You may be wondering what this dish is all about?! ‘Serendipity’ means finding an interesting or unplanned discovery and in this instance, the creation of this dish!

Mum had a chicken breast in the freezer which she had marinated with a bit of turmeric, salt and chilli powder as standby if the grandchildren were to drop by for lunch unexpectedly. After 2 weeks, we figured no one would come knocking on the door for lunch and so we decided to cook it for ourselves. And I thought why not do something creative with it and viola…. here is the dish!

A week later, I made this dish again using mutton, but it was super spicy for some and the in-house Executive Chef said not to cut down on the chilli or pepper, but to add more tomatoes and yogurt. I am yet to try it again with his recommendations, but will do so shortly. But for those who are not a fan of spice, please by all means do cut back on the chilli and pepper.

Ingredients

• Mutton – 1kg
• Onion – 2, diced
• Chilli padi(*) – 6, diced
• Tomatoes – 4 large, diced
• Turmeric – a pinch
• Black peppercorns (crushed) – 3 tbsp
• Chilli flakes – 2 tbsp
• Yogurt – 5 tbsp
• Salt
• Oil
• Water
• (*)small pungent chillies also known as Indian chilli

Method

• Marinate the meat with salt, turmeric, crushed black pepper and chilli flakes and keep it aside for half an hour to an hour.
• Heat oil in a wok and saute the onions till brown.
• Add the meat and stir well.
• Add water and cover to let it cook (you may also pre cook the mutton in the pressure cooker and if so then you need not add water in this step).
• When the meat is 3/4 cooked add tomatoes and continue cooking covered.
• Towards the end add yogurt and cook uncovered till semi dry.