We LOVE Indian food. Every time we visit Kaitlin at college, we go to this Indian buffet place and eat an obscene amount of daal, aloo gobi, and saag paneer. We carb it up with loads of naan, rice, and samosas, and do so without shame or regret (in part because you can access the wealth and variety of their quality buffet WITH free naan for a paltry $8.99 per person. It’s pretty much the sweetest deal ever). Have we mentioned that we love Indian food?
Last week, a friend came over for a cooking extravaganza. He’s from Mumbai, and brought us a bunch of stuff he ships over from India every time he goes back: pappadum, a special garam masala, coconut flakes, and the biggest bay leaves we’ve ever seen. We cooked a huge dinner with friends, and he showed us how to make this awesome indian lamb curry. There are a lot of complicated Indian curry recipes out there, but this isn’t one of them. This is definitely one to try if you’re a curry newbie.
Recipe Instructions
In a large bowl, add the lamb, ginger garlic paste, and chili powder. Mix well and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
In a large pot, brown the lamb. Add the onions, tomatoes, and chilis, and cook for a few minutes, until the vegetables start to cook down. Add the garam masala, salt, cinnamon stick, cloves, and bay leaves. Mix well. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 90 minutes to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. While that’s happening, toast the coconut flakes in a dry pan over low heat until golden brown. When the meat is tender, stir the coconut flakes into the curry. This thickens it up and gives it great flavor.
Serve with basmati rice, chopped cilantro, and maybe a little chana masala on the side!
Indian Lamb Curry
Ingredients
- 3 pounds lamb shank (cut into large chunks)
- 2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste (1 tablespoon ginger and 1 tablespoon garlic, mashed into a fine paste)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder (we're not sure what kind of chili powder we used, but it wasn't as spicy as the regular old McCormick stuff. Use your own taste preferences to determine how much chili you'd like to use)
- 2 medium onions (chopped)
- 2 tomatoes (chopped)
- 2 red chilis (finely chopped or mashed into a paste)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- water
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the lamb, ginger garlic paste, and chili powder. Mix well and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- In a large pot, brown the lamb. Add the onions, tomatoes, and chilis, and cook for a few minutes, until the vegetables start to cook down. Add the garam masala, salt, cinnamon stick, cloves, and bay leaves. Mix well. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 90 minutes to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- While that's happening, toast the coconut flakes in a dry pan over low heat until golden brown. When the meat is tender, stir the coconut flakes into the curry. Serve!
Made this recipe with the leftover lamb after making 新疆烤包子 last night. This recipe was delicious, I used the Kashmiri chili powder and this curry had a refreshing (not heavy) taste. Thanks! Definitely a keeper.
Good for you, Teddy, you’ve discovered one of the hidden gems on our blog. So glad you’ve given this earlier recipe a try. We absolutely love this recipe.
I’m an Indian who enjoys cooking. I stumbled across your great website looking for a recipe for Choy sum I had for breakfast in my first (and so far only) visit to China. I’ve been enjoying this site a lot, and looking at the pictures above, as well as your description, I am wondering if the chilli powder yall used in this recipe is “Kashmiri chilli powder”. It is somewhere between cayenne and paprika. Very “fresh” tasting (unlike chipotle or paprike that have a smoky aroma).
PS: I’m still searching for this amazing mutton stew I had in some restaurant in Xi’an … have no name for it; cant find anything online that matches the photo I took. It was slow cooked goat chunks (bone-in; boiled with whole dried red pepper) into which they added ginger, cilantro, napa cabbage, etc at the end. Hot, spicy, VERY flavorful.
Can’t wait to try it tomorrow
Sarah, it’s a great recipe, you will love it.
Everyone loves it whenever people get together and share views.
Great blog, stick with it!
Will do, Melinda!
Haha perfect!
I was thinking of finding recipe for curry today
Guys since I found your site, I have no reason to search for other recipes
Cheers!
Wow, thanks for the kind comment Drago! Glad to serve as your one-stop shop for recipe inspiration, and we hope you enjoy the curry!