Kongu Aatu Kari Kurma

: A Spicy Kongunadu Mutton Curry Recipe

Kongu aatu kari kurma is a mutton curry recipe from the south of India, made with a fragrant ground paste of coconut and various spices and aromatics. It hails from the Kongunadu region of Tamil Nadu, whose cuisine is prized for its use of freshly ground spices and going the long route when it comes to cooking. Unlike the North Indian kurma, this Kongunadu mutton curry draws its flavour from a roasted masala paste built on fennel seeds, poppy seeds, whole pepper, cloves, cinnamon, dried red chillies, and fresh coconut, all dry-roasted before grinding. Kongunad is a cultural region that stretches across the western part of Tamil Nadu, encompassing the areas of Coimbatore, Erode, and Pollachi. The cuisine here relies on locally sourced ingredients, using freshly ground spices, millets, chicken and barely any marination for its meat, cooked with coconut (both fresh and dried), groundnuts and turmeric in gingelly oil. In Kongunadu households, aatu kari or mutton is a prized ingredient reserved for Sunday lunches and festive gatherings. This mutton curry recipe is a weekday-friendly adaptation that can be made in a pressure cooker in under 45 minutes while delivering the slow-cooked complexity of a feast dish. The base of this mutton curry recipe is onions and tomatoes sautéed in oil until soft, to which the freshly ground masala paste is added along with the raw mutton pieces. The mutton cooks in the masala without any pre-marination, absorbing every layer of spice from the inside out.