A comforting winter lamb curry which bursts into flavours of rich warming spices. The key to making a great curry are the freshest whole spices, as fresh as you can find. Layering is another secret of good curry, adding the spices a few times during the cooking you will get an absolutely amazing depth of flavour.
Ingredients: 4 – 5 Serves
500g lamb meat, preferably lamb shoulder, cut into cubes
2 Tbs ghee butter
2 large brown onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Thumb of ginger, chopped
1/2 preserved lemon, minced
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
12 green cardamom pods
1 black cardamom pod
1/2 cinnamon stick
500ml chicken stock or water
3 large Agria potatoes, peeled, cut into cubes
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 cup sultanas
salt
To serve:
saffron basmati rice
fresh coriander leaves
plain yoghurt
warm flatbread
Method:
Combine the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, whole black pepper, and cardamom in mortar or electric grinder. Grind all the spices until finely crushed. Discard cardamom husks. Set aside.
To make curry paste, combine onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor and mix until coarse paste.
Preheat a Dutch oven on a medium heat, add ghee butter and cubes of lamb meat. Cook the meat until golden brown then transfer to a separate plate.
Turn the heat to medium low. Add half of the spice mix, cook until fragrant for about one minute, mixing continuously. Don’t overcook the spices, otherwise, they can turn bitter. Add curry paste, fry for another two minutes. Add browned meat, minced preserved lemon, cinnamon stick and chicken stock (or water). Bring to the boil, turn the heat to low simmer, close with a lid tightly and cook for about 2 hours, or until meat is soft and melting. Stir the curry occasionally and add the water if needed.
Add the potato, remaining spice mix, curry powder and sultanas. Season the curry with salt. Cook for another 45 minutes, stirring from time to time to prevent burning and adding more water.
Serve the curry warm with saffron rice, Kamokamo pickle, yoghurt, coriander leaves and warm flatbread. Enjoy!
