Lamb Madras

Ingredients

500g good quality lamb (I use shoulder fillets, trimmed and cut into large bite-size pieces)

2-3 Medium Onions (roughly chopped)

3 large tomatoes (chopped)

2tbsp Coconut Oil

Salt

400ml Coconut Milk

For the Spice Paste

5tsp desiccated Coconut

2.5cm fresh Root Ginger

6 Garlic Cloves

3 tsp Paprika

3 tsp Ground Coriander

4 Black Peppercorns

1 ½ tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

½ tsp Fennel Seeds

Method

1. Add the oil to the pan and allow it heat up, add the onions and cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes allowing them to brown.
2. Add all the ingredients for the spice paste to a blender and whizz until a thick paste has formed. Add some water if necessary.  Add the paste to the pan and cook on low for 15 minutes.
3. Fry the lamb in the onions and paste for 10 minutes then throw in the tomatoes and cook for a further 10 with the lid on. Add salt to taste.
4. Add the coconut milk, stir and simmer for 20-30 minutes. If you feel the sauce is too thin and watery, cook with the lid off for a while.

Serve with boiled rice, fresh coriander, some chutney and a huge glass of ale, cheers!

At the minute I’m really feeling a homemade aubergine chutney, the recipe for which I’m sure I’ll post on here soon. If you want to do something slightly different with the rice, add a pinch of turmeric and some lemon juice.

For me, the important thing about any curry is the onions. A while back, I read in a curry cookbook that the more you cook the onions in a curry dish, the sweeter the dish is by the end of it. So, make sure you really get a nice brown colour to the onions and that they soften completely before you add the spice paste. What I also like to do is cut the onions into very different sizes to give a bit of variety to the texture. 

As always, if spicy food isn’t your bag, cut down on the amount of chillies or combat the heat with sweetness by using a teaspoon of honey. Also, if you’re not a fan of lamb, feel free to use chicken thighs or some king prawns. Finally, a quick little tip for the rice: fill a standard tea cup with rice and cook it with two of the same cupfulls of water, bring to the boil, put on the lid and lower the heat until all the water is absorbed; this should lead to perfectly cooked rice. 

Overall, this is a really simple, really tasty and healthy option if you fancy a curry!