Sharmila on Food

Curry of my dreams

There, I’ve said it.  That’s it.  The homemade curry that has it all.  The one that makes you feel insufferably chuffed with yourself.  The perfect blend of spice, meat, aromatics and long, slow cooking.

You’ll go and make this now and it will be horrid.

But for now, all I will say is, this lamb curry is good.  Great even.  It’s a mashup of other recipes, and I’ve been liberal with the spice.  But it’s all good.

I had some lamb shoulder in the fridge, and had been intending to make some form of lamb curry.  Then I couldn’t get the image of Tayyabs/Needoo dry meat curry out of my mind.  This is one of my favourite favourite curry type dishes.  I have thought long and hard about how they make their meat taste that good, with that texture.  So, I thought I’d attempt to replicate that dry meat curry.  The final result didn’t do that, but it’s fantastic just the same (and I have a feeling Tayyabs and Needoo might chargrill their lamb before it goes in that dry meat curry anyway).

With a couple of homemade parathas, and a great cabbage and baby turnip thoran on the side (recipe below - make this too, because it’s good!), this was the stuff of dreams.

Read the whole recipe here - the lamb benefits from a nice long rest overnight in a yoghurty marinade.

Lovely, dryish lamb curry (makes four generous servings)

Half a shoulder of lamb, cubed with the more significant bits of fat removed

1 large onion, finely sliced

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

Thumb sized piece of ginger peeled and finely chopped (I do this and the garlic in my food processor)

3tbsp of plain yoghurt

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chilli powder (or more to taste - my chilli powder is particularly fiery)

1tsp salt

2 tomatoes - tinned or fresh, chopped

Small handul of torn up coriander leaves

A squeeze of lemon or lime juice

2 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil

Fresh garam masala (a faff, but worth grinding your own):

1 tsp black peppercorns

Couple of black cardamoms

1 tsp black cumin seeds

Half a cinnamon stick

Half a nutmeg (though I used mace, due to absence of nutmeg

Grind this all together as finely as you can (a coffee grinder is good for this)

1. The day before you want to eat, combine the yoghurt, turmeric, garlic and ginger in a large bowl and add the lamb.  Mix and ensure the lamb is thoroughly coated in the marinade.

2.  The next day, get your lamb out of the fridge an hour before you want to use to bring it up to room temperature.

3. Heat the oil in a wide saucepan on a medium-high heat.  Add the fenugreek seeds.  When they start to turn darker, add the sliced onions.  Cook until soft and golden (but not browned) - this should take around 10 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes and mash up with the back of a wooden spoon.  Add half the garam masala, the ground coriander, cumin, chilli and salt and stir.  Cook for 5 minutes or so, until the tomato has cooked into the other ingredients and you have a reddy-brown “sauce”.  The oil should start to separate from the solids in the pan.

5. Turn up the heat, add the lamb pieces and cook for a few minutes to seal the meat.  Add the remaining yoghurt marinade to the pan and mix.

6. Bring the mix up to the simmer, cover and then turn heat to low.  Cook for two to two and a half hours on a low heat, or until the meat is really tender.  The mixture will be relatively dry, which is what you want, so try and avoid adding too much water to the mix if you can.

7. Uncover the pan, turn the heat up slightly, and reduce the sauce.  You want to end up with tender meat, with the sauce clinging to it, so it should be quite thick.  Add the remaining garam masala and cook for a few more minutes.

8. Add a squeeze of lemon to taste and then stir in the coriander leaves and serve.

Cabbage and baby turnip thoran (make four generous servings too)

1 head of pointed or white cabbage, finely shredded

A handful of baby turnips, scrubbed and quartered

3 shallots, finely sliced

1tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

1tsp cumin seeds

1/2tsp chilli powder

1 dried red chilli

1/2tsp turmeric

1tsp good curry powder

salt, to taste

pinch of sugar

1tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, kadai or wok.  When the oil is hot, add the mustard and fenugreek seeds.  When the mustard seeds start to pop, add the cumin seeds.

2. When the cumin seeds have darkened in colour, add the shallots and stir and fry until golden and slightly crisp.

3. Add the cabbage and turnips and fry on a high heat until the turnips are slightly coloured.  Add the ground spices, stir and cook for 1 minute.

4. Add a couple of splashes of water to the pan, and then cover and cook until the cabbage and turnips are tender.

5.  Uncover the pan, turn up the heat and evaporate the water from the pan.  Add salt to taste, and a pinch of sugar.