Champaran Mutton

A lamb dish from Bihar

• CuisineIndian
• CategoryLamb
• CourseMain

Ingredients

• 1 kgLamb
• 500 gmsOnion, thickly sliced
• 100 gmsCoriander, chopped
• 6Green chillies
• 2Whole garlic pods
• 50 gmsGarlic cloves
• 50 gmsGinger, thickly sliced
• 1 cupMustard oil


• Masala Powder
• 5Brown cardamom
• 3Long pepper (pipli)
• 1 tspPepper
• 1 tspCloves
• 20Green cardamom
• 1 tbspCumin seeds
• 2 tbspCoriander seeds
• 1Star Anise
• 1 tspMace
• 1 tbspCinnamon
• 5Kashmiri chillies
• 2Bay leaves, cut in half
• 1 tbspDagad Phool (also known as Kalpasi)
• 1 tbspChilli powder
• 1 tbspSalt
• 1 tspTurmeric powder

Preparation

1. Roast and grind Masala powder ingredients
2. Mix all ingredients and the masala powder
3. Marinate overnight
4. Place in a tagine and put in the oven at 160°C for 3 hours, stirring every 15 minutes

The dish hails from the Champaran region of Bihar. Like a lot of cooking in Bihar, it features mustard oil in a big way. Like Bengali cooking, the mustard oil is not heated to smoking point to remove the smell. The pungent flavour of raw mustard oil is embraced and is part of their dishes. The dish does not use the usual tomatoes - it does not have any gravy to speak of. It is cooked in earthen pots sealed using dough and slowly cooked over hot coals.

While I had heard about it, my curiosity was piqued by the video clip by Chef Arun. The ingredient list is long and contains many spices I rarely use. The steps of preparation are very short in comparison.

While having a long list of ingredients is not unusual for Indian dishes, this had a few I had not used before. Even in other recipes, I tend to skip some of the spices but this time, I was determined to use them all.

The first was long pepper or pipli. It figures in a few dishes from this region. If you find it in a Mutton Nihari, don't be surprised. That famous dish originates from this area.

The next spice was Dagad Phool or Kalpasi. It is also known as Stone Lichen. The first two names in Marathi and Tamil translate to stone flower. It is a lichen that is dried and used. I am not sure what it is doing in this dish - this spice is commonly used in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra - hence the local names. It doesn't taste of much till it is fried in oil, when it releases a string earthy taste and is often used in fish dishes.

Also used is Mace or javitri, a common enough spice but something I usually omit when I am cooking. But this time around, I had a large packet gifted by the same friend who gave me the Dagad phool. So I decided to use it. Mace is the lacy, outer covering of nutmeg and is dried.

I would not call mustard oil a spice but as it contributes a lot to this dish and to several other dishes from this region like Bihari Kebab, I can't leave it out. If you find the taste too strong or are worried about its toxicity, heat it before use and/or mix it with ghee.

A lot of Indian cooking involves the use of masala powder. There are several variations depending on the dish, the region or the person making it. Champaran Mutton has its own masala powder. The various spices are lightly roasted till aromatic and then ground. While roasting, it makes sense to separate them out based on size. If it is all in one batch, the finer spices end up at the bottom of the pan getting scorched while the larger ones remain untouched.

The use of whole garlic pods is peculiar to this dish. I cut out a small part of the bottom to make it easier to squeeze out the creamy, roasted garlic once the cooking is complete.

The mixture of spices, onion, meat and herbs is doused with plenty of mustard oil.

Add the masala powder and mix. Cover and marinate in the fridge for a few hours or even overnight.

The marinated mixture is usually sealed in pots using dough and placed over hot coals. Some of the hot coals are piled on top as well. I used a tagine in an oven to get a similar effect. Any sealed or tight lidded pot should work and an oven is as close you can get to being surrounded by hot coals.