Mutton Kosa : Easy Way with 8 Great Tips

Good things come to those who wait!!

‘Mutton Kosa / Kosha’ is one of the most popular recipes in Bengali cuisine and is known for its great flavor, richness and taste. This quintessential Bengali delicacy requires a ton of patience and time but believe me it’s worth it.

The word ‘kosha’ itself means slow cooking with little amount of water. Traditionally, this dish is being cooked on weekends by Bengalis because of its time-consuming process. 

There is indeed a pressure cooker version but I would recommend you to stick with the most bona fide way as it enhances flavor of the dish as well as gives a rich consistency to the gravy.

This dish is best served with plain rice and salads. It however goes well with Pulao, Parotta or Chapati too.

A few people get confused and compare this recipe with traditional mutton curry. Unlike mutton curry, Kosha is semi-gravy dish and often need more time for preparation. You can check Mutton Curry dish to learn about it more.

Ladies and Gentlemen, are you ready to be in business? Let’s get our counter set for the preparation of this delicious dish.

Ingredients: Required to make Mutton Kosa

Marination:

Oil – 1 tbsp

Mutton (Goat) – 500 grams

Potato – 1-2

Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tbsp

Curd – 2-3 tbsp

Kashmiri Chilli Powder – 1 tbsp

Turmeric – 1 tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Meat masala – 1 tbsp

Salt – 1 tsp

Curry:

Tomato – 1 medium

Onion – 4 medium / large size

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Meat masala – 2 tbsp

Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 2 tbsp

Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp

Green chillies – 3

Sugar -1 tsp

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Dry Red Chillies – 2

Bay leaves

Cloves – 2-3

Green cardamom – 2-3

Salt to taste

Steps : How to prepare Mutton Kosa?

Marination

Put the mutton pieces in a large bowl and wash it nicely by adding salt to it. Optionally, you can also prick the mutton which can help them absorb the flavors nicely.

To marinate, add ingredients (mustard oil, ginger garlic paste, yogurt, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, meat masala and Kashmiri red chilli powder) and mix till all the mutton pieces get coated nicely. You may even grind the spices with yogurt in a grinder and then apply the marination to coat the mutton pieces (entirely up to you).

Add potatoes to the marination and mix it gently.

Cover the bowl with a top/lid and keep the mutton aside for 4-6 hours. Marinated mutton should always be kept for a longer duration if possible because it then absorbs the flavors of spices and become softer and juicier. You can also keep the marination in the refrigerator alternatively for 8-10 hours or even overnight. Anything will work…! If you keep the marination in the fridge, just be aware of taking the marination out of the fridge 30 minutes prior cooking.

Curry

Heat mustard oil in a large pan (This dish is traditionally made in an iron pan but you can even use non-stick kadai). Wait for the oil to start releasing smoke and then add bay leaves, cinnamon, cumin seeds, chopped green chillies, cloves and green cardamom to it and saute well for roughly about 2-3 minutes.

Add thin sliced / chopped onions and cook on medium flame until the onions becomes translucent while stirring. You roughly need to stir for 5-8 minutes to make them translucent. Keep adjusting the flame if onions stick to the pan. It is always recommended to stir it often.

Now, add marinated mutton to the pan and toss well with onions. Cook for 8-10 minutes while stirring occasionally.

Include ginger garlic paste and sauté for a minute so that it mixes well with onions and mutton pieces.

Add all spices to the pan and mix well. Stir it occasionally and prevent the spices from burning.

Pro Tip: Add splash of water to the pan occasionally to prevent the spices from burning.

Add in tomatoes and then salt, so that tomatoes release water quickly and turn mushy. Keep stirring on slow flame.

Keep stirring time-to-time and incorporate even brown bits which would have stuck at the bottom of pan. We want to give the dish beautiful brownish rich color.

Add 1 tsp of sugar to the pan to cut the sourness. Keep stirring for a while.

Add little water (half a cup) and keep stirring for 5-6 minutes so that all the spices get cooked well. Bear in mind to prevent the spices from burning.

