Simple, tasty lamb curry

neuro-praxis

Hello foodies.

I'm looking for a tried and tested lamb curry recipe to make that I can leave cooking on low for hours.

I have most spices in the cupboard, and 500g of diced lamb. I also have plenty of fresh veg. Any tips to make it very flavourful and delicious appreciated!

The Sweeper

Have you got any or all of the following:

Tinned tomatoes
Stock
Natural yoghurt
Potatoes

neuro-praxis

All of the above: check.

Seaneh

*Gets notepad and awaits sweepers return*

The Sweeper

Sorry guys, time difference meant I was in bed.

For future reference: lamb rogan josh. This is closely based on Madhur Jaffray's recipe, with some variation for a slow cooker.

This looks like a very complicated recipe, but gather all the ingredients together at once and it becomes very easy.

2lbs (900g) cubed lamb
Two knuckles of fresh ginger, peeled, coarsely chopped
6 fat cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 onions, peeled and chopped finely
Peeled and chopped potatoes (optional)
6 tbsps plain yogurt
1 tin tomatoes (optional – liquid can be replaced with stock)

Whole spices
10 whole cardamom pods
2 whole bay leaves
6 whole cloves
10 whole black peppercorns
1 stick cinnamon

Ground spices
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
2 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp paprika (sweet, not hot)
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
Garam masala to taste

1. Put your cubed lamb to one side – you’ll brown this in a minute.
2. Put the garlic and ginger in a blender with a couple of tablespoons of water. Blend to a paste.
3. Put the whole spices together in a bowl – that’s the cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and cinnamon.
4. Put the ground spices together in a bowl – that’s the coriander, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper and about a teaspoon of salt for starters.
5. Now, put some oil in a pan and brown the lamb pieces in batches. When browned, remove with a slotted spoon and keep to one side in a bowl.
6. In the same oil, throw in the bowlful of whole spices. Allow them to fry in the oil for about a minute, until they swell and pop.
7. Then throw in the onions and fry until they become clear. Now – and this is important – if you hate curry with whole spices, you can take out the small whole spices now because they’ll be easier to fish out – that’s the peppercorns, cardamom and cloves. Leave the others in, they’re too big to booby trap the food.
8. Now to the remaining whole spices and onions in oil, add the garlic and ginger paste and fry until the ‘raw’ smell goes away.
9. Return the meat to the pan, including all of the juices. Mix everything together. Now throw in the bowlful of ground spices and stir.
10. When everything in your pan is mixed, add your liquid. At this point, if I were doing a slow cooker dish, I would decant the contents of the pan into the slow cooker, and I would add a tin of tomatoes , and about 200mls of stock. You want the meat to have enough sauce that it won’t dry out. Also, to make a richer dish, at this point you can add some peeled, chopped potatoes. If you’re adding them, make sure to add enough stock so they have enough liquid to cook in. I usually measure this by sight – bring the liquid up to the point where the meat and potatoes are mostly covered, but there are visible pieces poking out the top of the liquid.
11. You can then leave this to cook – I’d do it on high for about 3-4 hours in a slow cooker, obviously double that on a low setting.
12. When you’re ready to eat and the potatoes are done, stir through the natural yoghurt, one tablespoon at a time. This stops the yoghurt splitting, but you will also want to judge the liquidity of the sauce so don’t add the yoghurt all at once. Make sure the dish stays hot with the cool yoghurt being added – this may not be an easy one to ‘finish off’ in the slow cooker! Then sprinkle over garam masala to taste – also taste for salt! If you added potatoes, the dish will take more salt.
13. Serve with steamed rice – the potatoes make this an especially hearty dish, you won’t need naan bread if you add them.

neuro-praxis

Thanks The Sweeper. What you've posted above is almost exactly what I would have done by instinct.

I've made this now, but I've discovered that the lamb I bought (pre-pack on a Tesco delivery order) is only approx 300g (for €5.40 no less!). I'd assumed it was around the 500g mark. In light of this, I've made the curry pretty much as above, but left out the potatoes and added green lentils instead. I do like spuds in a curry but felt that given the lack of lamb, a protein addition would be best. We'll be having rice and naan with this so we didn't need another starch. I also added some slivered red pepper with the onions to add another vegetable.

It's simmering away on the stove-top now. I went for the cast iron casserole rather than my slow cooker. We're going out soon so I'll transfer it to the oven on low. We're eating it tomorrow so it should be super-tender and rich.

I'll take a photo and share. Cheers.

Ponster

Since I discovered this recipe I haven't used any other in the past 5 years. Well worth the effort. Not something to make if you don't have all day to do so but the sauce can be made up and then frozen.


Peter's Lamb Curry (from Jamie's book The Return of the Naked Chef) -
Serves 8


2 tablespoons butter
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
285ml/1/2 pint stock or water
1.5kg/3 1/2lb leg of lamb, diced
1 handful of chopped mint and coriander
285ml/1/2 pint natural yoghurt
salt and freshly ground black pepper
lime juice to taste

Hot and Fragrant Rub Mix -

2 tablespoons fennel seeds
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1/2 tablespoon fenugreek seeds
1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 clove
1/2 a cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Curry Paste Ingredients -

5cm/2 inches fresh ginger, peeled
2 tennis-ball-sized red onions, peeled
10 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 fresh chillies, with seeds
1 bunch of fresh coriander

Preheat your oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

Lightly toast the fragrant rub mix in the oven or under the grill. Chop the curry paste ingredients roughly, add the rub mix and puree in a food processor.

In a large casserole pan, fry the curry paste mixture in the butter until it goes golden, stirring regularly. Add the tomatoes and the stock or water. Bring to the boil, cover with kitchen foil and place in the oven for one and a half hours to intensify the flavour. Remove the foil and continue to simmer on the stove until it thickens. This is your basic curry sauce.

Fry the lamb in a little olive oil until golden, then add to the curry sauce and simmer for around 1 hour or until tender.
Sprinkle with chopped coriander and mint and stir in the yoghurt. Season to taste and add a good squeeze of lime juice. Serve with spiced breads, steamed basmati rice and lots and lots of cold beer.

Feel free to vary the curry by using diced chicken, prawns or paneer, or vegetables like Swiss chard, spinach, peas, cauliflower, fried aubergine, okra, boiled potatoes, chickpeas or lentils.