Champaran (Aahuna) Mutton Curry

His fingertips all greasy with spicy mutton and steamed rice. I know my husband’s feelings that yey!

This recipe ‘Champaran Mutton’ is one of the delicacies and signature dish from Champaran, Bihar. It is called by different names too, Aahuna Mutton, Matka Gosht and Champaran Handi Mutton etc.

Traditionally it is cooked in Handi (earthen pot) on dum style cooking on wood fire or charcoal at low flame for hours and it worth. In this recipe I used heavy bottom pot and normal gas stove on low flame, it takes about 1.5 to 2 hrs.

For this recipe you must use pungent and strong mustard oil; which gives the dish a unique flavour, use half of the mustard oil for marinating the mutton and remaining for cooking. No water is added, water from mutton and onion generates steam inside the pot which is enough for cooking mutton.

The aroma of the recipe is awesome…

Ingredients:

• Mutton: 500 gm
• Onion: 300 gm
• Red Chilli: 4-5 no.
• Green chilli: 4-5 no,
• Coriander powder: 2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon
• Bay leaves: 2 no.
• Cloves: 4 no.
• Garlic pods: 4 no.
• Ginger: 3- 4 inch pieces
• Oil: 6 -8 tablespoon (70-80 gm).
• Salt: 1 tablespoon (as per taste)
• Cumin: 1 teaspoon
• Black pepper: 1 teaspoon
• Green cardamom: 4 no.
• Black cardamom: 2 no.
• Jaiphal (nutmeg): ¼ no.
• Mace: 1 inch pieces
• Cinnamon: 2 inch pieces
• Ghee: 3-4 table spoon
• Garam masala powder: ½ teaspoon.

Preparation:

1. Clean and wash mutton; clean garlic pods. Keep aside.
2. Chop onion longitudinally into thin slices, crush 1 garlic pod and ginger from mortar and pestle, keep aside.

Method:

1. Take a mixing bowl, put mutton, half quantity of mustard oil, crushed ginger garlic, salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder, half quantity of garam masala powder; mix it properly, keep aside.
2. Heat remains oil in a heavy bottom pan on medium flame, when it begins to smoke; add Cumin, Black pepper, Green cardamom, Black cardamom, Jaiphal (nutmeg), Mace, Clove, Bay leaf, and Cinnamon; sputter it for few seconds. Add whole garlic, green chilli and red chilli, stir fry for a minute.
3. Add sliced onion; stir the onion so that onion slices are coated with oil all around, at this stage add marinated mutton over onion slices. Cover the pan with aluminum foil (it helps to prevent the steam from going out) and let in cook on lower flame with lid on for about 40-45 minutes.
4. At this stage an amazing aroma of the recipe starts; open the lid stir for a while and again cover the aluminum foil and lid, continue to cook on lower flame until mutton gets tender (about 30- 45 minutes).
5. Add garam masala and ghee; serve hot with steamed basmati rice roti or pulao.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Champaran (Aahuna) Mutton Curry by Nag Ratna Sahu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.