Ingredients
| traditional | quantity | ingredient | step |
| 1 | 1 | kg boneless lamb | 1 |
| 1 ½ teaspoons | 10 g | ground turmeric | 1 |
| 2 tablespoons | 20 g | coriander seeds | 2 |
| 2 teaspoons | 10 g | cumin seeds | 2 |
| 10g | dried chilies or chili powder | 2 or 6 | |
| 4 tablespoons | 80 ml | oil | 3, 6 |
| 3 large | 300 g | onions | 3 |
| 12 | 12 | curry leaves | 6, 11 |
| 10 cloves | 50 g | garlic | 6 |
| 5 cm piece | 35 g | ginger | 6 |
| 1.5 cans | 600 ml | coconut milk | 7, 10 |
| 1 tablespoon | 20 g | tamarind puree | 8 |
| 1 teaspoon | 3 g | fennel seeds | 9 |
| 1 (8 cm) stick | 2 g | cinnamon | 10 |
| 6 | 6 | cardamom pods | 10 |
Note: 1 kg boneless lamb corresponds approximately to 1.8 kg leg of lamb with bone and fat.
Steps
- Cut lamb into cubes of 2 cm or less on side. Rub the cubed lamb with the ground turmeric.
- Roast the spices in a dry frying pan until aromatic. If using whole dried chillies, include them in this phase. Cool. The original recipe recommends doing them one after another, but I can’t see any good reason for this.
- Chop onions roughly into 8 pieces and put into a blender with enough oil to blend it to a puree.
- Put the onion puree into a frying pan and fry over low heat until dry, about ten minutes. Normally you won’t need any additional oil. During this time you can perform the next two steps.
- Grind the roasted spices (excluding the fennel) to a powder in a spice grinder.
- Chop the garlic and ginger coarsely and blend them with oil in the same manner as the onion. Add the ground spices and six curry leaves. If using chili powder, add it now.
- When the onion is dry, add the garlic, ginger and spice mixture and cook for two to three minutes until warm and aromatic. Add the meat and mix well with the paste, then fry a couple of minutes until the meat starts to become firm. Add 500 ml of the coconut milk and bring to the boil. While cooking, repeatedly scrape the bottom of the pan with a flat spatula to avoid burning. Reduce slightly.
- Mix the tamarind puree with 125 ml hot water. Allow to cool.
- Dry-roast the fennel in a frying pan. Allow to cool, do not grind.
- When the sauce has reduced by about 10%, add the remaining coconut milk, the cinnamon stick, caradamom pods and fennel seeds and salt. Partially cover the pan with a lid and cook over medium heat for 1 hour or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally.The original recipe asks for 60 ml of water too. I haven’t found this necessary.
- When the meat is tender, add the tamarind puree and check the seasoning. Stir until the oil separates from the meat, then spoon it off or blot with paper towels before removing the pan from the heat. Stir well and add the remaining six curry leaves. Garnish with curry leaves.