Champaran mutton (ahuna)

Ingredients

• 1 kg mutton on the bone, in pieces
• ½ cup mustard oil
• 2 whole heads of garlic (tops trimmed)
• 3 onions, sliced
• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp red chilli powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 bay leaves, 4 cardamoms, 4 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 dry red chillies
• Salt to taste
• Wheat dough to seal the pot

Method

1. Mix the mutton with the onions, ginger-garlic paste, powdered spices, salt and the mustard oil. Marinate for at least 1 hour.
2. Put the whole spices, red chillies and whole garlic heads into a clay handi and add the marinated mutton.
3. Cover with a lid and seal the edge with wheat dough so no steam escapes.
4. Cook over a slow charcoal or wood fire for 1½–2 hours, shaking the pot now and then instead of opening it.
5. Break the seal at the table and serve with rice or roti, squeezing the soft garlic cloves into the gravy.