Laal Maas

Ingredients

• 1kg mutton on the bone, cut into 4cm pieces
• 20 whole dried Mathania or Kashmiri red chillies
• 6 hot dried red chillies
• 200ml hot water, for soaking the chillies
• 120ml ghee
• 3 onions, thinly sliced
• 20 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 300ml plain yogurt
• 4 green cardamom pods
• 2 black cardamom pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 6 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp salt
• 500ml hot water
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 small piece of charcoal and 1 tsp ghee, for smoking (optional)

Before you cook

• Snap the stems off all the dried chillies and shake out most of the seeds.
• Soak the chillies in 200ml hot water for 30 minutes, then blend them with their soaking water into a smooth, brilliant red paste.
• Whisk the yogurt until completely smooth.
• Crush the garlic to a coarse paste with a pinch of salt.

Steps

1. Heat the ghee in a heavy-based pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add the green and black cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and cumin seeds and fry for 30 seconds until they crackle.
3. Add the sliced onions and fry for 12 minutes, stirring often, until deep golden brown.
4. Stir in the garlic and ginger pastes and cook for 3 minutes until the raw smell disappears.
5. Add the mutton and brown it over high heat for 8 minutes, turning the pieces so they colour on every side.
6. Lower the heat, pour in the chilli paste, and cook for 5 minutes until the ghee separates and pools red at the edges.
7. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the whisked yogurt a ladleful at a time, mixing well after each addition.
8. Return the pot to low heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the yogurt is absorbed and no longer looks curdled.
9. Add the ground coriander, salt and 500ml hot water, then bring the pot to a simmer.
10. Cover and cook on low heat for 60 minutes, until the mutton falls off the bone and the gravy has reduced to a loose, oily red sauce.
11. Stir in the garam masala and taste for salt.
12. For the traditional smoke, heat the charcoal until glowing, sit it in a small steel bowl on top of the curry, pour a teaspoon of ghee over it, and clamp the lid on for 4 minutes.
13. Lift out the charcoal and serve with bajra roti or steamed rice.