Mutton Dalcha, is a unique amalgamation of two diverse diet types- vegetarian and meat based. This unique dish is not just a food on your table but a melting pot of flavors, cultures, and religion of two diverse groups- Hindus and Muslims.
India itself being a potpourri of cultures in which various diverse groups of people from varied religions, food preferences, clothing habits have been living together with their differences for centuries now. While the differences should be clearly visible in some aspects of these groups, there are areas where we have assimilated and blended effortlessly with each other. Food is an area where lines become blurry often and this results into many dishes that becomes signature dishes of those states, cities, or districts.
Smita and I made Pune as our temporary stay since early 2007 and later when we got married, we decided to settle down in this lovely city. While she would still crave and get nostalgic about Mumbai often, what we both never missed was the hectic and frenetic paced life of that city. Pune, as a sleepy pensioners city with its slow-paced life had grown on us and we had come to love its slower pace. We both worked for Infosys in shifts and the resultant stress was enough for both of us and we looked forward to our weekend food excursions that would keep us excited throughout the week.
We both were foodies and always wanted to explore some new food- whether it was on a restaurant menu or a comparatively unhygienic food-cart vendor. As far as I remember, Mutton Dalcha was not as easily visible, neither on a restaurant’s menu nor there were many street food vendors serving it in Pune. Later at some point, we began noticing many street food vendors who would serve Mutton Dalcha mushrooming in city. In fact, at some point there were 5 different food cart vendors serving variety of Dalchas in half a km stretch of a street.
We tried it at plenty of places in Pune and had an opportunity to taste it couple of times during our Hyderabad travel. We both fell in love with this dish and wanted to make it for viewers (and readers) soon enough. It went through our routine process- wherein we had tasted the dish, tried it more than few times in our kitchen until we had the recipe refined to a point of satisfaction and then documenting it in our food diary. However, for some reasons, we couldn’t shoot the recipe video.
Nevertheless, here I am now with this not only nutritious (protein packed), but also insanely delicious Mutton Dalcha that will tingle your taste buds such that you would not be able to stop with a single bowl of serving and would crave for more.
Mutton Dalacha goes well with Biryani, steamed rice. However, we like to pair it with Bagara Khana- a tempered rice dish that pairs perfectly well with Mutton Dalcha.
Follow this simple and step by step recipe video and make Mutton Dalcha in your kitchen. Please share your feedback about the recipe or your experience with this dish in the comment section below. If you like the video, do like, share, and comment. Subscribe for more such recipe videos!
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4-5
- 500 gms Mutton
- 1 Large Onions (100 gms) sliced,
- 2 Medium Tomatoes (100gms) chopped,
- 250 gms Bottlegourd (Lauki) - large cubes,
- 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
- 1-inch Cinnamon stick
- 2 Green Cardamom
- 1 Black Cardamom
- 3-4 Cloves
- 1-tsp Shahi Jeera
- 1 Bay leaf
- ½-tsp Dagad fool (kalpasi)
- 5 Green Chilies
- 8-10 Curry Leaves
- 20 gms Tamarind soaked in ⅓rd cup water- extract pulp
- 1-tsp Red Chili powder
- 1-tbsp Coriander powedr
- ½-tsp Turmeric powder
- ½-tsp Cumin powder
- ½-tsp Garam Masala powder
- For Dal:
- ½ cup Chana Dal
- ½ cup Masoor Dal (Red Lentil)
- 1½ cup water
- 1-tsp Turmeric powder
- 1-tbsp Cooking Oil
- For Tadka:
- Cooking Oil
- 1 small onion- sliced
- 2 dried red chilies
- Soak both Dals for an hour. After an hour, We will pressure cook Dal. Transfer drained Dal in a pressure cooker. Add water, turmeric powder and cooking Oil (Check For Dal Ingredient section). Mix well.
- Pressure Cook on medium heat for 10-12 mins (3 whistles).
- In another pressure cooker, heat 3-4 tbsp cooking oil. Add Cardamom- Green, Black, Cloves, Shahi Jeera, Bay Leaf, Stone flower, Cinnamon stick. Add 100gms Onions.
- Fry until Onions become golden brown in color. Onions turn brown in 8-10 mins on medium heat.
- Add Ginger-Garlic paste and fry for 2 mins.After 2 mins, add mutton pieces and mix well.
- Cook Mutton on medium Heat for about 10 mins. Add chopped tomatoes and mix well. Cover and cook on low heat. Cook tomatoes on medium Heat for about 10 mins.
- Tomatoes produces water as it gets cooked. Now we will add dry masala powders- Turmeric powder, Red Chili powder, cumin powder, Coriander powder. Mix well. Cover and Cook.
- Add about 1½ cups of water and mix well. Pressure cook mutton now. Cook mutton on low-medium for 12-15 mins (3-4 whistles).
- Meanwhile, lets mash the cooked Dal.
- Remove the pressure cooker lid of mutton. Add bottle gourd cubes and mix well. Put back on pressure. Cook on low-medium for 5-6 mins (1 whistle).
- Remove lid and give it a stir. Put back on heat. Now, add cooked and mashed Dal and mix well. Now based on the desired consistency, we must add some water. I am adding about 1 cup water. Mix well.
- As it simmers, add tamarind pulp and mix well. Add Curry leaves and Green Chilies and mix well. Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 mins.
- Add Salt to taste and Garam Masala. Mix well. Cover and cook on low heat for 2-3 mins
- Mutton Dalcha is now ready. We just need to give a final Tadka. Heat 2-tbsp Ghee. Add Onions and fry until it becomes golden brown. When Onions become brown, add dry red chilies. Tadka is now ready and we can now pour this on Mutton Dalcha.
- Mutton Dalcha is now ready. Serve with Bagara Khana/Bagara Chawal
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