Rajasthani Junglee Maas: The Fiery Rajputana Curry That Has Our Heart
Image Credit: Pixabay, Junglee Maas

The Rajasthani fare is replete with tons of flavourful dishes. Largely known for their fiery food, Rajasthanis love to have chillies in several of their dishes. Take the mirchi bada for example. When I was in Udaipur for a few days, I noticed that something called mirchi bada was being prepared on the streets each morning. The thick green chillies are coated with a besan or gram flour batter which is deep-fried in hot oil. These chillies are slit from the middle to be stuffed with a spicy potato masala. This serves as a breakfast treat or a snack in the region. Apart from the street food, it is the Rajasthani curries that have always been the talk of the town. Not only do they excel in making vegetarian delights like gatte ki subzi or dal baati churma, their meaty curries are unmatched too. 

When you think of Rajasthani food, which is the curry that strikes your head first? For us, it is laal maas. Laal maas, as the name suggests, is a dark red curry made with lamb. It is said to be extremely spicy and rich in flavour, usually savoured with steamed rice to achieve the full taste in the mouth. Similarly, there’s another curry that is quite famous from the Rajasthani fare and works wonders during lunch. It is called Junglee Maas. Sounds interesting right? The name was give to the dish because of its historical lineage. The game meat that was attained by hunters when they went for shikaar for long periods of time was called Junglee Maas because these people carried only a few basic ingredients to prepare this goat meat curry. This dish would take long hours of slow cooking in a clay pot after which the dense flavours and colours can be devoured. While all the other ingredients used to be basic, it was the Mathaniya chillies that added fire to the dish. 

Do you want to try it too? Here’s a detailed recipe by Slurrp Community member @homechefalison. 

Rajasthani Junglee Maas 

Ingredients 

  • Mutton - 1 kg
  • Ghee - 1 cup
  • Garlic - 8-10 big cloves
  • Dry Mathania chilies(Rajasthani dry chillies) - 10-12
  • Salt as per taste
  • Water - 2 Cups

Method

  1. Add ghee to a pan and heat it well. Cooking in ghee lends the dish a rich and intense flavour. 
  2. Take some Mathania chillies and throw them in. 
  3. Next, add some peeled garlic to the ghee. Toss all this together. 
  4. Wash the mutton and add it to the pan. 
  5. Sprinkle salt over it and mix it all well. 
  6. Add some water and let it cook for some time. 
  7. Once the mutton is cooked tender, you can take it out in a bowl. 
  8. Serve it with some steamed rice and enjoy.

Pro Tips

  • Avoid pressure cooking the meat as it loses its flavour, it’s best slow cooked till the mutton is tender.
  • In case you don’t have Mathania chillies, you can use Kashmiri chillies as well.