Thursday, September 13, 2012

mutton liver curry with southern flavors...




I work hard to get the taste right for the ingredients I don't like otherwise. Mutton Liver was one such organ meat I never could develop my taste for in the initial days of my non vegetarianism.

Later when I realised that Arvind needed to eat mutton Liver frequently, I was petrified to think of the awful smell it emanates while cooking. He would ask me just to fry in salt n pepper with ghee as he loved it this way. A couple of times with the simple salt n pepper Liver fry and I was off with it for ever. Couldn't develop a taste for it, although many of our friends declared that was their favorite way to enjoy any organ meat.

I digressed, naturally towards the more flavorful versions of Liver curry. I am happy I did. Many yummy discoveries were made and mutton Liver is no more a horror..

I prefer cooking mutton Liver in a wet gravy or with watery vegetables and not a dry stir fry in ghee or oil. One with pumpkin and a lot of red chilly powder with a tempering of Nigella seeds is quite a favorite.The water content of the vegetables keep the Liver moist even when it cooks for a bit longer, which I prefer as I don't like a reddish flesh inside while biting into it.

So this curry was made in a jiffy, a few ingredients were made into a coarse paste and dunked into oil. Added the Liver after a while and cooked some more. That's it.

The taste is amazingly complex and rich for a simple procedure like this. The ingredients do the magic here. Procedure is almost three step.Read on....

ingredients...
(for 3-5 servings)
Mutton Liver 250 gm

For paste no. 1....
curry patta 10-15 springs (depending on how mature they are)
Ginger root 1 inch piece roughly chopped
Garlic cloves 5 fat ones
Shallots a dozen (do not replace it with regular onions, baby red onions would do)
Dry piece of Tamarind 1/2 inch chopped
Dry red chillies 3-4 or to taste (tamarind balances heat so add a little more than you normally do)
Black pepper corns 6-8
salt to taste

For paste no. 2..
One large red ripe Tomato(about 100 gm)

Sesame oil 1 tbsp

procedure...

Make the paste number one, a coarse paste is intended, so don't worry to make it too smooth. Empty the blender directly into the pan and then blend the tomato in the same without rinsing. Use as directed.

Heat the oil in a kadhai and tip in the first paste that was made. Stir a few times for a couple of minutes till the  oils comes on top. No need to add water.

Now add the tomato paste too and along with it the Liver pieces. Mix well and cook covered for 10 minutes on low flame.


Serve hot.

This is something worth repeating every week. A complex heat from red chillies, black pepper corns and ginger, a complex sourness from tomatoes and tamarind used together and the aromatic curry patta. The flavors are sealed.

This Liver fry with Curry patta is good too if you want to have a dry stir fry with mutton Liver.

Here is another mutton Liver dry curry with Coriander greens. Very flavorful, a little tangy and a bit hot. I just realised I have many more mutton Liver recipes waiting in the drafts, planning to post them one by one while I restore the pictures that I lost sometime back :(

This tangy and hot curry was something I would recommend when you have the fresh curry patta, some Shallots and Tamarind at hand. Any ingredient substituted and you miss the flavors.I am wondering how a vegetarian curry would taste with this quick gravy. May be some soy nuggets or tofu or simply poatoes?
What say?


6 comments:

  1. Sangeetha this is one of the most basic spice-mixes used in the region. I liked your note about pumpkin and liver and am trying to imagine the flavours...

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  2. Hi Sangeetha

    I'll try it with potatoes and let you know! I think the curry paste sounds awesome. Just one question - is it actually 10-15 curry leaves, or 10-15 sprigs? I can't afford to use 10-15 sprigs, because I don't get curry patta where I live. I treasure them like gold, when I DO get them! :) (I know you said sprigs in your recipe, but I really really hope you meant leaves!)

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    Replies
    1. ha ha Shammi. Yes it is 10-15 springs of curry patta :-)
      I wish I could send you some. We have a huge tree in our garden. I am afraid you wont get the flavor with too less curry patta in this curry as the balance of Tamarind, red chilly and curry patta makes a nice curry. Curry patta is actually gold like for health reasons too, try and grow it if you can :-)

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  3. Trying this one for dinner today :-)

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  4. Turned out yummm!! Will post picture soon :-)

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