Laal Maas - Rajasthani Red Meat Curry

Laal maas is a traditional meat curry of Rajasthan. This used to be made during the hunting expeditions using the meat of the animals that were hunted. Today it is made mostly using mutton. Since this used to be cooked while on hunting expeditions, most of the spices used for this used were the dry ones along with onions and garlic. So no curd, tomato etc. were used in this recipe. Even though I have used green chillies, I guess perhaps even those would not have been part of the original recipe. These days however, most of the recipes you find online use curd and tomato. And they all omit a very special ingredient of this dish which is dried Kachri powder. Kachri is a type of cucumber that grows in the wild, in some parts of Rajasthan. They are bitter when raw and sweet and sour when ripe. These are dried in the sun and then powdered and used for meat dishes. The dried powder has a very distinct flavour and is a combination of bitterness and sourness, depending on the state of Kachri (raw or ripe) when dried. It tenderizes meat and imparts a unique flavour to it. Dried Kachri is also used to make chutney in Rajasthan. You can find more about Kachri here.

We went visiting Jaipur in Rajasthan during Dec 2014. And obviously I was after this dish. I tasted it at a couple of restaurants. I am not sure how authentic they were. My next goal was to buy Kachri powder. So I ended up at the Chaandpol market in the Pink City area that has many wholesale shops selling spices. And finally I found dried Kachri at one of the shops and bought half a kg of it for Rs. 60.

I have tried to find a non-vegetarian Rajasthani friend who could get me the original recipe of Laal Maas. Unfortunately all my Rajasthani friends are vegetarians. So I continue to look for an authentic version of this recipe. Given below is a version that I have tried based on the various recipes found online. The outcome was very good. It had a very different flavour compared to the other mutton recipes and I loved it.

Ingredients

• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped
• 18-20 whole red Kashmiri chillies (reduce the number if you want this to be less spicy or increase the number to make this extra spicy. But remember that this is one of the most important ingredient of this recipe and should be used generously)
• 2 tsp coriander seeds, whole
• 1 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
• 3 tbsp mustard oil
• 1 tbsp of garlic, finely chopped.
•  1 tsp of ginger, finely chopped
• ½ kg mutton or lamb, cut into pieces with bones
• Salt as per taste
• 3-4 tbsp of kachri powder (There is no substitute for this that I can think of)
• 3-4 pods of green cardamom
•  ½ tsp whole black pepper
• 1" piece of cinnamon stick
• A little bit of mace
• 1 pod black cardamom
•  Water
• A handful of coriander leaves, chopped (optional)

Method

• Dry roast the red chillies until it gives out a distinct aroma. This is a very important step of this recipe.
•  Add to that the coriander seeds and cumin seeds and dry roast them until their aroma is released. Make sure not to burn these while dry roasting. Always dry roast on low heat and continuously stir the contents.
• Once done, cool and grind them into a nice fine powder.
• Heat the mustard oil in a pan. Bring it to its smoking point and then reduce the heat.
• Add cinnamon, black pepper, green and black cardamoms and mace. You can lightly crush the green and black cardamoms before adding them to the oil.
• Add to this the garlic and ginger.
• Once the garlic turns slightly brown add the mutton/lamb pieces and salt and turn the heat high.
• Add the Kachri powder and then turn the pieces frequently until the pieces have browned on all sides.
• Remove the mutton pieces to a plate and keep aside.
• Reduce the heat and add the chopped onions and mix all well. Add more mustard oil if required.
• Once the onions have browned (take care not to burn them), add the mutton pieces back to the pan.
• Add the ground red chilly powder and roast it for a couple of minutes.
• Add enough water to cook the meat. Cover and cook until the meat is cooked. (I used a pressure cooker and cooked the mutton at this stage for about 15 minutes after full pressure was achieved.)
• Add about half a cup of hot water if needed so that you have a slightly thick gravy.
• Continue to cook it and when you reach a good consistency of gravy, turn off the heat.
• Add the chopped coriander leaves (if using)
• Serve hot with naan, roti or rice.

Note

• If you so wish, you can grind into a fine powder the whole spices except mace and add that to the mutton while browing the mutton.