Easter Cooking: Lamb & Tomato Curry

One of the recipes we cooked with our roast lamb over Easter was a lamb and tomato curry. Curries are often Tim’s job, as he always does well with them and gets the spice level just right. I tend to get a bit overzealous with the chilli, although I love making them.

As you can tell by the cooking photo, he’s a much messier chef than me. But it’s ok – he calls it ‘rustic’ ;)

He got the recipe from Food.com, but always tends to add his own twist. This is the original recipe:

INGREDIENTS

SERVINGS 4-6

¹⁄₄ cup olive oil

2lbs boneless lamb shoulder (in our case, we used lamb leg), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 inch cubes

¹⁄₄ cup butter

2 tablespoons cumin seeds

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 inches fresh ginger, minced

2 medium onions, chopped

2 tablespoons ground coriander

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

¹⁄₂-1 teaspoon cayenne

10 whole cloves

3 inches cinnamon sticks

1cup plain yoghurt

6 medium tomatoes, peeled and each cut into six pieces or 1 ¹⁄₂ cups canned tomatoes with their juice

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

¹⁄₂ cup chopped fresh coriander

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Cook lamb, in batches, for 3 to 5 minutes, until browned on all sides.
3. With a slotted spoon, remove lamb to a plate as each batch browns, and add more oil to the saucepan as necessary.
4. Wipe out the saucepan with paper towels and melt 2 tablespoons butter in the same saucepan over low heat.
5. Add cumin seeds and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, until seeds start to sizzle (omit this step if substituting ground cumin).
6. Add garlic and ginger, then cook, stirring for 1 minute, until garlic is softened.
7. Add onions, increase heat to medium-low, then cook, stirring for 7 to 10 minutes until onions are golden brown.
8. Add remaining butter, then stir in ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric, cayenne, cloves and cinnamon.
9. Increase the heat to medium, then cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes, until butter starts to separate from the spice mixture.
10. If spices start to stick to the bottom of the saucepan, add more butter or lower the heat slightly.
11. Stir in yogurt, then cook, stirring often, for 3 to 4 minutes, until butter starts to separate again.
12. Stir in tomatoes, water and salt, adding a little more water if the fresh tomatoes are not very juicy (at this stage the curry should be the consistency of thick soup).
13. Return lamb to the saucepan, then bring curry to a boil over medium heat.
14. Reduce heat to low, then simmer, covered, for about 1 hour.
15. Remove lid and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 30 to 45 minutes, until juices have thickened slightly and lamb is tender.
16. Just before serving, adjust seasoning to taste and stir in fresh coriander.

We didn’t have to go through the same cooking process for the lamb, as it had obviously already been cooked, but we made sure it was thoroughly heated through. We also added half a bag of spinach, and served with brown rice and naan bread (not homemade, unfortunately, but that’s on my ‘to do’ list!)