Aloo Gosht Recipe: Pakistani Mutton and Potato Curry

Mushy potatoes, tough meat, or both

Aloo gosht goes wrong in one of two ways. Either the potatoes have dissolved into the gravy by the time the mutton is soft, or the potatoes are perfect and the meat is still chewing back. Both come from the same mistake: putting everything in the pot at once.

This aloo gosht recipe follows our Mutton and Potato Curry, which serves 4 and lists about 85 minutes. It is rated Medium. Gosht means meat and aloo means potato.

Amounts

Our recipe is written for mutton. Whatever your halal butcher sells for it, ask for bone-in curry cuts; the recipe tip says bone-in meat gives a richer, more flavourful gravy.

Aloo gosht recipe, step by step

1. Fry the onion in the oil until golden.
2. Add ginger-garlic paste and the mutton, and fry well until the meat changes colour.
3. Add tomato, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Cook until oil separates from the masala. This is the same visual cue that tells you the tomato is cooked in karahi-style dishes such as Chicken Karahi.
4. Add 3 cups of hot water (about 700 ml), bring to a boil, cover, and cook on low for about 50 minutes, until the mutton is nearly tender.
5. Add the potatoes, in large chunks, cover again, and cook 15 to 20 minutes, until a fork slides in easily.
6. Uncover, medium-high heat, about 3 minutes, stirring gently until the gravy thickens and oil shows at the edges.
7. Garnish with coriander and serve with roti or rice.

The pressure-cooker version

Our recipe says a pressure cooker needs only 20 to 25 minutes for the mutton stage, roughly half the time. Follow steps 1 to 3 in the open cooker, add the hot water, seal, and cook the meat. Release the pressure safely, open it, then add the potatoes and finish with the lid off or partly on for the same 15 to 20 minutes. Keep the potatoes out of the sealed stage so they do not turn to mush. Fill-line and release rules are in Pressure Cooker Lentils: Times, Ratios and Safety Tips.

When to add the potatoes. The recipe tip says to add potatoes only once the meat is nearly tender, so they stay whole. If you test a piece of mutton at 50 minutes and it still resists, give it 10 more before the potatoes go in; the potatoes then need their own 15 to 20.

A timing sheet for the whole pot

The recipe page lists 15 minutes of prep and 90 of cooking, which is more than its 85-minute headline time. On a weeknight, plan for the longer figure.

Fixing the gravy

• Too thin? Crush one or two potato pieces against the side of the pot, as the tip suggests. The starch thickens the gravy.
• Want a soupier, shorba-style curry? Add another cup of water, again per the recipe tips. Shorba is a thin, brothy gravy.
• Oil sitting in a red layer on top? That is the sign the masala has cooked properly, not a mistake. Stir it back in or spoon some off.

Where this sits next to other meat curries

Aloo gosht has a cousin in Bhuna Gosht, which our library lists as a slow-roasted mutton curry at 85 minutes. Nihari is the long stew, listed at 280 minutes. If you want potatoes with a quicker meat, Aloo Keema (minced meat and potato) takes 50 minutes, and Potato and Spinach Curry is the vegetarian route at 40.

Serve with plain roti, rice, or a simple lentil. One Sunday Pot of Daal, Three Different Dinners suggests ways to use the same daal across several meals, which pairs well with a heavier meat day.

Leftovers and a short mistake list

Cool the leftovers, refrigerate them and reheat until steaming hot.

Mistakes to avoid:

• Adding potatoes at the start.
• Adding cold water instead of hot (the recipe specifies hot).
• Skipping the oil-separation stage before adding water.
• Stirring hard after the potatoes go in; stir gently.

The pantry planner on Degchi at degchi.matrixinn.net/#try can check whether you already have the spices and potatoes before you buy the meat.