About the Recipe
Mati Handi Mansa is a traditional way of cooking the mutton. In this recipe the use of pressure cooker is avoided and the mutton is allowed to be cooked in an earthen pot for a pretty long time, so that the goodness and finer aroma of the earthen pot also gets absorbed into the mutton. A tasty dish indeed!
Ingredients
Mutton (Bakri ka maans/ Chheli mansa)
Potato – Optional (Alu)
Ginger (Adrakh /Ada)
Garlic cloves (Lehsun/Rasuna)
Onion (Pyaj/Piaja)
Potato (Alu)
Bay leaf (Tej patta/ Teja patra)
Dry Chilli (Sukhi mirch/ Sukhila lanka)
Turmeric powder (Haldi powder/Haladi Gunda)
Chilli powder (Lal mirch powder/Lanka Gunda)
Mustard Oil Sarson ka tel/ Sorisha Tela)
Salt to taste (Namak/ luna)
Method
First of all let us garnish the mutton with turmeric powder, salt and a little mustard oil. Mix it well and leave aside for a while. He use of potato is however optional. Add it if it suits your taste. Now we would make a paste of onion garlic and ginger by using a mixer or grinder. As regards Garam Masala powder, it’s better to make it at home. Or else you may also purchase the ready-made Garam Masala powder available in the market. But the home made one has better aroma. To make it take Dalchini, Elaichi, Loung and Gol mirch and dry fry them a little. Then by using any convenient device make a rough kind of powder of it, manually. We would use this Garam Masala Powder at a later stage in the recipe. Now take the Mati Handi, that is “Mitti Ki Handi” – the earthen pot and put it on the stove. Let it heat up. Then take mustard oil. Add Jeera, Tej patta and dry chillies and stir. Then add the sliced onion and sauté well. Once the onion becomes golden brown, add the paste of onion, garlic and ginger and sauté further. Stir well. Now add a little turmeric powder and chili powder. And the put the garnished mutton into the pot and stir well. Also ad the potato pieces and sauté for a while. Add salt to taste. Now we would add a reasonable quantity of water to it to allow it to boil and get cooked. In ‘Mati Handi Mansa’ it is important to let it be boiled for a long time, may be for about one hour, depending upon the quality of your mutton. Cover the lid and leave it on the stove to get cooked well. In between take out the lid a few times and stir a little. At this stage you can add the Garam Masala powder. And now your ‘Mati Handi Mansa’ is ready. Serve it with rice or chapatti.
