First time I've tried a new meat curry in a while, so back to my bible 'An Invitation to Indian Cookery' 1984 edition bought for my mother but never used.
The original recipe calls for 2lb of lamb, but I made a less meaty version with 500g of cubed lamb and a large sweet potato which served our family of five.
Serves 6-8
1kg (2 lbs) cubed lamb
3 tbsp vegetable oil
10 cloves
1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes or more to taste
12 black peppercorns
6 whole cardamom pods
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp shredded coconut
3 tbsp ground almond
6 garlic cloves
1-inch cube fresh ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons yogurt
1 500g carton passata
1 tsp salt
Grind the cloves, peppercorns, and cardamon seeds in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar.
Tip the ground spices, together with the cumin, coriander, coconut, and almond into a heavy saucepan and dry roast the spices for a few minutes until you smell them strongly.
Remove the roasted spices to a bowl and add the oil. When hot add the lamb to brown, cooking in several batches otherwise the meat will end up stewing rather than frying. Take out with a slotted spoon and keep to one side until it is all browned.
Fry all but one handful of the sliced onions in the same pan after removing the lamb, Whilst the onion is browning liquidise the remaining handful of onions together with the garlic and ginger and a little water to make a smooth puree.
When the onions start to brown, add the garlic paste together with the roasted spices, plus the turmeric and nutmeg. Add the yoghurt one tablespoon at a time once the paste starts to look like it is drying out. Then add the passata, the browned lamb, and half a carton of water. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer and cover for 1 hour, stirring from time to time. Add salt just before serving.
I served it with basmati rice and cucumber raita.
No comments:
Post a Comment