Lamb or Beef with Spinach
This is the classic dish, prepared in almost every north Indian home and loved by all. To make it quickly, a pressure cooker is essential. If you use a regular saucepan it will take about 1 hour for the lamb to cook and 1½ hours for beef. You will need to increase the amount of water to 600ml (1 pint).
Ingredients
- 275 g frozen, chopped spinach
- 275 g onions, peeled
- 5 cm 2in piece fresh ginger, peeled
- 6 garlic cloves peeled
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 bay leaves
- 10 cardamom pods
- 8 cloves
- 2 x 5cm cinnamon sticks
- 675 g stewing beef or boned shoulder of lamb, cut into 4cm (1½in) pieces
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
Instructions
- Drop the spinach into boiling water according to the instructions on the packet and boil just until it is defrosted. Drain and squeeze out most of the water.
- Coarsely chop the onions and ginger and put into the container of a food processor. Add the garlic and ‘pulse’, starting and stopping with great rapidity, until finely chopped.
- Put the oil in a pressure cooker and set over high heat. When hot, put in the bay leaves, cardamom pods, cloves and cinnamon sticks. Stir once or twice and put in the finely chopped seasonings from the food processor. Stir and cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Add the beef or lamb, the spinach, 450ml (15fl oz) water, salt, coriander, cumin and chilli powder. Stir. Cover, securing the pressure-cooker lid, and bring up to full pressure. The beef will take 20 minutes, the lamb 15 minutes.
