Mutton Chap (Slow cooked mutton ribs)(Bengali Style )

There are variety  of delicious  mutton  dishes that you come across  in restaurant'  menu card in Kolkata. Mutton chap (in Bengal,it is popular as Mutton ChaNp) is one of them. The name chaap(ChaNp) comes from the word 'chop'. Chop is a small cut of meat including part of a rib.

It is influenced by mughali cuisine,marinating meat with  sahi garam masala and slow cooking procedures are influence of Mughlai cuisine. It is usually served along with biryani or roomali roti or lacha paratha.

For Bengali's 'mutton' is synonymous to goat meat,so I used  goat meat,if you want you can use lamb.
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Author - Moumita 
Preparation Time - 15 Minutes 
Cooking Time - 1 hour
Marinating  Time - 12 hours
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INGREDIENTS 

Mutton ribs- 500 grams
Yoghurt-1/2cup
Raw papaya paste -1/4 cup
Ginger paste- 1 tablespoon 
Garlic paste: 2 tablespoons
Chana dal flour -1/4 cup(Roast  chana dal on tawa  then grind to make a fine powder )

Sahi Garam Masala (Green Cardamom-5,Black Cardamom -2,Cloves-4,Black pepper -1/2tsp,Mace - few blades,Nutmeg -1/4 tsp...roast all the ingredients  and grind to make a fine powder).

Red chilli powder-2 tablespoons
Turmeric Powder- 1 teaspoon
Saffron -few (soaked in 1/4 cup warm water)
Rose water- 1 teaspoon 
Kewra essence-2 drops
Salt to taste
Ghee-1/2cup. .you can use vegetable oil instead of ghee. 


METHOD 
Take the mutton pieces, wash and pat dry with kitchen towel. Take a big bowl , marinate the meat with raw papaya  paste and yogurt. Papaya paste acts as a natural meat tenderizer. Leave it for 3-4 hours or overnight.


After 5 to 6 hours in or next  day morning, take a mixing bowl , add   soaked saffron,salt,  garlic paste, ginger paste,  red chilli powder, coriander powder,  roasted chana dal powder and sahi garam masala powder , mix them well.

Take out the marinated mutton from fridge.  Add  this masala paste  to the marinated mutton and rub the mutton  pieces well on both sides.Allow it to rest  for another 4 to 6 hrs.

 Add  ghee  or clarified butter to the pan and heat it up, once it is melt add the mutton  pieces with the marination  masala. Let it cook over medium  for 5 minutes after that reduce the heat to low and cover it with a lid. Cook it covered on very low heat for about  45 minutes  to 1 hour.  Frequently remove the cover and give some stirs and  mix the spices. Fry the chops till both sides turn golden brown and oil comes up from the sides of pan and mutton gets softer and tender.

Sprinkle rose water and Kewra essence  over it and mix , keep it covered till you serve. Enjoy with laccha paratha, roomali roti or

Chicken Biriyani

Tawa Butter Garlic Naan

Mutton Biriyani