Niramish Mangsho - The food of Goddess

Being an Assamese I can relate to this Niramish Mangsho or Niramixh Mangxo pronounced in Assamese , with Maa Kamakhya. Kamakhya is a Hindu tantric goddess of desire, also known as Kali or Tripura Sundor. Her 16th century old temple is situated in Nilanchal hill in the Kamrup district of Assam .  Situated in 8 kms west of the city Guwahati, this temple honours the essence of female energy.

In Hindu mythology, it is believed that when Lord Shiva was carrying the corpse of his wife Sati and dancing Tandava, her "Yoni" ( womb) fell to the ground at the temple now stands. It is also known as the mentruating goddess and celebrates "Ambuvachi" ( when the goddess menstruate) for 3 days during the month of monsoon which falls during the Assamese month of Ahaar ie mid of June of every year.
This place and also other shakti piths practise sacrifice or Bali with the ritual of killing goats or pigeons. Blood is offered to the goddess and meat is being distributed among the devotees.


Now in modern time, devotees are replacing the animal with vegetables like pumpkin or Ashgourd as bali . Blood is replaced with vermillion or sindoor. Living here in Dehi, I have witnessed such "Bali practise" with vegetables.   During Durga Puja , Pumpkin is used as a sacrifice and serve meat in some pandals as bhog prashad , which is cooked without onion and garlic .

Anyway, my idea was to cook this delicious "Niramish Mangsho" which is being cooked with ghee and other spices ( avoiding onion and garlic) . This recipe is different from the  Bengali version of Niramish Mangsho.






Ingredients
1 kg Patha Mangsho ( Goat meat)
Potatoes - 500 gms ( optional )
Ginger- 100 gms ( make a paste)
Curd - 250 gms
Paste of 1tbsp of cumin seeds and 10-12 green chillies
( soak the cumin seeds and make a paste along with chillies)
Turmeric - 2tbsp
Paste of garam masala
soak 7-8 cloves, 2 inch of cinnamon and 4-5 green cardamom in water and make a thick paste of it

Tempering
Bay leaves -3
Ghee to cook - 6 tbsp
Method
Marinate the meat with turmeric, curd , half of cumin paste and ginger paste . Keep it for an hour .
Heat ghee , add bay leaves , add rest of ginger paste and keep stirring till you get nice aroma of fried ginger . Add marinated mutton and stir . Cook with stirring in intervals in high flame for 15 minutes . You need to check that mutton should not get burned . Reduce the flame, add rest of cumin and chilli paste. Add salt and pinch of sugar. Cook covered till half done . 
When half done , add whole potatoes and cover and cook till mutton is done or soft . When meat is cooked , add the garam masala paste and stir . Bring it down and keep it covered for 10 minutes before serving with pulao or boiled Joha rice . 
*Joha is an aromatic rice found in Assam which can be replaced with Gobindo bhog rice of Bengal