, by which time, the sweet smell of ginger and powerful smell of garlic will evolve.
• Turn the heat to medium.Then add the chopped onion slices. Stir and fry for 10 mins. The onion will gradualy loose volume and shrink in.Then add the sugar.Stir for another 5-6 mins,by which time the onion will turn dark brown.
• Then add the whole mutton marinade portion.Turn the heat to high.Add the powdered spices, excepting the cinnamon and Green cardamon powder.
• Under high heat, stir and roast the mutton for 20-25 mins.the mutton should turn dark brown and the gravy will acquire a dark reddish colour.
• Add 100 ml of warm water to the gravy.Stir the ingredients.Check for the level of salt - more of which should required.So, add some more salt depending on the taste. 
• Stir for 2-3 mins, by which time salt should be mixed uniformly.Wait for the added water to vapourize.
• From here on it is slow cooking: Add 50 ml of warm water.Stir the curry once.And put a lid on it.Cook, until the water vapourizes completely.Repeat this process till the point the mutton is buttery soft.It requires around 2 hours of slow cooking to get to that point.While adding the warm water for the last time during the "slow 
• cooking" phase, add the whisked yoghurt.Stir for sometime so that the yoghurt mixes well with the curry.
• Once slow cooking gets over,add the cashew,almond and raisins and stir them. 
• At the end, just before removing the mutton, add 50 gms of melted ghee and Cinnamon and Green Cardamon Powder.Stir for one final time.
• Garnish with some more cashew and raisins.

Its a great accompaniment of Biryani,Pulao,Paranthas.We had it with Kashmiri Pulao.