Laal Maas Recipe, A Rajasthani mutton dish which is popular among the royalties. Laal Maas also known as Laal Maans, Ratto Maans. Tender mutton is cooked in a spiced yogurt sauce made with kashmiri chillies, coriander, onions, ginger and garlic. This dish pairs well with bajra roti, steamed rice or jeera rice.
Laal Maas
I came across this recipe from a cooking show hosted by david rocco. I fell in love with it because of its simplicity because it uses few simple spices and spice powders. The bright red colour with a thin layer of ghee floating on top makes it so appetizing.
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This curry is made with mutton or lamb. It goes well with pretty much anything, specially chapati, rice, curd rice, coconut rice, parotta or anything your heart desire.
About Laal Maas
Laal maas is a popular spicy mutton dish from Rajasthan. It is also known as Ratto Maans. ‘Laal’ means Red and ‘Maas’ means Mutton. The dish is known for its iconic red colour. Tender pieces of lamb cooked in a yogurt sauce with kashmiri chilli powder, coriander, ginger & garlic.
Traditionally, laal maas was made with wild game meat (jungli maas), such as boar or deer. It was a favourite among the royalties. This traditional Rajasthani laal maas is made with lots of dry red chillies and can be served with phulka or roti.
One tip I can give you is use good quality ghee and use Kashmiri chilli powder. Some people prefer to use mustard oil also.
I started the cooking process of laal maas in a cast iron pot. It helps searing the meat and onions better. Once I build the curry I can choose cooking it in pressure cooker or in a pot.
If I had sometime I would choose to cook the laal maas in a regular pot low and slow. But I choose to cook in pressure cooker so it cooks faster.
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How to Smoke Laal Maas
To get authentic restaurant style taste, you can choose to smoke the entire dish. Once the laal maas is done cooking. Remove it to a serving bowl which has a lid fitting lid.
Heat a piece of charcoal till red. Meanwhile make a cup shape using aluminium foil. You can use a small bowl. Keep the foil cup on the top of the gravy, and place the hot charcoal piece inside the cup.
Top with few pieces of cloves over the charcoal. Drizzle a teaspoon of ghee over the charcoal. Immediately cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and let it smoke for 2 to 3 minutes.Now remove the cup carefully and mix well. Smoky flavoured laal maans is ready to serve.
Ingredients
- Mutton | Lamb – The recipe calls for tender pieces of lamb or mutton with bone-in. But you can opt for boneless meat as per your convenience.
- Yogurt | Dahi – The sauce for laal maas is made with yogurt. Use thick creamy curd for texture.
- Spice Powders – kashmiri chilli powder adds colour to the gravy. Coriander powder, cumin powder and turmeric is purely for flavour.
- Onions – The authentic recipe doesn’t uses onions. But I like to add sliced onions for flavour and sweetness.
- Whole Spices – Black cardamom, black peppercorn, cinnamon and green cardamom is used.
- Ginger & Garlic – freshly crushed ginger and garlic adds aroma to the dish which enhances the flavour profile.
- Ghee – ghee or clarified butter adds rich taste to the dish.
Step by Step Pictures
Mixing Sauce
1)First let’s mix the sauce for the curry. Take thick curd in a bowl. Make sure the yogurt is thick and not too sour. A little sour taste is fine. Yogurt makes the base of the curry.
2)Add in Kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Kashmiri mirch adds the iconic red colour to the gravy.
3)Mix this really well till the yogurt incorporates into the spice powders and creates a smooth sauce.
Tempering Spices
4)I used my dutch oven to cook the gravy. But you can cook this in a pressure cooker. Pressure cooker is faster way to cooking. Heat ghee in the pot, the ghee which I used is buffalo ghee.
5)Add in black cardamom, cinnamon, green cardamom, black peppercorn. let it sizzle in the ghee for few minutes.
6)Add in peeled and thinly sliced onions.
7)Stir the onions into the ghee. take your time to cook onions. It has to turn golde and caramelized.
8)This is the colour you are looking for. It adds for sweetness and flavour.
Searing Mutton
9)Add in tender pieces of mutton into the fried onions.
10)Sear the mutton pieces for 5 to 10 minutes till the lamb gets nice colour.
11)Add in ginger garlic paste and salt.
12)Saute the ginger garlic paste for couple of minutes.
13)Reduce the flame and add in yogurt mixture.
14)Stir the yogurt into the seared meat. Cook on low heat till mutton is well coated in the yogurt sauce. Cook for at least 5 minutes to create flavour.
Cooking Mutton
15)Pour in enough water to cover the meat. Give it a good stir. If you are cooking this in a regular pot, it might take around 2 hours. You might need to add more hot water if the gravy gets too dry.
16)But I transferred it into the pressure cooker. This way the mutton cooks faster.
17)Cover and pressure cook for 5 to 6 whistle. Once the mutton is cooked, turn off the heat and let the steam escape by itself.
18)Open the cooker. There will be a red layer of ghee floating on top.
19)Laal maas ready to serve.
Expert Tips
- Thick yogurt is preferred to make the curry. You can opt for dahi as well.
- Use tender pieces of meat for even and faster cooking.
- Kashmiri chilli powder is used in the gravy for colour. If you are using regular chilli powder, use less.
- You can make the curry with chicken as well.
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Laal Maas Recipe | Rajasthani Laal Maans Recipe
Instructions
Take yogurt, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder in a bowl, mix well and set aside.
Heat ghee in a cooking pot, add in cinnamon, green cardamom, black pepper and black cardamom. Let them sizzle for couple of minutes.
Now add in sliced onions onions. Stir and cook till golden brown. Onions should turn golden brown.
Add in mutton and toss well in the onions till it seared. You have to sear the mutton for 5 to 7 minutes till it gets colour.
Add in salt and ginger garlic paste and stir into the mutton for 2 more minutes.
Now add in yogurt spice mix and mix well till the colour darkens. It will take 10 minutes to sear. Pour enough water to cover the meat.
Bring this to a full boil. Reduce the flame to lowest possible. If you are cooking this in a regular pot, it might take around 2 hours. You might need to add more hot water if the gravy gets too dry.
I transferred to a pressure cooker for faster cooking. Cover and pressure cook for 5 to 6 whistle. Turn off the heat and let the steam escape all by itself.
Now open the cooker. You will see a red layer of oil floating on top. Thats it your laal maas is ready to serve. Enjoy with rice, paratha or naan.
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Laal Maas Recipe | Rajasthani Laal Maans Recipe
Amount per Serving
% Daily Value*
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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