Food, Dining & Family

My Mutton Korma

‘ Korma ‘ - a classical Indian dish defined as where meat or vegetables are braised with water, stock, yoghurt or cream. A mild curry dish originated from India. The flavour based of mixture of spices combined with yoghurt, braised over low heat. The modern Korma is a mild creamy aromatic gravy, a combination of coconut milk ,yoghurt with subtle aromatic spices such as cardamom pods, cloves and cinnamon. Robust spices such as chillies, cumins and black pepper are rarely used . Sometimes few tomatoes are added.

There are three types of Indian Korma base :

North Indian Korma - the creamy base is a mixture of almonds, cashews and yoghurt ground together. Saffron and cardamoms are used for aroma.
Korma Kashmir – the creamy base is a mixture of almonds, cashews and yoghurt ground together. Saffron, Cardamoms and aniseeds are used for aroma.
South Indian Korma – Fresh coconut and coconut milk are used as base. Almonds may be added . Kari Patta ( Curry leaves ) and Fennel with cayenne peppers are added for heat.

My Mutton Korma features the Malaysian style Korma with added spices and curry leaves as flavor. For Korma, mutton meat is best suitable. The lamb meat with bones are simmered. The juices will slowly incorporated with the spices and delivered the beautiful Korma taste. You may find the Korma green instead of yellow due to the curry leaves and other herbs combined. The recipe is demonstrated below .

What you need ?

Ground

15 shallots
5 cloves garlic
An inch ginger
An inch turmeric
6 fresh green long chilies
2 stalks of curry leaves
A stalk of coriander leaves with root
5 sprigs of mint leaves
1/2 t/spn toasted cumin seeds
1/2 t/spn toasted fennel and fenugreek seeds
2 t/spns coriander seeds
1/2 t/spn shahjeera ( optional )
1 cinnamon stick 3" long - broken into half ( half to be ground the other half to be fried )
4 black cardamom pods - toasted and cracked open the pods
7 cloves

Other Ingredients :

1/2 cup ground almond
2 tbsps ground cashews
1 cup plain yoghurt ( Can be substituted with 1 cup of fresh milk mix with 1/2 cup of lemon juice/ 1 cup of sour cream)
1 cup fresh thick coconut milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup ghee
2 tbsps oil
2 tbsps raisins - lightly fried
2 tbsps sultanas - lightly fried
3 tbspns fried whole cashews
2 tomatoes - quartered
2 big yellow onions - one make to a four small cuts and the other sliced
2 sprigs coriander leaves - sliced coarsely

The meat:

1 kg lamb meat on bones ( shank ) cut about 2 " long

How to do :

In a pan, heat ghee with a little bit of oil. Fry the lamb meat until slightly brownish. Transfer the meat into a pot, braise the meat with water enough to cover it and salt. Cover the lid and let it simmer.

In the pan , sautee the 4 siblings with the sliced onions until translucent.

Add the blended spices. Stir and leave it to simmer until fragrant. Add in ground almonds and cashews. Leave it to fry for a while.

Add water. Stir to avoid the spices from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Wait until liquid reduced and oil starts to surface. Then transfer the cooked spices into the meat pot. Stir. Cover the lid and simmer over low heat until boil.

Mix yoghurt with coconut milk and add into the braised lamb pot. Add in the other big yellow onion. Stir and leave it to simmer until boil.

When the lamb meat is tender, add the quartered tomatoes. Top with sultanas, cashews, raisins and coarsely sliced coriander leaves. Give a stir.

Off the heat once the gravy thicken. Best serve with either steamed white rice, ghee rice or bread.

An illustration of Chicken Korma