Bakra Eid Special: Cooking Mutton Curry in a Handi | Food Recipe

Try out this delicious, easy-to-make recipe of Handi Mutton Curry and make your Bakra Eid aromatically memorable.

Desi style cooking on a stove made of bricks, wood and dung cakes.

(Photo:The Quint\Erum Gour)

Camera: Zijah & Aliza Sherwani

Video Editor: Rahul Sanpui & Prashant Chauhan

This is the second Bakra Eid in the pandemic and at this point festivities just don't feel the same. So, to add some joy, my parents and I decided to cook something special, and experiment with food this time.

We cooked the usual mutton curry in desi style, in a Handi. We made a make-shift stove with bricks and lit it up with some wood and dung cakes.

My parents always talk about how cooking food in clay vessels such as a Handi give the food a special aroma or sondhapan, which elevates the taste of the food.

And, they were right! Not only was it delicious and flavoursome, each bite came with a subtle savour of food smoke.

Here's this very easy recipe for all the mutton lovers!

Preparing the Mutton With Spices

In 200 gm thinly sliced onions, add 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 2 tsp garam masala, 200 gm curd, 2tsp coarse ginger garlic, 50 gm oil, 500 gm mutton.

Mix all of this together.

To make the garam masala, you'll need to grind these spices: Javitri, green cardamom, black cardamom, cloves, cumin seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, star anis, and black pepper.

You will need six bricks to make the stove. Keep two on top of each other and place them making a square, leaving only the front side open to stuff wood and dung cakes under the handi. Now, comes the tricky part; to get the stove burning quickly pour some cooking oil on the wood and dung cakes. As soon as the wood and dung cakes catch fire, all the excessive smoke will settle down indicating that the stove is lit properly.

Make sure that the flame is not too much, keep it on the lower side.

Let's Start Cooking!

• Add 100 gm oil in Handi

• Add 3 bay leaves, 5 green cardamom, 3 black cardamom, and 5 cloves

• Put the muttion and onion mix in the Handi

• Give it a nice stir

Turning the Handi into a Pressure Cooker

Grease the lid and rim of the handi with sugar-water solution, cover it with dough, stick it together and keep it on the stove for 40 minutes.

After 20 minutes, lift the handi with a towel/cloth and swing from side to side. Since we can't open to stir it with a spoon, oscilating this way will mix the ingredients inside.

After 40 minutes, remove the dough with the help of a knife and open the lid. Handi Mutton Curry is ready to eat. Garnish with fresh corriander.

Handi mutton curry.