Everyone’s favourite Indian lamb curry was on our menu last week and as always it delivered on every level. Sublime flavour, easy one-pot cooking and budget friendly using delicious lamb shoulder. This is a made from scratch rendition because let’s face it……it tastes so much better and there is a real sense of achievement having not fed the family out of a jar!
Suitable for slow cooker. Place all ingredients in the slow cooker (except garnishes) and stir to combine. Cook on low for 8 hours and if you want to up the flavour, brown the meat first.
* You can also replace the whole spices with ground spices if that is what you have in the pantry. 1/2 a tsp of cardamom and a 1/4 tsp of cloves would be enough as they are quite strong but the cumin and coriander would remain the same.
Prep time: 25 Minutes Cooking time: 2.5 Hours $$ Low to Medium Budget
Serves 6
2 tbs of olive oil
20gm of butter
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced
2cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 large brown onion, halved and sliced top to bottom
1.2kg of diced lamb shoulder
1 tbs of smoked paprika
5 green cardamom pods, bruised
5 whole cloves
8 black peppercorns, ground
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp of cumin seeds
2 tsp of coriander seeds
1 tsp of turmeric
1 tsp of chilli powder
sea salt
4 ripe tomatoes, diced
2 cups of water
1 cup of natural yoghurt
1/2 a bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
1/2 a cup of slivered almonds, toasted for garnish
Coriander sprigs, pappadums and natural yoghurt to serve
For the Rice:
2 cups of Basmati rice, rinsed
3 cups of water
Pinch of salt
Cracked pepper
1 cup of frozen baby peas
Heat a large heavy based pan and add the oil and butter. Once melted, fry the onions until soft and then add all the spices (so you don’t forget any of them, spoon them into a dish so that you can add them all at once). Fry for a minute or so or until aromatic and then add the ginger, garlic and lamb. Have your pan on a nice high heat and allow the lamb to colour for a few minutes. Don’t be alarmed if it gets a little liquidy, this is a slow cooked dish so the lamb will tenderise with time. Once the lamb has browned a little add the tomatoes and continue cooking on a high heat until the tomatoes begin to break down. Pour in the water and yoghurt, season well with salt and stir to combine. The yoghurt will look a little split at this stage. Bring the curry to the boil, reduce the heat and pop on a tight fitting lid. Cook on a low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and allow to reduce for approximately 15 minutes.
To prepare the rice place the rice, water and salt in a large saucepan and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally and once boiling place a lid on and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 12 minutes then remove from the heat and allow to rest with the lid on for at least 5 minutes.
Place the peas in a small bowl and cover with boiling water for a few minutes to defrost. Drain and stir through the rice with a sprinkling of black pepper.
Stir the chopped coriander through the curry just before serving and serve the curry with the rice, yoghurt and pappadums and top the curry with a sprinkling of toasted almonds. Garnish with coriander sprigs.