Back on familiar ground this week, though with a twist.  And, no.  That twist isn’t a Royal Wedding-themed curry.  To be honest, I’d be the man on the train into London wondering where everyone was going or on the M25 wondering why it was so quiet.  I know there’s been blanket coverage on the TV but these things just don’t register on my radar!

Anyway, today’s curry is a 3-part affair – preparation, the long cook and the final 5 minutes.  It’s also got an unusual ingredient that’s abundant in my garden at the moment…

Ingredients:

• 2lb lamb, cubed (2cm/1in)
• 4 onions, finely sliced.  Whenever a recipe says this I put them through the Kenwood although I do now have  a wonderful ceramic cleaver and I now know the meaning of “finely sliced”!!!
• 3 tsp ginger and garlic paste
• 1tsp turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder / paprika
• 4floz chicken stock
• Handful of coriander, same amount of mint (there’s the secret ingredient)
• 3 chillies (optional)
• 3tbsp lemon juice
• 1tsp sugar

The Preparation

Put everything from the lamb down to the chicken stock into a large pan.  That’s it.

The Long Cook

Fire up the hob to a medium heat, bring everything to a simmer then drop the heat to low.  Bang on a lid, leave it mostly alone for two hours (long enough to watch some of that Royal Wedding coverage!).  Check on it from time to time, removing any oil that comes to the surface.

Or…

Whack the lot in a slow cooker and ignore.

Or…

Put it in the pressure cooker.  Cook for half an hour with no pressure then 15-30 minutes at full pressure (your mileage may vary!).  Sometimes this works wonderfully, sometimes the stuff sticks like dried-on Weetabix and burns.  I’ve not worked out how to judge this one yet, I’m just starting on my pressure-cooker career.

The Final 5 Minutes

Add the rest of the ingredients (but not the sugar) along with a couple of tablespoons of the juice from the pan to a blender and blend until smooth.  Stir this into the lamb mix, bring it back to a simmer, add the sugar, taste and adjust seasoning, serve.

Cunning Tip Number 1 – You’re cooking for kids and adults and you want a full-heat version for the grown-ups.  Split the contents of the main pan and the blender in two (or whatever the ratio of kids to adults is), stir the un-chillied blend into pan 1, add chillies and blend again before adding to pan 2 for a full-heat, feel-the-burn, toilet-paper-in-the-fridge adults mix.

So there you go.  Nothing particularly hard or scary about this one, fully adjustable heat levels so you can watch the looks of amazement on the other parent’s faces when you say “Oh, yes, my kids eat curry” as if it’s something perfectly normal and they’re the weird ones for not eating it!  Personally, I love the fact that I don’t have to cook different meals for the adults and the kids.

Works wonderfully well with all that fine spring lamb that’s frolicking in the fields at the moment and the fresh mint that’s sprouting in the garden.

Enjoy and tell me all about it in the comments!