Indian Lamb Curry

January 7, 2017

Indian cuisine is one of my guilty pleasures for comfort foods. Very few things will beat a nice bowl of freshly made lamb curry with a side of Jeera Pulao. A lot of recipes look very intimidating with a plethora of ingredients, but I promise you that once you've laid out your mise en place, the preparation and cooking will be very easy.

Indian Lamb Curry

Yield: 4 Servings | Preparation time: 15 minutes | Cooking time: 60 minutes

The key to getting a deep, rich flavour to your curry is to make sure that the onions are browned to the point where they almost look blackened. They won't have a typical caremelized look, but instead will appear as if they fell into the bottom of a deep fryer and stayed there a little too long. I often substitute the lamb with other meats such as beef, bison or boar. Pretty much whatever I happen to have in my freezer. If I'm serving this to guests, I will remove the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cloves so that no one gets culture shocked when they bite into it. This curry is a bit on the spicy side, so adjust the amount of chili powder to your taste. The ginger-garlic paste can be bought in jars from an Indian grocer, or you can make your own by adding a 1:1 ratio of ginger and garlic plus some water into a food processor and process until it's a paste.

Ingredients

450g (1 lb) Lamb, boneless and cubed
3 Tablespoons Ghee
1 teaspoon Whole Cumin Seeds
5 Green Cardamom Pods, cracked
1 Cinnamon Stick (about 3 inches long)
3 Whole Cloves
1 Medium Onion (about 150g - 200g), finely diced
2 Tablespoon Ginger-Garlic Paste
1 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Red Chili Powder
125ml (½ Cup) Crushed Tomatoes
Fresh Chopped Coriander, to taste
Salt to taste

Preparation

Step 1: In a pot, heat up the ghee and then add the whole spices (cumin, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves). Let the spices sizzle for 1 minute.
Step 2: Add the chopped onions and sauté until dark brown (about 15 to 20 minutes of cooking).
Step 3: Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 2 minutes on low heat.
Step 4: Add the powdered spices (garam masala, coriander, turmeric, black pepper and chili pepper) and sauté for another 2 minutes. The paste should be very fragrant.
Step 5: Add the crushed tomatoes and sauté for another 2 minutes. Deglaze the bottom of the pot with the liquid from the added tomatoes.
Step 6: Add the lamb plus some water to thin the gravy out a bit to prevent it from burning. Bring to a low simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes or until the lamb is tender. The lamb will release some liquid but the water should eventually evaporate away and you'll be left with a thick gravy. If you find it too thin, open the lid and let some of the water cook away.
Step 7: Add salt to taste and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.