Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Chettinad Kari Varuval / Chettinad Mutton Fry


Chettinad Mutton Varuval


Almost two weeks have rushed past since the previous post. I moved back home from lovely Namakkal last week and  had my hands full with bringing back the house to shape. The past 3-4 days were occupied with house visits and courtesy calls related to ceremonies and grievances I'd missed during my 4 month absence. I unbelievably miss Namakkal and my in-laws which accelerates the no-mood to blog.
It requires so much of your energy to push yourselves at times, right?

Each time I picture and post a non-vegetarian dish, something makes me feel not quite fine, the prime reason, I believe, the respect I have for hardcore vegetarianism embedded in my in-laws.
 I believe they would consider the fact that this is sharing of a traditional recipe and excuse me for the same :)
Parallely, I make sure these dishes are not cooked in my kitchen, but mostly in my parents' place, friends' or elsewhere and pictured to bring up here.Obviously, this is from my drafts.

I request my readers who are vegetarians, not to click the 'read more' option down, if you find yourselves intolerant to meat!
Kari varuval (lamb fry) or sukka varuval (dry fry) is a very famous Chettinad dish which a non vegetarian  cannot resist.
I am not sure how far this recipe is authentic, pertaining the Chettinad Cuisine,  as I blindly followed a Chettiar cook for the recipe and method while it was getting done!


Chettinad Mutton Varuval


Chettinad Mutton Varuval (Dry Fry)

 Preparation - 15 minutes
 Stove top - 40-50 minutes
 Total time needed - 1 hour +/-

 Get ready with:
1/2 kg mutton / tender lamb, cubed

To grind to a smooth paste:
3/4 cup loosely filled grated coconut/thengai thuruval
15-20 cloves of garlic/poondu
1 tbsp cumin seeds/jeerakam
1 tbsp fennel seeds/sombhu
1 tbsp pepper corns/milagu
Ginger/inji - a 2 inch pc

1 1/2 tsps red chilly powder/milagai podi
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/manjal podi
Salt- as needed ( I used a tsp of table salt)
2 sprigs curry leaves
3/4 tsp garam masala- ( I didn't use )
2-3 tsps of oil


Chettinad Mutton VaruvalChettinad Mutton Varuval

Grind the coconut and spices, given in the list, to a smooth paste adding enough water.

Chettinad Mutton VaruvalChettinad Mutton VaruvalChettinad Mutton Varuval

Clean and pressure cook mutton until tender, in a cup of water. Add red chilly and turmeric powders followed by the ground paste and salt. Stir to combine.Transfer to a frying pan. Non-stick kadai works perfect though I didn't use it. Add some more water, say a half cup until the pieces are just immersed like you see in the first picture below.


Chettinad Mutton Varuval


Stir the mix and place on medium flame. Bring to a boil. Lower flame again and close the simmering curry with a lid. Open once in 5 minutes to give a stir. The gravy evaporates and the masala coats the pieces. Keep combining gently, now and then to make sure the masala doesn't stick to the bottom of the kadai and get burnt. Add curry leaves and garam masala lastly.
It took exact 40 minutes for the curry to get dried up in low flame. Again the low and controlled flame is the secret of this dish which allows the spices to seep in the tender flesh making it delicious. If you prefer a roasted version, you may drizzle 2-3 tsps of oil at the final stage and fry for 5 more minutes.


Chettinad Mutton Varuval


The mutton fry here is devoid of garam masala and onions which the actual recipes of the cuisine call for.
I can still assure you that the dish is delicious, with less ingredients, even oil and on the whole the authentic made easy without a compromise on flavour, taste and quality. The warm, soft, juicy and spicy chunks of cooked meat complimented perfectly with a bowl of steamed rice!


Mutton fry of Tamil Nadu and Kerala!

If the recipe we have seen right now is favourited by the Tamils, have a look at the Naadan Erachi Ularthiyathu, the counter part of the same dish, made and loved in Kerala, posted recently.
Click HERE, if you are interested to check out the recipe.

17 comments:

  1. wow...no words for that wonderful recipe....i feel like completing the whole bowl in a sitting :)

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  2. Love this mutton fry.. Looks so tempting and delicious.

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  3. Delicious
    http://www.followfoodiee.com/

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  4. I used to make this before.. Now stopped eating mutton for a while as we are on a diet spree.. But u r tempting me.. I am drooling now :(

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  5. Who can resist to this wonderful and delicious dish.Droolworthy kari varuval.

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  6. Oh Bharathy you are tempting me alot by presentating this spicy and yummy dish...

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  8. Looks good! I would like to try this and surprise my family because that grainy texture is very attractive.

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  9. They look so amazing. Very tempting :) Glad to find your blog:) Lovely space.
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  11. Looks are very good. I love this curry. Thanks for sharing this is really interesting.

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  12. Thank you very much for this recipe. I have made this few times following u r steps. Today I made it for our family Christmas Eve dinner and every one loved it. This is the first time I cooked this recipe for 18 ppl. It's very easy to follow. Thanks again and looking forward to u r yummy recipes. (You made me a hero)

    Regards
    Rush

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  13. Bharathy I tried this today turned out very delicious . Thank You very much for sharing the wonderful recipe.

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