Kosha Mangso (Thick Mutton Gravy)

Sometime back we went on a long road trip to Eastern Washington. We carried our camping stove with us. In one of the rest areas beside I-90 we stopped to have a hot meal of noodle soup. The discussion turned into all the trips we used to go on as kids. While I was narrating those stories to my daughter, I was inevitable coming back to the great food we used to carry with us on those long train journey. Compartments of steel tiffin carrier were filled with luchi, kosha mangso and in winter “jal bhora sandesh”.

Kosha Mangso is essentially thick, spicy, oily gravy of either goat meat or lamb. It goes great with paratha or luchi and hence works pretty well as travel food. Be it a road trip or a trans-continental flight where you want to avoid the pathetic flight food, kosha mangso comes to your rescue.

Ingredients

1. 1 kg lamb / goat meat
2. 4 large onion thinly sliced
3. 3 large tomatoes cut into quarters
4. 1 tbsp. ginger paste
5. 1 tbsp. garlic paste
6. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
7. 2 tbsp. chili powder
8. 1 tsp. garam masala powder
9. 4 - 5 tbsp. of mustard oil ( vegetable oil can also be used ) 2,3 bay leaves
10. Whole Garam Masala (1" cinnamon, 2-3 green cardamom, 5-6 cloves )
11. Salt
12. Sugar

Procedure

Heat mustard oil in a heavy bottom pan. Temper with bay leaves and whole garam masala. Once the oil becomes fragrant add onion slices to it. You can add a pinch of sugar to caramelize the onions. It gives a vibrant red color to the gravy. Fry on low heat till they become light brown. You can add a pinch of salt to it to make the frying process faster.

Add mutton pieces to it and sear them on high heat till all the sides turn brown. This will help the mutton to retain its juices. Add ginger garlic paste along with turmeric and chili powder. Fry mutton pieces with all spices till the raw smell goes away. Cover and cook for 5 mins.

Add tomatoes and season with salt and sugar. Fry on high heat till the tomatoes start releasing moisture. Lower the heat and cook on low heat for 40 mins. The moisture released by tomato, onion and other wet spices would be enough for cooking the meat. If it starts getting dry you can add little water. When the meat is done increase the heat and allow the excess moisture to evaporate. Once you see the oil gets separated from the mutton and spice mixture turn off the heat and sprinkle garam masala powder.

Keep it covered till you serve with pulao or paratha.