Being a reasonably good cook of the malayalee culinary USB the Beef olarthiyathu, today I made a mutton version of the famous Syrian Christian dish ..
Kerala is the land of spices,coconuts,green canopy of trees,lashing waves lapping backwaters,verdant hills and dark forests.
The damp humid and warm greenhouse it is , has many culinary delights which grew out of years of its kaleidoscopic influences from all over the world .
At times when the rest of India had prohibitions to travel beyond the black oceans ,the shores of Kerala had Europeans,Arabs,and Jews,pouring in .
In AD 52 St Thomas was said to have spread the word of Christ in the South of Kerala ,and centuries later when the Portugese came and were surprised to know that Christianity existed in this land years back .
The advent of Islam in the 6 th century,
Jewish refugees ,
Arab ,European,Chinese traders or colonisers ,
African slaves ,
little Kerala had more foriegners in it than the rest of India .
The land absorbed thier culinary skills and secrets ,and with time it melded and moulded them with local recipes using locally available food matireal thus giving birth to an unique kerala cuisine of which the Beef olarthiyathu occupies a primma donna position .
The Mallu loves his drink and his parotta and for both this was the best side dish made .
So today I wanted to be a bit different in making a Mutton olarthiyathu as this was not much heard of .
The core ingredient is the Coconut
Ie liberal use of coconut oil and coconut bits .
I went to Thripunithura market as a morning walk to buy mutton from my weekly regular butcher.
I tenderised boneless mutton pieces with some curd, all spices ,salt ,for an hour
Later pressure cooked for 2 whistles and kept it aside .
Took a frying pan heated coconut oil sauted ginger garlic pieces with coconut chunks ,added whole spices ,small onion cut well ,salt ,coriander ,turmeric,chilly powder in that order and once well blended added tomatoe ,curry leaves and later cooked meat .
The next part is the real secret of olarthiyathu .
One needs patience and hard work to go one churning the mix in low heat for a long time till all liquid disappears .
Add a bit of coconut oil when it turns dry
Add some pepper powder and meat masala nearing the end and later green curry leaves .
By now it would be brown black ,but not burnt or charred .
Mutton olarthiyathu is ready and yummy .
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