Indonesian style Lamb Curry with Mushrooms

This is a really scrummy recipe. Even if you don’t normally like to cook curry’s from scratch please try to give this a go as it is very simple. As with most curry’s it benefits from being cooked early in the day and then left in the pan for 4 hours while you hit the pub. Just heat it up when you get home and serve with plain rice. We also served it with the pumpkin dal I made the other week.

In this recipe use a thick and creamy coconut milk, it is not worth trying to save calories over flavour, and if you want to save a few pennies in my local store anyway the thick and creamy version is 50p cheaper then the light version. Do not shake the can as you want to separate the cream from the top.

Ingredients

3 Shallots, peeled and quartered

5 Garlic cloves, peeled

2 inch Fresh ginger, roughly chopped

1 Red pepper

4 tsp Coriander seeds

3 tsp Cumin seeds, roasted

3 Cardamom pods, seeds only

2 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp Turmeric

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

400ml Creamy coconut milk, separate the cream from the milk with a spoon and set the cream aside

3 tsp Groundnut oil

500g Lamb, cut into 1inch cubes

2 tbsp Tamarind paste

1 tbsp Fish sauce

300g Chestnut mushrooms

Method

Make a paste by blending the shallots, garlic, ginger and red pepper.

Grind the coriander, cumin and cardamom seeds in a pestle and mortar, then add to the paste along with the remaining spices.

Heat the oil in a heavy based pan and when hot pour in the paste and fry on a medium heat for 10 minutes until the paste starts to thicken and darken.

Next add the lamb, stir to coat the meat with the paste and put the lid on the pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the coconut milk, tamarind, fish sauce and 100ml of water to the pan, bring to a simmer and cover simmering for 30 minutes. If the sauce gets too thick you can turn the heat down or add more water but be careful not to make it too thin as the mushrooms will add a lot of their own water later.

Add the mushrooms, cover again and simmer for 30 minutes. If the sauce is too thin then leave the lid off to help it reduce. About 10 minutes before you are ready to serve stir in the coconut cream, adding extra fish sauce or chopped chilli’s to taste.