Topic: Need help before this is a recipe for KERALA LAMB

[Garnett]

Having posted an excellent recipe from from "Curry - Fabulous dishes from around the world" I'm hoping someone out there might be able to help me with one that has promise but which just doesn't work. The photo of the "finished article" is amazing - A slightly red brown curried lamb with dry thick textured curry clinging to the individual chunks of lamb.

Here it is:

Kerala Lamb

Ingredients

3 tbsp vegetable oil
200g shallots, chopped
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt
500g boned lamb, cubed

Spice Paste

100g grated or dessicated coconut (if you don't have a good food processor I'd use coconut milk instead)
2.5 piece ginger, sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2.5cm cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
10 curry leaves
5 black peppercorns

For Tempering
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
10 curry leaves
2 green chillies, sliced

Method

spice mix

Roast coconut with ginger, garlic, cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves, curry leaves, and peppercorns in a dry pan until coconut brown. Allow to cool then grind in food processor, gradually adding 250ml water to make fine paste.

Heat the oil in frying pan. Add shallots. Fry for 5 mins or until soft. Add spice paste, coriander, turmeric, chilli powder, salt and 400ml (*1) water. Bring to boil. Add lamb. Reduce heat and cook covered for 30 mins (*2) or until lamb is well cooked.

Tempering Mix

In a separate frying pan, heat the oil, add mustard seeds. When seeds start to pop add curry leaves and green chillis. Stir fry for a minute.

Pour tempering mix over lamb and cook for 10 mins or until the curry is very dry and thick.(*3)

Now. My issues.

*1 This is a lot of water. There is no way this curry can be cooked till "very dry" in the times they state.

*2 I have made this twice and the lamb has been tough both times. I'm fairly confident it is not an meat quality issue.

*3 The curry I end up with is much darker and looks like something from the 70s/80s. Not very appetising.

So. Any ideas on how to sort this out?

It's supposed to be a traditional Indian curry but I'm thinking about pre-boiling the lamb, and halving the amount of water added.

This doesn't resolve the colour issue though.

[mickdabass]

Hi Garnett
I would try increase the cooking time of the lamb to about 1&1/2 hours on a low simmer.Depends on the cut of lamb really. The cut of lamb I use is usually neck and is pretty fatty and tough. You could perhaps try increasing the heat towards the end of the cooking time to boil off the excess water.

I pre cook my lamb using CKs recipe http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1915.0 
but I increase the cooking time to 1&1/2 hours.Any longer and the lamb becomes a bit dry-tasting

Hope this helps
Mick

[JerryM]

Garnett,

i find the recipe interesting but mind boggling. i'm not a traditional curry maker though. i've just bought the KD2 book hoping to learn more. the recipes in the book at the mo are complete unknowns to draw any comparison to yours. there's for sure no match on "kerala".

is the taste what u're after putting aside the 3 issues.

why i ask is - i would drop the cloves & curry leaves out. the rest of the ingredients look good.

i'd certainly follow mickadass and pre cook the lamb using CK's recipe or adapt this recipe more along the lines of CK's recipe principles.

the method of making the spice mix sounds a bit doggy to me - i'd leave out the roasting part completely and just grind & then blend to make a paste.

on a minor thing i'd use normal brown onion - don't see the need for shallots.

i'm not sure on how to add the coconut. i'm not keen on desiccated coconut. i'm thinking either use the tin of coconut milk (as per your comment) or perhaps cream block or even coconut flour depending upon what kind of dish is targeted. i think i would initially go for the milk as this would avoid using the water to help make the paste (the block or flour could supplement if needed).

[Garnett]

Thanks for the replies.

I think you're right, Mick.

Jerry, the curry tastes very good which is why I've been sticking at it to try and sort out the problems. I'm going to cook it again in the next fortnight, so I'll post back on any changes and the results.

[JerryM]

Garnett,

the KD2 book might just be for u - it's not BIR but has a lot of what i'd call traditional recipes but with a sort of BIR slant on them. the nearest to your Kerala is a Kalia. i'm intending to get into over the summer.

what's the nearest dish u would say the Kerala tastes like (in the BIR world) so that i can get a feel for what it's like.

i will wait for your changes and results and feel a little tempted then to give it a go.

[bighairybloke]

Interesting method, i was in Kerala for a month last November on cookery courses and a culinary holiday.  Without exeption, the first stage of all currys was heating the oil till smoking lightly and chucking in the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds if used.  Curry leaves next but only after most of the mustard seeds had popped.

Curry leaf is a major ingredient in Keralan cooking, and commonly just pop outside the house and pull a sprig off a nearby bush!  Also, they are much much stronger than the dried ones we have here, so where it says 10 leaves, you'd need more like 30! 

Most curries were cooked within an hour and a half of eating, so lamb was normaly quite firm.  Maybe go with the water content they mention and let it cook longer, give the lamb time to tenderise and sauce time to thicken and see what its like.

Steve