Mutton Kolhapuri is a spicy Indian dish made with mutton, tomatoes, and a blend of roasted spices including peppercorns, cumin, coriander, cloves, and cardamom seeds. The dish can be adjusted for heat and is traditionally slow-cooked, but can also be made in a pressure cooker. It is served with rice, bread, or yoghurt.
Mutton Kolhapuri is a dish from the Kolhapur region of India. It is traditionally made with mutton, tomatoes, a blend of many roasted spices and a large amount of hot peppers. The amount of spicy heat in the classic preparation of mutton Kolhapuri can be overwhelming to some who eat it, although home cooks can easily adjust the spices to reduce the amount of heat. The cooking process is quite simple and involves a marinade for the meat and slow cooking until all the ingredients come together and the mutton is tender. To reduce the time required to complete the dish, it is not uncommon to perform the final stage of cooking mutton Kolhapuri in a pressure cooker.
The main flavoring in mutton Kolhapuri, apart from the mutton itself, is the blend of various spices. This can generally be referred to as a garam masala, which literally means “a hot brew”. The types of spices that are added are as important as the technique used to create the masala. Spices are usually roasted in a dry pan — while still whole, if possible — to release their oils and become aromatic, concentrating their flavors. The roasted spices are then ground in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder until it’s a powder, though some versions add a little vinegar or coconut milk to make a paste.
The garam masala for Mutton Kolhapuri contains a base of peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, star anise, and green and black cardamom seeds. You can also add bay leaf, cinnamon, fennel seeds, poppy seeds and desiccated coconut. Finally, hot red chillies or dried chillies are added to the masala. Some recipes call for 20 or more peppers to be added to the dish, while others use only a handful, though the actual amount may be based on the cook’s tastes. All the spices are dry roasted in a pan and then ground into a powder, sometimes with a little coconut milk added at the end.
A paste is made from garlic, ginger and coriander leaves and the mutton is covered and left to marinate for an hour or more. Once done, some oil is heated in a pan and the onions are fried until translucent, after which the mutton is added and browned. The spice mixture is poured into the pan with chopped tomatoes, providing the liquid that will be used to finish the dish. The pan is covered and simmered until the sauce has reduced and the mutton is cooked through. Finished Mutton Kolhapuri can be served with rice, Indian bread or yoghurt especially if the heat level during the meal is very high.
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