Ingredients

For lamb curry

1. Oil – 3 tbsp
2. Onion (medium, chopped) - 2 1/2
3. Tomato (big, chopped) – 2 or 230 gms
4. Mutton/lamb (with bones) – 500 - 600 gms
5. Ginger and garlic paste – 1 tbsp
6. Chilli powder – 1 1/2 tbsp
7. Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
8. Salt - as per taste
9. Water – 1 to 1 1/2 cup

Whole spices

10. Cloves – 5
11. Green cardamom – 4
12. Cinnamon stick (1 inch pieces) – 3

For gongura

13. Oil - 1 tsp
14. Gongura leaves – 214 gms or 2 big handfuls
15. Onion (medium) – 1
16. Tomato (big) – 1 or 130 gms
17. Green chillies (slit) – 4
18. Ginger and garlic paste – 1 tsp
19. Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
20. Water - 1 cup

Tadka (tempering)

21. Oil – 4 tbsp
22. Mustard seeds – 3/4 tsp
23. Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
24. Onion (small) – 1
25. Dry chillies – 4
26. Green chillies (slit) – 4
27. Garlic (big, crushed or sliced) - 3
28. Curry leaves - 25

Method

There are 4 steps in this recipe.

1. Cooking mutton curry

2. Cooking gongura leaves

3. Mixing both mutton curry and gongura leaves

4. Tadka (tempering)

Cooking mutton curry

1. Chop onions and tomatoes (except gongura leaves and green chillies) keep it aside.
2. Take a pressure cooker; add all the ingredients for mutton curry with oil and water 1cup to 11/2 cup as seen in the picture.
3. Cook it by closing the lid, until it gives 4 whistles or cook until meat is cooked.
4. Wait for few minutes, until the pressure is released from the cooker, and then open the lid.
5. If the gravy is watery and too thin, cook it by keeping the lid open until the consistency of the curry becomes thick, and it starts leaving oil add salt and mix well and keep it ready.
6. You can cook the meat in an ordinary vessel, but first add whole spices and onion cook until soft and caramel, then add rest of the ingredients and roast for 4minutes, add water, cook until meat is cooked and oil starts leaving the curry. Meanwhile cook the gongura curry.

Cooking gongura curry

7. Pluck the leaves of Gongura from the stems. After plucking the weight was 214gms. Wash, clean and keep it aside. Wash the gongura leaves twice or thrice to remove the dirt and soil from it and drain the water well.
8. Take a pressure cooker, add all the ingredients with 1cup water for cooking gongura (except salt) and cook it for 4 to 5 whistles, on medium flame by closing the lid. Switch off.
9. When pressure is released, open the lid, if the liquid is still there and gongura leaves have not combined well with onion and tomatoes, then cook for 10 minutes more until tomatoes and onion are softened, until little liquid is left and gets blended with the gongura leaves. Switch off.
10. If it gets dry add water as per the requirement.
11. If it is in a vessel then cook it like chicken curry, add all the ingredients including water, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until all liquid is absorbed, onion and tomatoes are softened and gongura leaves are cooked well.
12. You can see that the volume of gongura leaves is reduced (shrink).
13. Take any big spoon or the wooden masher (dal ghotni) which I use for mashing dal; mash the cooked leaves with other ingredients, by adding salt, so that all the ingredients are blend well with each other. Keep it ready.

Mixing both mutton curry and gongura leaves

14. Now add the gongura curry into the mutton /lamb curry and mix well.
15. Add 1/2cup water, mix well and cook for 5 minutes on medium flame and 10 to 12 minutes on simmer flame, by closing the lid or until gongura and mutton/lamb curry are blended well, starts leaving oil and is as per the consistency required.
16. At this stage if you want can avoid tempering and serve gongura mutton/lamb curry.

Tadka (tempering)

17. Heat a small kadai or any vessel, add oil, when hot, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds, and let it splutter for few seconds.
18. Add dry chillies, garlic crushed with its skin, green chillies slit, curry leaves, stir well for 30 sec to 1minutes, until garlic cloves get golden colour.
19. Add the tempering to the curry, mix well and cook for 10minutes on simmer flame by closing the lid, switch off.
20. Add little water if the curry becomes too thick and cook according to your taste and consistency you want.
21. Gongura curry is ready as oil starts leaving the curry and is well blended with spices and tempering.
22. Serve gongura mamasam with plain rice with few drops of ghee or with roti or any pulav dish.

Notes

1. Sometimes, I coarsely grind the gongura mixture in a food processor or mixer, so that onion, green chillies and tomato are well blended with the gongura. It will give you different texture and taste.
2. If you want gongura chicken curry to be darker and greener, then prepare chicken curry dry with same ingredients or add more quantity of gongura leaves, which gives different texture and colour to the dish.
3. The green chillies can be increased or decreased according to your spiciness.
4. If your gongura leaves are very sour then can add small tomato.
5. If you want can add small 2 to 3 brinjals, while cooking the gongura leaves, it will reduce the sourness and gives you different taste also.
6. When the sorrel leaves are cooked it becomes very soft and reduces to a very smaller quantity. Sometimes I do not add water to cook gongura leaves, instead cook it on very low flame, by closing the lid.
7. After tempering in the Gongura curry, I sometimes add garamasala 1/2tsp in the end, which is optional and cook for few minutes.
8. In gongura mamasam, you can add boneless meat, lamb shanks or mutton/lamb ribs or chops as per your taste.