Though often dismissed as a fatty meat, in flavor, not much can compete with a good mutton curry. The meat from an adult goat, mutton has its benefits too – it contains high quality protein, essential amino acids and high levels of valuable micronutrients including iron, zinc and vitamin B. You can prepare a low calorie, healthy mutton curry by not using oil, allowing the meat to cook in its own fat and juices instead.

Healthy Mutton Curry (without oil)

Ingredients

500 gm mutton, trimmed of skin and fat

150 gm thick curd

1 large onion

2-inch piece of ginger

5 cloves garlic

1 tsp meat masala

1 tsp jeera (cumin) powder, freshly roasted and ground

1 tsp dhania (coriander) powder

¾ tsp haldi (turmeric) powder

½ tsp red chilli powder

Salt to taste

Ingredients for spice powder, dry roasted and ground (preferably by mortar and pestle)

4 green elaichi (cardamom)

6 lavang (cloves)

2-inch piece dalchini (cinnamon)

1 piece javitri (mace)

1 piece star anise

Ingredients for tomato puree, blended

4 tomatoes

1-inch piece of ginger

Method

1. Grind the curd, onion, ginger and garlic to make a paste. Marinate the mutton with this paste, and add haldi, dhania and red chilli powder along with meat masala and refrigerate for two hours.
2. Pressure cook marinated mutton until the meat is fully done. If required, add little water. Open the pressure cooker when steam gets released completely. Switch on the gas again and add tomato puree and salt, and cook on a low flame for five minutes approximately. Now add the dry spice powder and jeera powder and cook for one more minute or until a thick gravy is formed. Serve hot with rice, chapatti, bread or paranthas.

Note: An 85-gram serving of roasted mutton contains 199 calories and no carbohydrates. It also contains 3.8 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0.7 grams of polyunsaturated fat and 4.3 grams of saturated fat, the last of which raises your cholesterol levels.

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Written by R. Kalpana

Nutritionists have a role to play that goes beyond mere meal-planning, says Kalpana, who believes she can motivate others to stay on the path towards a healthier life. A certified dietician with a PhD from SPMVV University, she is a Mary C Jacob Award-winner for Merit in Physiology from Madras University and has worked across various hospitals as well as nutrition clinics. She has been published both nationally and internationally in various science and health journals and writes regular health blogs for Sify. At home, Kalpana tracks her family’s food choices – she ensures that they follow a healthy lifestyle – and she believes she can help HealthifyMe users to do the same. People who really want to change the way they eat will see success, she claims, of the opinion that nutrition, lifestyle and behavioural changes can be transformative only in tandem. Eat good food, to your heart’s content, but ensure you also exercise are fundas she urges you to follow.