Mutton Chukka

Mutton Chukka is an authentic and classy dish of Tamilnadu. You can get this dish in most of the hotels in southern parts of Tamilnadu. Each one has a unique style of preparing this delicious recipe. This is my moms own style of preparing Mutton chukka.

I love making mutton chukka for weekend lunch along with steamed rice. The perfect blend of freshly ground spices coated over tender mutton pieces makes it droolworthy.

Authentic Mutton chukka is more dry but I like it little bit of semi-dry type. So I make in this way. If you want even more dry, fry the mutton chukka for few more minutes until  dry.

Ingredients:

Mutton – 1/2 kg (bone in and cut into pieces)

Shallots / Pearl onions – 250 gms

Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

Uradh dhal – 1/2 tsp

Sesame oil – 3 tbsp

Salt – to taste

Water – 1 cup (approx)

For grinding:

Black pepper – 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp

Fennel seeds – 1 tsp

Red chilli – 4 to 5 nos (adjust accordingly)

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Grind all the ingredients under “For grinding” into a fine paste using little water and keep it aside.
2. Wash the mutton well with little turmeric powder and salt and keep it aside.
3. In a cooker, heat the Sesame oil and let the mustard seeds splutter.
4. Then add the uradh dhal and let it turn golden brown.
5. Add in 1 sprig of curry leaves and pearl onions and saute well.
6. Fry the pearl onions for a minute and then add in the cleaned mutton pieces.
7. Now add the ground spice paste, salt to the mutton onion mixture and fry for a minute.
8. Add a cup of water to the mixture and close the lid of the cooker.
9. Cook in high flame. Simmer the flame after 5 mins from the first whistle.
10. Continue to cook in simmer flame for 15mins and then switch off the flame. Cooking in this calculated time leads to a tender and juicy mutton pieces.
11. Finally add the remaining 1 sprig of curry leaves and mix well.
12. Now Mutton chukka is ready to be served with steamed rice or any Indian bread as you like.

Note:

• Sesame oil gives a best taste tand healthier too.
• The more the pearl onions and more the sesame oil the more tastier Mutton chukka.
• While cooking mutton in cooker, add water accordingly so that it does not stick to the bottom of the cooker. Then you can dry fry it till you get the desired consistency.
• Washing mutton with turmeric powder and salt removes the smell and germs if any.