Sweet & Sour Mutton Chops with Raw Mango

This recipe got our attention because of its interesting combination of spices and flavours. I posted it first on my Lithuanian recipe blog, but then was asked to add a translation as well. Sweet&sour combination is more common in Chinese cuisine than in Indian, but this dish surprised us with a quite unique and absolutely delicious flavour. The sourness comes from raw mangoes and such spices like cinnamon, cloves, cardamon and nutmeg just warm you up inside all the way to your toe tips! I highly recommend cooking mutton chops in a pressure cooker as the meat cooked in it will turn out especially soft and aromatic.

You will need: 1/2 kg mutton chops, cleaned 2 medium red onions, peeled and quartered 1 tsp of garlic paste 1 tsp of ginger paste 4 cardamon pods 4 cloves 5 black peppercorns 3 cm cinnamon stick 1 tsp red chili powder (or per taste) 2 raw mangoes*, peeled and sliced 2 tsp cumin seeds, dry roasted and powdered 1/4 tsp of nutmeg powder 1/4 tsp of mace** powder 1 tbsp of sugar salt to taste oil for frying fresh corriander for garnishing (optional) 1. Put the onions into a blender and blend it till you get a smooth paste. 2. Heat some oil in a pressure cooker and first fry the onion paste till it turns yellow. 3. Add the garlic paste, ginger paste, cardamon, cloves, peppercorns, chili powder and fry it for another moment till the spices release their aroma. 4. Add the mutton chops and salt and keep frying for 7-8 minutes or until the chops brown lightly. 5. Pour 2 cups of water, mix it all well and cover the pressure cooker. Let it cook for 5 whistles and remove it from the heat. Let it cool down a little bit and very carefully open the pressure cooker. 6. Put the pressure cooker back on the flame, add the mango pieces, sugar, and nutmeg, mace, cumin powders. Cook it on a medium flame for about 5-7 minutes or until the mango pieces become soft and the gravy thickens. Taste it for salt and sourness, you can squeeze in some lime juice if needed. Garnish with fresh coriander just before serving (optional).

Enjoy!

*If raw mangoes are not available, you could try making it with starfruits. If you got very sour ones, slice them and soak the pieces in a bit of water before adding.

** If you don't have mace, you can skip it and add a little bit more of nutmeg powder.