Dhaba Style Mutton

I am more of a dhaba food lover than a fine dining gal. My hubby and I are avid travellers. We love to be on the open road, driving for kilometres at a stretch. Stop wherever we want, eat wherever we fancy. The dhabas of Punjab are legendary. Some have even acquired a cult status. One such is Amrik Sukhdev near Murthal on the Jammu Delhi National Highway. It started off as a humble typical dhaba. And now it is a huge mansion like structure with a wide variety of food, snacks, drinks, desserts and much more.
You stop at any Punjabi dhaba and you will be assured lip smacking food. Simply made with dollops of ghee. And that is a taste that can never be replicated in our fancy modular kitchens. This is the “mitti ki khushbu”, the smell of the land.
The dhaba mutton is oily, spicy and really hot. You better have a glass of cold lassi or chaach with it or you will be spewing smoke.


Ingredients

500 gm mutton
½ cup curd
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp salt
2 onions, pureed
2 onions, sliced
3 tomatoes, pureed
5 garlic pods, crushed
1” ginger, crushed
3 dry red chillies
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
Salt to taste

Marinate the mutton in curd, salt and ginger garlic paste for 6 hours or preferably overnight.
Heat some oil and deep fry the sliced onions till dark brown.
Pour the oil into a pressure cooker.  Add the bay leaf, dry red chillies and coriander seeds. Add the pureed onions and crushed ginger and garlic. Saute till the onion turns translucent. Add the pureed tomatoes and cook on low heat till the oil starts leaving the sides. Add the coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. Cook for 2 minutes. Now add the marinated mutton and fry on high flame for 5 minutes. Add ¼ cup water and close the cooker lid. Cook for 3 whistles. Check the seasoning. Your dhaba mutton is ready to eat.