Meals · Andhra Pradesh

Karivepaku Mamsam Iguru

Andhra curry-leaf mutton: tender goat cooked down until thick and almost dry in a deep green paste of roasted curry leaves, pepper and red chillies. Made for hot rice and ghee.

Karivepaku Mamsam Iguru

Prep 20 min · Cook 55 min · Total 75 min · Serves 4

Ingredients

To cook the mutton

  • 750 g Mutton on the bone, curry cut
  • 1 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
  • ½ tsp Turmeric
  • 1 tsp Red chilli powder
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • ¾ cup Water

Curry-leaf paste

  • 1 ½ cups Curry leaves, packed
  • 1 tbsp Coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp Cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp Black peppercorns
  • 5 Guntur dried red chillies
  • 6 cloves Garlic
  • 1 tsp Oil

Iguru

  • 4 tbsp Oil
  • 1 inch Cinnamon stick
  • 4 Cloves
  • 3 Green cardamom pods
  • 2 Medium onions, finely chopped
  • 4 Green chillies, slit
  • 1 Tomato, chopped
  • 1 tsp Garam masala
  • Salt to taste, to taste

Method

  1. Cook the mutton. Mix the mutton with the ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder and salt and leave for 15 minutes. Pressure-cook with the water to 4 whistles, then 10 minutes on low, and let the pressure fall naturally. On the stovetop, cook covered on low heat for 60 to 75 minutes until tender. Keep the stock.
  2. Roast the curry-leaf masala. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan over low heat and roast the coriander, cumin, pepper and red chillies until fragrant. Add the garlic and curry leaves and stir until the leaves turn crisp and dry but are still green. Cool and grind with 3 to 4 tbsp water to a thick paste.
  3. Fry the onions. Heat the oil in a heavy kadai. Add the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, then the onions and green chillies, and fry until golden brown. Add the tomato and cook until it melts into the onions.
  4. Simmer the mutton. Add the mutton with all its stock and simmer uncovered, stirring now and then, until most of the liquid has cooked away.
  5. Iguru. Add the curry-leaf paste and garam masala and keep cooking on medium heat, stirring and scraping, until the masala is thick, dark green-brown, clings to the meat and the oil separates. Check the salt and serve with hot rice and a spoon of ghee, or with chapati.

Tips

Roast the curry leaves until they crackle, not until they brown: browned leaves turn the paste bitter. Iguru should be thick enough that there's no gravy pooling on the plate.