Once mutton is fork-tender and you are able to tear the pieces apart using your two fingers, it’s time to garnish the masterpiece. Add 1 tbsp of ghee to the pan as it will give the dish richness and nice aroma.

Now add chopped coriander to the pan.

Switch off the gas and transfer the scrumptious mutton kosa/kosha to a serving bowl. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves. Serve the hot mutton kosa with salad and plain rice or parotta or pulao for your lunch or dinner. Follow it up with desserts (Rosagulla / Misti Doi).

Can I Pressure Cook Kosha Mangsho / Mutton Kosa?

Of course, you can. Pressure cooking is always easier and takes less time and effort but your dish would be compromised. The idea of cooking this wonderful dish on to slow flame with continuous stir-frying is to give it a nice brown color with richness in gravy. When you pressure cook, you tend to get a watery texture which is good for traditional mutton curry but not for this dish.

How Much Water Should be added?

Traditionally, minimal water is required to make this dish! I would recommend to keep this dish semi-dry but you can add more water depending upon how you pair up your dish. 

I personally want this dish semi-dry and like to have with plain rice. Although I tried with Chapati too but enjoyed more with rice and pulao.

8 Important tips for a better Mutton Kosa

Always marinate the mutton for a longer duration (preferably overnight) if possible. This allows mutton pieces to absorb the wonderful aroma of spices.

The choice of mutton plays an important role for making any mutton-based dish thus always choose tender and fresh mutton of any cuts. Bone-in mutton should be preferred.

To fasten the cooking process, raw papaya can be added as it makes the dish more succulent. I generally don’t use, but you can if you wish to.

Homemade ginger-garlic paste should be used for intense flavor if possible.

Any oil for cooking can be used to make this dish but mustard oil is highly recommended. 

Whole spices are necessary to add as they release wonderful aroma into the oil.

Mutton kosa with dark brown color is the best and to achieve this, cooking on slow flame, stirring occasionally, frying up of spices properly, and incorporating brown bits stuck at the bottom of the pan are important.

As we are not making traditional curry, it’s important to add minimal water only. You however can add more water according to your need.

Serving Suggestions

Mutton Kosa tastes better the following day on the grounds that the pieces absorb the richness and flavors of the gravy well thus become more succulent. It doesn’t mean, you should not serve this dish hot immediately after preparation but would be good if plan for the next day.

It’s recommended to garnish this dish with chopped fresh coriander leaves and serve with steamed plain rice. Although some like to have it with Luchi / Chapati, I prefer plain rice.End this meal with some delicious Bengali sweets such as rosgullas or mishti doi.

Storage Instruction

This dish can be refrigerated for 2-3 days in an airtight container. I would not recommend to freeze but you can, if you wish to. Whenever I cook this dish, I plan to consume within 2 days (entirely up to you..).

Remember to take the dish out of the fridge 30-45 minutes prior to serving, and then reheat in a kadai or in the microwave. You may add splash of water while heating up if gravy is too thick.

FAQ

What is Kosha Mangsho made of?

Mutton kosa/kosha in Bengal is also known as ‘Kosha Mangsho’. You can refer the same recipe.

What is Kosha in food?

Kosha is similar in meaning to ‘Bhuna’ / ‘Fried’. As this recipe is purely stir-fry preparation on slow flame, referred as Mutton-Kosha/Kosa.

How do you make Kosha?

Please refer to this recipe.

How long to marinate mutton for Mutton Kosa?

As I explained earlier, it’s highly recommended to marinate mutton for a longer duration as they absorb aroma of spices and become tender.

General QnA

How to make mutton very soft?

The best way to make mutton softer and juicier is by adding yogurt in the marination and keep the marination overnight. Cook the mutton on low to medium flame.

Which is the softest part of mutton?

The rack taken from the ribs is said to be most tender cuts of mutton.

What state is kosha mangsho famous?

It is one of the most popular recipes in West Bengal.

What is mutton soup made of?

Legs of lamb / goat are often used to make delicious and nutritious mutton soup.