On days when the weather is a little overcast. I often hanker for a comforting meal. Something substantial rather than the usual lighter meals of two-thirds veggies and one-third protein I go for during the summer months. Today is one of those days. I woke up to grey skies that just will not be beat. The weather was messing with my mood, and I needed a great meal to curl up in front of the TV. Hence today’s recipe – mild lamb curry.
I used sirloin chops in this recipe, which is a cut from the leg. Sirloin chops are meaty and tender, and their lower price point makes them a very attractive option for a curry.
Mild lamb curry is by no means a quick and easy dish to create. The lamb should be marinated overnight, and then stewed slowly.
When stewing lamb, I like to make sure the flavors in the recipe really penetrate the meat. Consequently, I marinated the lamb in ground clove, cumin and salt and pepper. If you skip this process in the recipe, you will have to cook the lamb much slower and for much longer, and you may still not get the flavor you’d expect.
This mild lamb curry recipe has a plethora ingredients, but that’s often the nature of curries. I would suggest you measure and prepare all the ingredients in advance, to avoid that scurry around the kitchen trying to make this recipe happen. That’s a recipe for disaster!
If you plan on serving wine with this curry – DON’T. Wine really doesn’t work with this mild lamb curry at all. Instead go with beer, maybe one from Asia, or your favorite beer if you have one.
As I mentioned, this mild lamb curry, takes time to create, so perhaps you should set aside a couple of beers for the cooking process too. Enjoy.
Mild Lamb Curry
Ingredients
- 2 lb lamb sirloin chump chops or boneless leg of lamb cut into chunks
Marinade
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
Curry
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 dried red chillies
- 1 cup onions diced
- 3 cloves garlic grated
- 2 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup greek yogurt
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1 cup onions
Equipment & Utensils
- Sealable container
- Large skillet with cover
- Heat proof container
- Blender
Instructions
Marinade
- Place lamb in a large bowl.
- Mix together salt, pepper, cloves and cumin, then sprinkle over lamb.
- Toss lamb to evenly distribute marinade.
- Transfer lamb into sealable container then store in fridge overnight.
- Marinate for anytime between 12-24 hours.
Curry
- Heat 1 tbsp of oil in skillet on high heat then add fennel, mustard seeds and chillies.
- Saute until mustard seeds begin to pop, then immediately add onions, garlic and ginger.
- Saute to combine flavors for a few minutes then add crushed tomatoes, and mix to combine some more.
- Lower heat to medium and allow tomatoes to heat throug
- Add, cumin, salt, pepper and bay leaves and mix thoroughly.
- Cover lower heat to low and allow to simmer for 1 hour.
- Remove bay leaves from sauce, then remove from heat and transfer to heat proof container and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
- Wipe skillet clean and then quickly rinse with hot water. Dry off with paper towels and set aside.
- Once sauce has cooled a little, transfer to blender and blend on a high setting until ingredients have pureed.
- Once sauce appears smoother, decrease blender speed to low and add yogurt.
- Once yogurt is combined, add vegetable stock.
- Blend until ingredients are combined and set aside.
- Heat remainder of oil in skillet on high heat, then add onions.
- Saute onions until flavor releases.
- Add lamb and saute further for two minutes.
- Pour sauce over lamb and carefully combine.
- Return bayleaf to sauce, cover skillet and lower heat to simmer.
- Allow to cook for 1 hour.
- Serve with white rice.
