I was running very late and needed to get this curry cooked in a hurry. I can normally get a curry out in about 60 – 90 mins, depending on what meat I am using.

Please note that I was cooking mutton and not lamb. As we know, mutton takes far longer to cook, than lamb. I also did not have curry leaves or even dhania. I did consider cooking a stew, but no ways, curry or nothing.

I also used less oil than I normally use, as the oil was finished as well. Because I used a pressure cooker, I soaked the cinnamon sticks and star anise in boiling water and added the water, as T was worried that they would break up in to lots of small little bits and be unpleasant to eat.

So here goes.

150ml sunflower oil
2 large onions, grated
6 Red Chillies, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
2 large cinnamon sticks
2 Star Anise
1 Tbsp fennel seeds, ground to a powder with pestle & mortar.
1 Tbsp Crown National Red Curry Powder
2 Tbsp Mother in law Masala
2 Tbsp Roasted Masala
2 tsp ginger and garlic paste
2 medium tomatoes, grated
1.5kg mutton pack, cut into pieces
1 Tbsp Salt
3 large potatoes, cubed.
Water that had been infused with cinnamon and star anise.

Method

Heat oil
Add onion, chopped chillies & turmeric and fry for 2 minutes or until the onion starts to soften
Add the ginger & garlic and cook for another 1 minute
Add the curry powder / masala and let it start to cook together. 30 seconds
Note: Add a small bit of water if you see that the curry powder / masala wants to burn on the bottom of the pot. This must be avoided, as it ruins the taste.
Add your grated tomato and keep stirring slowly until all the ingredients in the pot become a slush. Add little bits of water if the slush is too dry or if it wants to start sticking on the bottom of the pot. This sludge becomes your curry base. 2 Minutes
Note: Turn down the heat and let it cook for another 2 minutes to develop a bit of flavour.
Add your meat and braise the meat in the curry base for 5 mins, making sure that nothing burns on the bottom of the pot.
Transfer to a pressure cooker and cook for about 15 minutes on three quarter heat. I counted that the pressure cooker released steam about 6 times. Not ideal to use a pressure cooker on such high heat, but I was in a rush.
Check your meat, it should be pretty soft. Not falling off the bone quite yet, but close.
Add salt, stir and let stand for a minute or 2
Add your potatoes, which you have pricked with a fork to suck in the gravy.
Put the lid back on the pressure cooker and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
About 25 minutes or so should have passed by now.
Take your pressure cooker off the stove, release the steam and pour back into the original pot.
Give it all a good stir and allow to settle.
This is when you could add dhania etc but as I mentioned, I did not have any. Neither did I make sambals or anything.
Take a bow.
Serve with rice, roti, as a bunny chow or even just with a few thick slices of white bread.

Note: This is method is obviously a bit different to when I can take my time and cook a curry and use all my secrets – but this is just how I managed to get a very tasty mutton curry from raw to ready-to-eat in about 35 minutes.