Janu's Lamb / Mutton Curry

This recipe is the reason I started blogging. It was a way to share with my sister my experiments in the kitchen. When I started I had no idea- it would come this far and I would meet so many people through the blog. So here it is again-

So my sister loves this dish. Every time she visits me, she has me cook her quantities of lamb for her ultimate satisfaction. Its not hard to make but takes, time and patience.

Janu's Lamb Curry:

Time:

Prepping: 20 minutes

Marinading: 3-6 hours (or overnight)

Cooking: 2 hours

Eating: As long and as much as you wish..

For 3 lbs of lamb (ask the butcher to chop it to bite size pieces. I recommend keeping the bone)

INGREDIENTS:

For the Marinade:

1 cup of plain yogurt

Siriacha sauce

Papa's magic masala

salt

1 spn of ginger (minced or paste)

garlic

green chillies

For the Curry:

Dry Khada Masala:

A large bayleaf,

2 cardamom pods

3 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

a spn of cumin seed

Fresh Masala:

6-8 cloves of garlic minced

an inch of ginger minced

a handful of fresh cilantro chopped fine

4 hot green chillies (the thai green chillies or 2 jalapenos)

Dry Masala:

2 tbspn of corriander powder

1 spn of turmeric powder

1 tbsp of red chilli- or by taste preference

salt to tast

Vegetables and oil:

2 large onions chopped fine

2 tomatoes diced

2 tbspns of tomato sauce

Cooking oil

So Marinade the lamb in a bowl mixing in thoroughly all the ingredients for the marinade and cover with a plate and refrigerate for 3-4 hours (or overnight).

PREPARING THE CURRY:

1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Throw in a spn full of cumin seed, bayleaf, cardamon, cinnamon and cloves. They will splutter.
2. Next add the ginger, garlic and fresh cilantro (a swizz recipe secret). Stir the ingredients till coated with oil.
3. Stir in the onions- slow stirring highly recommended. Add in the coriander pwd, turmeric pwd, chili pwd and salt. Slowly stir in the masala coating the onions adding a beautiful ochre color to the curry. Let the onions sweat and release the oil.
4. Next add the marinaded lamb. Pick the pieces and not pour in the lamb. Let there be extra marinade left in the bowl. Coat the lamb with the onion sauce. Let the lamb fry with the onions. Very important not to let the onions stick. Keep slow stirring. The lamb will start to release its oils along the edge of the pot.
5. Now it is ready for the diced tomatoes. Throw in the tomatoes and continue stirring slowly. After another 10 minutes the tomatoes will begin to disintegrate in the sauce lending a red color.
6. Add any remaining marinade and stir it in with the sauce.
7. Add 2 tbsps of tomato sauce to give the sauce a thickness. Stir till the sauce is even and the lamb is well coated. Let the sauce bubble.
8. Add water to the sauce till the lamb is completely covered with water. Cover the pot with lid. Turn the heat to simmer and let the lamb simmer for atleast 45 minutes. Check for tenderness. The lamb should fall off the bone. If not add some more water and let it simmer. It takes atleast 1 1/2 hours to slow cook the lamb till it slowly falls of the bone.
9. Add Papa's masala for the finish (write to me for more info on Papa's masala). Taste for salt.
10. Serve with basmati rice, chapatti, or parathas.  We made homemade naan on the stove top tandoor today with some pizza dough that was rising in the fridge.
11. Pairs well with a red cabernet sauvignon

Yum!

The raan of mutton marinaded overnight in yogurt and spices

All the khada masala soaked in some water. A trick my taiji taught me. She said that this would infuse the flavours better

All the fresh ingredients for the curry finely chopped and ready to go

I love adding fresh cilantro to my curries. A trick I learned from a Swizz chef

Saute the onions till they sweat and turn translucent and leave the oil along the edges

Add the mutton next. Stir it in slowly with the onions and saute till they also start to leave the oil. Then add the tomatoes, tomato paste and water and let it simmer for a couple of hours

Serve with fresh naan/ roti and basmati rice. Let the curry soak into the rice. Dont you love the lobster on my scallop dish?

The meat should be absolutely tender and falling off the bone.

Maa making naan with the pizza dough in the fridge. It turned out brilliantly

Naan coming off the tandoor

Going straight in my mutton bowl

This meal we made today we decided to call naan, raan and kali dal (not photographed but present). Its the very popular combination has made the Bhukhara at ITC so wildly famous. We made our own take on it at home today. it was a real party on the plate. 

I love going back to this classic recipe. It still works beautifully after 5 years. It pairs well with this fun party song by pitbull and Ne-Yo and reminds me of my entertaining Chicago days.