Pakistani Mutton Stew
I am so excited to share an easy and delicious (all-time favorite) mutton stew recipe. This is a Pakistani style mutton stew recipe that is so delicious and easy to make. It’s a one-pot recipe, in which the meat is cooked with a rich onion base, whole spices and ground spices. The fusion of the spices with yogurt and onion is what brings out the flavors in this dish. For an extra kick, garnish with green chilies, cilantro and serve with hot naan or roti.
Meat
In this recipe, I am using good quality Mutton (goat) meat. You can use any meat that you prefer, but be sure to adjust the cooking time of the meat accordingly. By cooking time, I mean the time it takes to tenderize the meat. If you’re using beef, cook for 45-60 minutes on stovetop OR 25 minutes in the pressure cooker. Note: This dish is typically made with mutton or beef and rarely with chicken.
In the last paragraph, I mentioned using good quality goat mutton meat. By good quality, I mean clean, fresh and non-smelly. It took me some searching (of about 2 years) to find good quality mutton meat in my area. If your meat has a gamey taste, your dish may not turn out so good. To get rid of the gamey taste you can do one of the following: 1) Soak the meat for 30 mins in water/vinegar mixture. Rinse before cooking. OR 2) Boil water in a pot, add 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp of ginger paste and boil the meat for 2-3 minutes. Rinse before cooking.
Mutton Stew
- 2-3 onion (medium-sized) (sliced)
- 2 lbs mutton (goat) (good quality)
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 1.5 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 4 tbsp yogurt
- 1/2 cup cooking oil
Whole Spices
- 2 cinnamon sticks (1.5 inches each)
- 5-6 green cardamom
- 1/2 tsp Peppercorn
- 5-8 cloves
- 2 black cardamom
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp red Peper flakes or 6-8 whole red chilies
Ground Spices
- 3/4 tsp red chili powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder (optional)
Pressure Cooker/ Instant Pot Instructions
Add oil and fry the onions until light golden brown. (10 minutes)
Add whole spices and fry them for a few mins or until fragrant. ( 1 minute)
Add the mutton and ginger garlic paste. Fry until the meat changes color. (10-15 minutes)
Add ground spices and salt listed above and yogurt. Cook until yogurt is mixed with the spices and oil has separated. (5 minutes)
Add about 1 cup of water. Deglaze the pot to make sure there no brown bits stuck to the bottom. (Note: there may be some water from the yogurt, no need to dry it as long as the masala is cooked)
Close the lid and turn knob to seal. Pressure cook for 15 minutes + 5 mins NPR.
Release the remaining pressure. Open the lid when the pin drops.
The stew is ready. To reduce the curry, you may turn on the saute function and cook down the curry.
Garnish with cilantro and green chilies.
Stovetop Instructions
Follow steps 1-4 above.
Add about 2-3 cups of water and cook until meat is tender (approx 45 mins)
Once tender, cook down the water until there only masala left and oil separates.
Garnish with cilantro and green chilies.
Food Notes:
- Use good quality mutton (goat) meat.
- To remove gamey taste in meat, you may soak the meat in equal parts of vinegar and water. Rinse before cooking OR-
- Boil meat in hot water for 2 minutes and add 1/4 tsp of tumeric and 1/2 tsp of garlic paste.
- Beef can also be used instead of mutton. Pressure cook time for beef would be 25 minutes + 5 minutes NPR. Stovetop cook time can be anywhere from 50-60 minutes.
- After frying the onions and the masala, be sure to deglaze the pot before pressure cooking. (otherwise you may get a burn notice).