Nagpur Saoji Mutton is a speciality of Nagpur city of Maharashtra State in India. This dish has lots of dried whole masalas, later grinded to paste, making it spicy. The gravy base is roasted and grinded peanut paste.  The masalas and peanut base gravy make this dish very delicious.

Ingredients:

  • Fresh Mutton (Lamb) – 1 kg – cut into 1 inch size cubes.
  • Onion – Three medium sized – cut into thin slices.
  • Cooking Oil – 4 to 5 tbs.
  • Dried Spices : Pepper Corn – 1 tbs.  Dal Chinni (Cinnamon Stick) – 2 inch. Cloves – 1 tsp. Red Chilli – 6 to 8 pieces.  Green cardamom – 4 pieces. Black cardamom – 1 piece. Cummin seeds – 1 tbs. Mustard seeds – 1 tbs. Soaf (Fennil) seeds – 1 tbs. Coriander seeds – 2 tbs.  Mace leave – 1 piece.  Star Anise – 2 pieces. Dagad(Stone) petals – 1 inch. Tej patta (Bay leaves) – 2 pieces.
  • Dried Coconut – cut into fine pieces – 4 tbs.
  • Ginger and Garlic paste – 2 tbs.
  • Peanut – 100 gms – dry roasted.
  • Tumeric powder – 1 tsp.
  • Lime Juice – 4 tbs.

Method:

  • Take a deep fry pan or Kadai.  Add cooking oil and heat it up.
  • After the oil is heated up, add sliced onion in two or three batches and fry them until golden brown.  Remove the fried onions and allow them to cool.  
  • In the same heated oil, add all the dried spices mentioned above and fry them for a minute or so.  Don’t allow it to burn.  Remove the fried dry spices and keep it aside to cool down.
  • Take another pan and heat it up.  Add Peanuts to it and dry roast the peanuts.  Remove it from the pan and allow it to cool down.
  • In the same dry heated pan, add dried coconut and roast them. Remove it from the pan and allow it to cool down.
  • Grind the fried onions, fried dry spices and roasted peanuts together by adding little water so that this turns into a paste after grinding.
  • Grind the roasted coconut seperately by adding little water and turn it into a paste.
  • Take the same deep fry pan or Kadai and add little bit of cooking oil to it.  Heat it up.
  • Add Mutton (lamb) pieces to the heated oil and fry the mutton for 10 to 15 minutes on high heat by continuously stirring it.
  • Add ginger and garlic paste as well as tumeric powder to it.  Stir well continuously.
  • Add fried onion/dry spices/peanut paste to the mutton.  Continuously stir the mixture and allow the masalas and mutton to cook together for another 10 minutes.
  • Add coconut paste and mix well.  Keep stirring the mixture and cook it for another 5 minutes.
  • Add three to four cups of water (depending on required thickness of gravy) and mix them well.  Close the lid of the Kadai and allow the mutton to cook on medium heat until mutton is cooked to perfection (become soft and tender).
  • Add lime juice and cook it for another 5 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat and keep the lid closed for another 15 minutes.
  • Nagpur Saoji Mutton is ready.
  • Serve Nagpur Saoji Mutton hot along with Roti/Bhakri or Rice.
  • Happy Eating.