Kosha Mangsho

19Sep10

I have had many variations of the kosha mangsho since childhood. It is a dry, spicy (not so spicy at my home) meat dish where the meat is cooked mostly in its own juices. There was no favourite version until I chanced upon the very famous ‘Golbarir Kosha Mangsho‘ at Oh!Calcutta.  Golbari at Shyambazar, Kolkata is famous for the very dark coloured, spicy-sweet kosha mangsho that is served at the New Punjabi Hotel. With a hush-hush secret cooking process, it is what legends are made of and is considered an essential stop if one is on a food-tour of Kolkata. Unfortunately, being a South Calcutta I have not had the opportunity to taste the real thing. However, ever since our first encounter at Oh!Calcutta, a visit to this restaurant is never complete without an order for kosha mangsho. This time while planning the sunday lunch, I decided to try out what I imagined to be a probable procedure. Thankfully, it turned out with a satisfactory taste.

Kosha Mangsho

Serves:

• 2-3 persons

You Will Need:

• Mutton – 500gms
• Dried Red Chilli – 1
• Onion – 3 medium to big sized, finely sliced
• Green Chilli – 1 or 2 as per taste
• Black Pepper Corn – A spoonfull
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Ginger Garlic paste – 1 teaspoon
• Cinnamon – 2 sticks, 3/4 inched size
• Sugar – 4-5 teapoons
• Cloves – 5-6
• Cardamom (Green) – About 3
• Tomato Ketchup – 1-2 teaspoons
• Salt – As required
• Mustard oil – 3-4 tablespoons

Procedure:

Marination

• Pour some oil in a pan and fry two finely sliced onions until they are brown.
• Blend the fried onions, 1 stick of cinnamon, 3 teaspoons of sugar, 3 cloves, one green chilli, the dried red chilli and all of the black pepper corn into a smooth paste.
• Mix the blended paste, salt, tomato ketchup, turmeric and ginger-garlic paste along with the mutton and leave it overnight in the refridgerator.

Cooking

• Pour the remaining portion of oil in a cooking pan.
• When the oil heats up add a cinnamon stick, cardamom, 3 cloves and the remaining sugar in.
• Add in the remaining onion slices and fry until medium brown. The sugar ought to be caramalized too.
• Now mix in the marinated mutton and keep stirring it on a high flame for about 8-10 mins.
• The marination ought to turn a deeper shade of brown. Keep stirring more on medium to high flame until the oil separates from the spice mixture
• At this point cover the pan and reduce the flame a notch. Keep checking in every minute or so to ensure that the meat and spices are not burning. Stir it as well.
• After about 5 mins add in about 2 cups of water, add in a sliced green chilli and cover the pan. Turn up the flame and leave it for about 15 minutes.
• Check if the meat has softened. If not, add in some more water.
• When the water reduces completely, remove the lid and keep frying for some more time, until its a greasy mix of spice and meat.
• Serve hot with rice, light pulao or roti.

Note

• The signature feature of this dish is a very dark brown to nearly black colour. So try to get that colour. Caramelizing the sugar is very essential and go low on the turmeric.
• Mutton has an inherent smell which one needs to get rid off. Hence, it is important to keep frying it along with the marination until this smell goes off.
• Do not even attempt this in the pressure cooker. This needs to be slow cooked and would require full attention at regular intervals

Filed under: Uncategorized   |  10 Comments
Tags: Mutton