ISLAMABAD: It’s Eid Al-Adha and after the animals are sacrificed and the charity distributed, it’s inevitable that your freezer will get loaded up with some leftover mutton. The question is: what will you do with it? Pakistanis love their mutton, slow cooked, thrown onto the fire, made with dada’s special touch or your mom’s recipe, the one that always prompts a great conversation.
Well, here’s our list on what you can do with the abundance of all that meat and to keep it interesting (and Pakistani).
Fire-it-Up Steaks
Have some chop cuts at your disposal? Go classic and marinate them Pakistani style in yogurt, ghee, and a mix of spices with cumin, turmeric and a ginger-garlic paste. Throw them on the grill or sear them off in a hot cast iron pan. A whole leg? Marinate it for a few nights for maximum tenderness and roast it for a Pakistani take on a classic roast dinner.
Over Rice
Team pulao or team biryani? Either way, Eid is your lucky day as succulent mutton pairs very well with Pakistan’s two favorite styles of rice. Both dishes celebrate mutton, especially when cooked with vegetables like potatoes thrown into the mix. Mutton is also a key player in Kabuli pulao for people who like their rice multi-faceted in the taste department with both sweet and salty flavours together.
Meat and Potatoes
Nothing more classic than a hearty meal of meat and carbilicious potatoes, and the Pakistani version of it: aloo gosht. Aloo gosht which literally translates to “potato meat” is prepared by cooking mutton and potatoes stew style for hours until you have fall-off-the-bone meat and potatoes that have soaked up all the delicious flavors of garlic, ginger and green chilies.
Paya
Paya are the feet of the goat, slow cooked and served in a broth of it’s own juices and is an acquired taste that many Pakistanis love. A dish which encourages bone-in, fatty pieces of meat, is cooked slowly and builds on flavors with layers producing a mutton comfort food style soup beloved for it’s warming properties and sharp spicy flavor.
Fashioned like Bihari
Bihari style mutton gets it’s own entry on our list as one of the yummiest ways to devour your meat. Marinated and cooked in thick yogurt that tenderizes the meat mixed with garam masala, and you guessed it: garlic and ginger! Bihari kabob or bihari mutton is a much loved melt-in-your-mouth slow cooked dish. Served with rice or with a piping hot naan, this is a “must-do!” recipe.
