Lamb Curry
Ingredients
Marinade - made up of onion chilli paste, seeds, ground spices and yoghurt
Onion Chilli Paste
- 1 large onion 170g peeled and roughly chopped
- 25-30g garlic cloves about 6 large cloves
- 20g fresh ginger
- 2 green chillis (7g)
- 2 pinches black salt Himalayan salt is fine too. I read somewhere this was a great salt for a curry. I had it in my pantry so I used it.
- 20g odourless coconut oil / ghee refined Coconut oil has a smoke point (also known as burn point) of 232ºC. You can also use Ghee which is clarrified butter which has the same smoke point. If an oil goes beyond its smoke point it realeases chemicals that are harmful. It will also make the food taste bitter. (unrefined Avocado oil has the highest smoke point of 249ºC)
Seeds
- 30g odourless coconut oil / ghee
- 8 cloves whole
- 8 cardamom pods
- ½ tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 Mace husk
- ½ quill cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ajwain seeds
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
Ground Spices
- 2 Tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida
Lamb and rest of marinade ingredients
- 260g full fat yoghurt
- 1,6kg lamb neck and or lamb knuckles (I used 1,190kg knuckles R175/kg and 478g R135/kg neck) lamb knuckles are meatier and lamb neck is fattier. I wanted both so I decided on this ratio.
- 2 fresh bay leaves or dry ones work fine too I have a tree in my garden so I prefer to use these fresh ones
Caramelized Onions Yield 120g, half used for the basmati rice and the other half for the curry
- 3 onions sliced into circles about 3mm thick
- 3 Tbls olive oil
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin.
- ¼ tsp salt
- 100ml water
Making the lamb curry after marinading for 2-3 hours
- 30g coconut oil / ghee or more as needed
- 1.6kg marinated lamb see recipe above
- Salt and pepper
- 4 grated tomatoes 575g gross weight
- 2 Tbls tomato paste
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 500g Water to deglaze pan
- 60g caramelised onions
- 20g fresh coriander
- squeeze of lemon juice
- Coriander Mint and cucumber yoghurt Banana Extra chilli
Aromatic Basmati Rice
- 100g warm milk
- 6 strands saffron
- 5ml rose water
- 400g basmati rice
- 2L water
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 1/2 quill cinnamon
- 20g ginger freshly grated
- 2 tsp Himalayan salt
- 2 green chilli cut in half
- 6 sprigs mint
- 4 green cardamom pods bruised in mortar and pestle
Instructions
Marinade Step 1
- Add all the Onion Chilli Paste ingredients to a food processor or blender, except the coconut oil and reserve this oil for frying the onion paste until the seeds and spices have been tempered.
- blits to a chunky paste, to give you this consistency
- (Optional- Add the seeds to a mortar and pestle and give them a light pounding before tempering them)Tempering the seeds and spices
- Get all your seeds and spices measured out and organized
- Tempering the seeds and Spices - Heat the oil in a pan. When the oil has melted and is heated add the seeds and cook for 90 sec they will start popping. Keep a lid handy so that it doesn’t splatter on you
- Add the ground spices to continue the tempering process. This blooms the spices which essentially brings out their flavours.
- and cook for a further 2-3 minutes shaking the pan constantly.
- Remove from the heat and pour into a heat proof bowl
- In the same pan add the 20g of oil add the onion chilli paste and cook for 4 minutes stirring to ensure it doesn’t burn.
- Add the seeds and spices to the onion and continue to stir for 2 minute.
- Turn off the heat and cool.
- Prepare the lamb for marinade
- Stir in the yoghurt.
- Once mixed together spread over the meat.
- Place in a glass dish, add the bay leaves and cover with lid and marinade for 2 -3 hours.
Caramelized Onion
- Place the olive oil in pan on medium high heat, fry onions in oil for about 3 minutes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to caramelised. Stir often to make sure they don’t burn. Add water 1 Tbls at a time. With the added spices they can burn quicker than normal. Control the heat. This process should take about 10-15 minutes. Set aside until needed.
Making the lamb curry after marinading
- Heat the oil in a pan. add salt and pepper to the knuckes and neck. Brown the lamb in batches on both sides. Don’t overcrowd the pan. The knuckles like space.
- As they are done place them in a heavy based pot. I used my 28cm Le Creuset pot with lid. Add the grated tomatoes, sugar and paste to the lamb pot.
- Deglaze the pan with the water and
- pour that over the lamb. Cook on low heat for 1 hour.
- Stir in half the caramelised onions (about 60g) and continue cooking for another 2 hours. Switch off and cool.
- Debone the lamb and add the meat back to the pot. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to your liking. A squeeze of lemon adds to the balance of flavours add as much as you feel necessary to get it just right
- stir though the coriander
- Serve with sambals and aromatic basmati rice
Aromatic Basmati Rice
- Bloom the saffron in the milk while the rice is cooking. Add the rose water to the milk. Set aside until ready to add to rice In a big saucepan add the water and aromatics. Bring the water to the boil and add the rice. Hard boil for 15 minutes. Drain the water reserving about 100ml. Add the rice and water back to the pot. Scatter the caramelised onions over the rice. Spoon over the saffron and rose water milk and steam the rice for a further 30 -40 min on very low heat. Never stir rice. Only fluff with a fork. Serve with Lamb Curry
- Is the rose water necessary, no and yes. No because will you really know it's missing and yes, because it adds that authenticity of subtle flavours that you can't pinpoint until you recognise it.
