Dehli-Style Lamb with Potatoes

Another day, another dinner. With nothing planned, I stared at the cookery books hoping for inspiration. I had a slight craving for Thai food but all the recipes that appealed required ingredients that we didn’t have and I didn’t fancy trekking across town in the snow to track them down.

Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘Indian Cooking’ has a mix of easy and more involved recipes so I reached for that and paged through until I happened across this. We haven’t had lamb for a while and although it meant a trip to the butcher, it was close enough to not worry about getting too cold and wet.

The original recipe was for six people, I halved the quantity of meat but left the spice quantities the same as the halved amounts didn’t seem enough for the amount of meat. I added half the amount of water as was originally stated in the recipe but this was far too much and the dish was still very watery when the hour cooking time was almost up. I had to boil it hard without the lid for about 20 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce which resulted in slighter tougher meat than I would have liked. The overall flavour was good though with just the right amount of heat and fragrance to suit our palates.

Dehli-Style Lamb with Potatoes
Serves Two (generously)

Vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 kg lamb shoulder, diced
1 tin tomatoes
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
225g potatoes, diced
450ml water (I would suggest 225ml or just enough to cover)

Heat the oil and then add the onions and cook until translucent, add the chilli and garlic and cook for a further minute.

Add the meat and cook for five minutes, turning frequently. Next add the spices and fry with the meat for a minute or so. Add the tomatoes and cook on a high heat for 10-15 minutes.

Now add the potatoes and water, cover leaving the lid slightly ajar and cook on a medium to low heat for about 1 hour or until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick.