Erachi Vattichathu / Lamb Fry / Dry-Fried Lamb (Kerala Style)

                 A typical Kerala recipe made by my Big mom. She is a wonderful cook with innovation in cooking. She magically transforms any vegetable or meat to tasty curries or fry. She has patience to cook and may be that is one reason she serves plate licking dishes every time. I will never forget the way she treated me with delicious dishes for 15 days after delivery of my little one. Thank you Valsala Valliamma...This post is dedicated for you.

                   "Vattichathu" in Malayalam means "Drying up all the liquid". After preparing Lamb curry in a pressure cooker, I let it cook again on stove top to get the Fry look here. It takes a bit time as we need to dry up all the water, but very simple and tasty recipe for Lamb/Mutton lovers like me. My big mom would take the pieces from the curry and dry roast it. This way you can use the curry as a gravy for rice. I did not do that but simply let it dry completely. Have some Curd rice or Lemon rice on your plate with a few pieces of lamb fry - a combo you cannot go wrong.


Ingredients:

To marinate:
Lamb / Mutton - 450 grams
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tablespoon
Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Garam masala - 1 teaspoon
Pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Fennel powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Salt - as needed

For Fry:
Onion - 2/3 cup (Finely chopped) or 1 medium sized
Green chilli - 2 no's
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Red chilli - 1 no
Bay leaf - 1 no
Fennel seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Water - 1/2 cup


Method:

• Take a bowl and add all the ingredients under "To marinate" column and marinate over night inside your Fridge. (1 hour Minimum marination time is required, but I did over night).

• Next day, in a pressure cooker add this marinated ingredients with 1/2 cup water and pressure cook upto 6 whistles and keep aside (Mutton/Lamb differs time from region to region...add water according to your need. The number of whistles could be as low as 5 to upto 10 as well based on the lamb purchased).

• Take a tawa, heat oil, add fennel seeds, bay leaf, green chilli, red chilli and onion. Saute till onions are golden brown. Add the cooked mutton along with water and stir well.

• We need to dry the water completing by letting it cook on slow fire. once the masala gets coated on mutton...it is completely ready!

My Notes:

• Marination should be done for a minimum of 1 hour and maximum of over night.
• While pressure cooking the Mutton/Lamb, add very less water because meat will lose water. 
• We can let it stay with little bit of water or dry them like shown here.