Super Easy Roast Mutton

Anecdote

I am chauvinistic. I like it when a man cooks. In my case, sigh (!) this man, is my bro. We were all of 14 and 11 when we took to food and its various possibilities. We poured over books and magazines. Wine and entertainment was purchased from road-side stalls and the different salads and cheeses were read and re-read. Ikea tables would be nailed together in our heads and bowls of beautiful food would be laid out. I would even use a red-checked table cover and often be picnicking by a stream.

Dadabhai, the brother, elder was always into meats. He would sulk with the bard in the last frame of every Asterix because he was not getting to gorge on the pig roast. While in Koh Samui, when we attended a beach regatta party, I saw a live demo of that frame, and I was whisked back to those post dinner nights when he would wistfully look at Obelisk digging into that tied and barbequed meat delight. These days he has some Sunday evening favourites, prawn cocktail, the Kolkata Mocambo way, risotto, paella and mutton roasts. One weekend afternoon, I decided to pay heed to his self proclamation and telephoned him for this P C Sarkar recipe where the oven is not used. The mutton roast.

Stuff that you must have:

Mutton, a kg cut in roast pieces
Whole onions, about 4
Tomato 1
Whole pepper
Butter
Cooking oil

What to do:

Put together the mutton, the onions cut into halves, a tea spoon of whole peppers, 8 glasses of water, salt to taste, one tomato in a large deep pan and set it to boil. Do the same for a whole hour. Now take aside the mutton pieces and strain the broth. Fry each piece of mutton to a light golden brown. Simultaneously strain the broth. Once all the meat has been fried, serve them in a large semi flat bowl. Go back to the broth and thicken it. Add pepper powder, check the salt and in the end throw in a dollop of butter. Pour the hot golden liquid into the meat bowl. Serve hot. 

How to serve:

Just in a large semi flat glass or ceramic bowl. Some chopped parsley or rosemary for garnish. Some warm dinner rolls or sliced multi grain bread to go with. Yes, add a side salad. This makes a friendly Sunday lunch. Prefer it to be a sit down meal.

Trivia:

Lamb, hogget and mutton are the meat of domestic sheep. The meat of an animal in its first year is lamb; that of an older sheep is hogget and later mutton. Lamb is the most expensive. The sheep is then less than a year old. Mutton is a female ewe or a castrated male sheep. And if you are a Jew, then don’t bring your dairy products close to your meat table. The Jews are so particular about this that often uses different kitchens to ensure this separation.