Saag Gosht

The tastiest saag gosht I ate was nearly 20 years ago, on the way back from Shimla, in a restaurant where I had it for the first time and fell in love with it. The meat was fall off the bone tender and the saag was immensely flavorful. I had it many times after that hoping I could get the same taste and texture but never quite succeeded. I even tried to make it myself a few times but the results were a far cry from the desired. It was a few months ago that one of my close friends' mother was in Singapore and she offered to teach me the basics of cooking gosht. That was the first time I learnt how to cook mutton in a pressure cooker, how to choose the right cut of meat, how to distinguish good meat from bad meat and most importantly how to make it tender yet delicious with all the necessary flavors intact.

Armed with this newfound knowledge on cooking mutton and a pound of well chosen meat, I decided to try saag gosht one more time hoping this time I would get it right. The inspiration for this recipe came from Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe on his website. I just used it for the measurements but cooked according to my own intuition and it was worth the effort! The only watchout is knowing the cooking time for your brand and type of pressure cooker. It will be best to refer to the manual which comes with your pressure cooker to see the cooking time. The meat can also be cooked in a slow cooker which will take anywhere between 6 - 8 hours to get the meat really tender.

Ingredients: 
2 bunches spinach leaves
500 gms Mutton/lamb on the bone, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon Oil (vegetable/sunflower/olive oil)
1 bay leaf
4 green cardamoms
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 black cardamom
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 1/2 cups sliced onions
4 cloves garlic grated
2 inch ginger grated
2 teaspoons meat masala
salt & red chilli powder to taste

Method:
1. Boil spinach in salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Drain and cool. Grind in a food processor/blender and set aside. Wipe excess moisture from the meat pieces and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add the cumin seeds, bay leaf, cinnamon, green cardamom and black cardamom. Let the spices release their flavor for about 30 seconds. Add ginger and garlic to this and cook for 30 seconds over medium low heat till the ginger and garlic become soft. Add the sliced onions and cook till the onions are light golden brown and soft.
3. Add salt, red chilli powder and meat masala to this and mix well. Add the meat and cook over high heat till the meat is seared well from all sides. Add one cup water and lower the heat. Place the cover of the pressure cooker and let it cook for a time according to the cooking instructions.
4. When the meat is done, add the boiled spinach to it and let it simmer gently till the flavors are well combined and the meat is tender (3-5 minutes).
5. Serve hot with naan/chapati or rice.