Mutton or Chicken in Mava
A luxurious Parsi heritage dish where tender meat or chicken is enriched with a generous amount of Mava (dried milk solids), creating a creamy, velvety texture without the use of heavy cream. The dish is studded with fried almonds and raisins, offering a delightful contrast of nutty crunch and sweet bursts against the savory, spiced meat. Finished with a traditional 'dum' cooking technique, the flavors meld into a rich, aromatic masterpiece perfect for festive occasions.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Mutton or Chicken (cut into pieces) (Use tender meat, cleaned and washed.)
- 1/2 cup Ghee (for cooking meat) (Originally '1 to 1.5 pasher' combined. Adjusted for modern preference.)
- 2 medium Onions (finely sliced) (For the base gravy.)
- 1 teaspoon Ginger paste (Originally '0.5 tola' fresh ginger.)
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic paste (Originally '0.25 tola' fresh garlic.)
- 1 teaspoon Salt (Adjust to taste. Originally '1 tola'.)
- 2 cups Water (Approximate amount for cooking meat.)
- 2 ounces Almonds (blanched, peeled, and sliced) (Originally '1 navtank'.)
- 2 ounces Raisins (cleaned) (Originally '1 navtank'.)
- 1/2 cup Ghee (for frying garnish) (Originally '1 pasher'.)
- 3 large Onions (finely sliced for frying) (Originally '0.75 seer' (approx 12 oz).)
- 1 pound Mava / Khoya (unsweetened milk solids) (Originally '1 seer'. Use fresh, soft mava.)
- 1 tablespoon Garam Masala (Heaping spoonful.)
Instructions
- 1In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the base ghee. Add the 2 sliced medium onions and fry until they turn red. Add the ginger and garlic paste and sauté until aromatic. Add the mutton or chicken pieces and salt, stirring well to brown the meat slightly. Add water, cover, and simmer until the meat is tender and the liquid has reduced to a thick gravy (you should have about 1/2 cup of gravy remaining).
- 2While the meat is cooking, heat the frying ghee in a separate pan. Fry the sliced almonds until pale golden red, then remove with a slotted spoon. In the same ghee, fry the raisins until plump, then remove. Finally, add the large quantity of sliced onions (3 large) to the same ghee and fry them until they are crisp and golden brown (like birista).
- 3Once the meat is tender, remove the meat pieces from the pot, leaving the gravy behind. In a bowl, mix the cooked meat pieces with the fresh mava (crumbled), the fried almonds, and the fried raisins. Gently mix to coat the meat.
- 4Add the meat and mava mixture back into the pot with the gravy. Add the fried onions. Sprinkle the heaping tablespoon of garam masala over the top. Cover the pot tightly. Cook on very low heat (or place hot coals on the lid if cooking over fire) for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld and the mava to enrich the sauce.