Fried Mutton Masala

 

I was brought up in an environment where “multiculturalism” was a norm.  My family is scattered all over the world and many have married into completely different ethnic backgrounds and cultures.  I work in an international company where I come across and meet people from different backgrounds and work with them irrespective of their color or religion or creed.  In fact you hardly even notice the color of their skin or the religion they follow.  So being brought up in such a way or living in such an environment, it shocks me today to see that racism in all forms still exist.

I have been reading and watching some programs about “white supremacy”.  At first I thought, “This cannot be true.  We live in the 21^st century”.  The more I watched or read about their beliefs, the more I was shocked.  And then I found out that we also had “Black Nationalists”.  And the more I read about racism, the more groups I found.  In some cases I found that children were brought up with the same racist ideologies of their parents or care-givers.  While reading the Diary of Anne Franky I remember thinking to myself, “thank God humanity has come such a long way from where we were during WWII”.  And now I realize we did not come a very long way – we did make progress in the correct direction but still have a long way to go. 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 5

Ingredients:

½ kilo mutton

2 tablespoon coriander seeds

2 whole dried red chilies

1 tablespoon fresh coconut, cut into thin strips of about 2 cms length

4 cloves garlic

1” piece ginger

½ teaspoon garam masala

A few curry leaves

2 medium sized onions, sliced

4 tablespoons corn oil

Method:

1. Put 2 tablespoons oil in a pan and fry the coriander seeds and red chilies to a pale brown.  Take out and grind and keep aside.  
2. Fry coconut pieces in the same oil and grind and keep aside.  
3. Separately grind garlic and ginger.  
4. Boil the meat in 2 cups water with all these ground ingredients, garam masala and salt till the meat is tender and no water remains.  Take off flame.
5. In a separate vessel, heat the remaining oil and fry the sliced onions and curry leaves.  
6. When brown, add the meat mixture and cook for a couple of minutes.  Serve hot with chappatis.