Mutton curry. Skip the takeaway and make the best authentic dish at home with this easy one pot recipe. Flavored with aromatic spices, herbs and yogurt, this curry features melt-in-your-mouth bites of mutton in rich lip-smacking sauce. Enjoy it with your favorite side - steamed rice, naan, or parathas.
Cooking a hearty homemade meal doesn’t necessarily mean spending your valuable time in the kitchen. The fact is that not all dishes are created equal. While some recipes require 2-3 hours of prep, others give you utterly delicious food in no time at all. So, here’s a delicious recipe to cook an easy fancy dinner for your loved ones.
The Best Mutton Curry Recipe
You have three options to cook this dish - stovetop, instant pot or slow cooker. You can find the detailed instructions in the ‘recipe section’ below. But now, let’s talk about the stovetop method of making this amazing curry.
First, marinate the meat. Toss it in a mixture of ground turmeric, red chili powder, salt, minced ginger and garlic, and yogurt. Yogurt is a necessary ingredient in this recipe, it makes the meat more tender and succulent. If possible, marinate overnight for best results.
Second, make onion tomato paste. Sauté onions and tomatoes in a little oil. Once onions are lightly browned and tomatoes turn mushy, let the mixture cool down slightly before grinding to a smooth paste.
Next, make the mutton curry. Start with frying the whole spices including cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves and cloves. You’ll also need to fry onions alongside ginger and garlic. Next, fry the powdered spices - turmeric, cumin, coriander and red chili powder. Give this a quick stir fry and stir in the tomato onion paste.
When you start to see oil separating, add mutton, and stir fry over high heat. After some time, you will notice a little water in the water. This is actually released from mutton. At this stage, add water. Cook mutton for about 1 and ½ hours.
The final step of making this mutton curry - stir in garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves and coriander leaves. And done! Flavorful curry to serve with rice or naan.
More Mutton Recipes:
Mutton Curry | Video
Ingredients
Marinate mutton:
- 1 kg mutton (leg or shoulder), cubed
- ¼ cup yogurt
- 1 - inch fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
Tomato onion mixture:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 2 medium tomatoes chopped
- 2 green chilies chopped (optional)
Make curry:
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 cloves
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 1 - inch fresh ginger minced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kasuri methi dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ cup chopped coriander cilantro leaves
- Water
- Salt to taste
- Chopped coriander cilantro leaves, to garnish
- Steamed rice or naan to serve
Instructions
- Place mutton in a large bowl. Add yogurt, minced ginger, minced garlic, ground turmeric and red chili powder. Toss to coat. Season with salt. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight if possible.
- To make tomato onion mixture, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan or skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add onions. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for about 2-3 minutes or until the onions turn light brown.
- Add tomatoes and green chilies (if using). Sauté, stirring occasionally, for about 3-4 minutes or until mushy. Remove from heat. Leave to cool slightly. Place the mixture in a food processor. Process to a smooth paste. Set aside.
- Meanwhile heat 2 tablespoons oil in the same pan over medium-high heat.
- Add bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom pods. Sauté, stirring, for about 1 minute.
- Add onions. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for about 2-3 minutes or until the onions turn light brown.
- Add ginger and garlic. Sauté, stirring, for 1 minute.
- Add ground turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander and red chili powder. Sauté, stirring, for a few minutes.
- Add tomato onion paste. Stir to combine. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for about a minute.
- When oil starts to separate, add marinated mutton. Stir to combine. Increase heat to high. Fry, stirring, for 7-10 minutes or until mutton starts to release water.
- Add 1 and ½ cups water. Season with salt. Stir to combine.
- Reduce heat to medium-high. Cook, covered, for about 1 and ½ hours or until mutton is tender. Add more water if necessary.
- Add garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves and coriander (cilantro) leaves. Stir to combine. Heat through.
- Garnish with more coriander (cilantro) leaves if you like.
- Serve with steamed rice, naan, or parathas.
- Make this in instant pot:Marinate mutton. Make tomato onion mixture in the instant pot on sauté mode. After step 12, cover the instant pot with lid. Cook for about 20 minutes for boneless mutton and 35 minutes for mutton with bone. Release pressure naturally. Remove lid. Stir in garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves and coriander leaves.
- Make this in slow cooker:Marinate mutton. Make tomato onion mixture over stovetop. Continue cooking until step 12. After that, transfer the curry to slow cooker. Cover with lid. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Stir in garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves and coriander (cilantro) leaves.
Video
Notes
- Overnight marination makes mutton more tender
- The best way to cook mutton is slow cooking
- You can substitute yogurt in marination with lemon juice if you like
Nutrition
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Justine says
Love your recipes and this one did not disappoint! Thank you