To Curry Favour.....

OK as promised a recipe for a rather hot Lamb Curry for you all. Once you have done this a few times you'll be cooking curries the same way for ages. It's really so simple.

You could actually use any meat for this too, Pork, Chicken and Beef would work as would just adding more vegetables for a vegetarian option or chucking in some fresh uncooked and unshelled prawns towards the end of cooking for a fishier variation.

Lamb or Mutton would be my personal choice which is why I've used it in the recipe but it really more about the spice paste and blended sauce (in Indian cooking referred to as the "Masala" which I'm sure rings bell with you)

I'm only going to do the actual curry itself leaving you to decide what you serve with it. Personally just plain boiled Basmati rice does the trick for me because any extra flavourings can distract from the spices in the curry.

This should serve 4 people.

What you need for this -

1 x Large Saucepan or Stove-top Casserole (In either case they need a lid. If you do use a casserole make absolutely sure it can cope with direct heat otherwise it could crack and be very dangerous)
1 x Blender or Hand Blender.
1 x Pestle and Mortar. (This is preferred but not entirely necessary as any whole spices used could be substituted for their ground variety)
1 x Chopping Board.
1 x Sharp Cooks knife.
1 x Measuring Jug. (This is just to mix up a small amount of stock so if you don't have one then a coffee mug will do)
1 x Empty bowl for preparation.

Ingredients -

2 x Medium/Large Onions.
3 x Dorset Naga Chillis. (If you cannot get these go for 4 or 5 Scotch Bonnet or perhaps about 7 or 8 green finger Chillis. The hotter the better, test your limits)
4 x Cloves of Garlic.
3 x Tomatoes
2 x Medium sized Floury Potatoes. (Estima, King Edward or Desiree)
1kg x Stewing Lamb. (Neck or Shoulder will be best, try and get your butcher to take it off the bone and cut it into chunks for you, they may also already have prepared chucks of Stewing Lamb ready.)
1 x Stock Cube. (Lamb preferably but Chicken or vegetable will work too)
1 x Handful of Fresh Coriander.
1 x Tin of Chopped Tomatoes.
1 x Thumb sized piece of Fresh Ginger.
3 x Tablespoons of Sunflower or Vegetable Oil
1 x Teaspoon of Black Mustard seeds.
1 x Good glug of White Wine Vinegar.
Sea Salt.
Fresh Ground Black Pepper.

Spices - If you do not have a Pestle and Mortar then just mix the spices up in a small pot substituting the whole spices (seeds) for their ground equivalent. (tbsp = Tablespoon/tsp = Teaspoon)

1 tbsp x Hot Madras Curry Powder.
1 tsp x Tumeric.
1 tsp x Cumin Seeds.
1 tsp x Coriander Seeds.
1 tsp x Paprika.
1 tbsp x Chilli Powder.
4 x Cardomom Pods. (Carefully cut open and use just the black seeds inside)
1 tsp x Ground Ginger.
1 tbsp x Ground Cinnamon.
1 tsp x English Mustard Powder. (Optional)

To start get all the spices into you Pestle and Mortar and give a good grinding until there are no large bits then add a touch of water a bit at a time to create a paste, leave this to one side for the time being.

** TIP here - Why not multiply the Spice ingredients and use only what you need for this recipe right now and save the rest in an air tight container for use again saving you having to measure all the spices out again next time. ***

So now take the onions, peel them then cut each in half from root to top. Take one of these Onion halves, slice it widthways into fairly thin slices and save in one of the empty bowls for later.

The remaining Onion and be roughly chopped and added to the blender jug.

For the Chillis just lop off the stalks and also bung into the blender jug. The minimal amount of contact your fingers have with insides of these beauties the better !!

Peel the Garlic cloves and the Fresh Ginger add both of these to the blender jug as well.

Finally give the Fresh Coriander (stalks and all) a little chop so it'll blend easier and throw this in the blender too.

Give all of these ingredients a good blast until its all nicely chopped and there are no lumpy bits. You may find that initially the ingredients won't blend too easily but you can fix this by taking the lid off the tin of chopped tomatoes and adding in some of the juice to the mixture as it blends.

Once you happy with it's texture then turn off the blender and set aside for later.

Now to start the cooking....

Put the pan over a medium heat, let it warm up before adding in the Oil.

After a few seconds add in the Black Mustard seeds.

Keep your eye on the pan because in a while the seeds should start popping a little.

Once they do then take your Spice Paste mixture, add it into the Oil and give it a good stir until it is completely mixed with the oil.

If the Oil and Spice mixture looks like it's cooking a bit too ferociously just take the pan off the heat for a while and stir it until it calms down a bit, it should just be a gentle simmer. The idea here is not to burn the spices but to cook out the powderiness and to flavour and colour the Oil.

If you're happy that it's all nicely mixed together then empty the bowl of sliced onions into the pan and give them a stir round. Notice how quickly they take on the colour of the Oil.

A minute or so later add the Lamb. Many people would say that you should brown off the Lamb first but for me that just restricts the flavours from getting into the meat so for this recipe just bung in in there and give it a stir so it's all coated in the spices.

Let this cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally but in the meantime you can peel the potatoes and cut into cubes, about a centimetre square, maybe just a little bigger. When done put them into the pan along with the Lamb and again give it a stir to get them coated in all the lovely spices.

Cut each tomato into 8 equal wedges, or near enough then chuck these in too. (In a restaurant the tomatoes would be skinned too. By all means do that if you want but it's a bit of a faff)

The contents of the blender and the rest of the chopped tomatoes can now be added along with a a good pinch of Sea Salt and plenty of Black Pepper. Give it another good stir.

It's up to you to decide how thick you'd like the sauce but I'm guessing that at the moment the curry does look a bit dry so just dilute about a third of the stock cube into about a 300ml of boiling water and add to the pan a bit at a time until it looks how you think you like it to when you serve it up.

You might not need it all but don't throw it away because this is a slow cooked dish, there will no doubt be some reduction in consistency as it cooks so checking every now and then and adding more if required is a good thing.

Finally add in the glug of White Wine Vinegar, stir again, drop the heat down to low, and stick on the lid. I find that the Vinegar will add a sharpness that brings out the heat more. If you feel you put in too much you can temper the vinegary flavour by adding sugar to balance it back again.

It can take anywhere between 60 and 90 minutes to cook but you'll know when it's nearly ready because the floury potato cubes will start to disintegrate adding substance to the sauce.

While it's cooking do keep tasting but try not to stir too much otherwise the Lamb could start to flake up as it tenderises and lose it's shape making you end up with something more akin to a Curry soup rather than a Bendaloo :-)

Lastly..............Put a toilet roll in the Freezer ready for the morning :-)