Lamb with Whole Spices and Onions
This is one of the first meat recipes I learned to cook. It is little changed from the original, passed on to me by my mother. When the meat is cooked, it should be nicely browned, and the only liquid should be the sauce clinging to it and the oil it is cooked in. In India, this is how the dish is served, but Westerners may be put off by the quantity of oil in the serving dish, so I suggest you lift out the meat and spices with a slotted spoon and transfer them to another dish. The spices serve as a garnish; they are not to be eaten.
Ingredients
- 900 g boneless shoulder of lamb trimmed of fat
- 4 onions
- 4 cm cube fresh ginger
- 9 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 10 whole green cardamom pods
- 4 whole large black cardamom pods if available
- 6 –7 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 –4 whole hot dried red peppers optional
- 5 black peppercorns
- salt
Instructions
- Cut the meat into 2½–4 cm (1–1½in) cubes and pat dry thoroughly with kitchen paper.
- Peel the onions, cut in half, then slice thinly into half-circles. Peel and grate the ginger.
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based cooking pot or flameproof casserole over a medium heat. When hot, add the onions and fry, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until brown and crisp, but not burned. Lift out the onions with a slotted spoon and spread out on kitchen paper to drain.
- Add all the cardamom pods, the bay leaves, cumin seeds, red peppers, peppercorns and the ginger to the oil remaining in the cooking pot. Stir for 1 minute until the bay leaves darken and the ginger is sizzling. Add the meat and ½–1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes until the liquid begins to bubble vigorously. Cover, lower the heat and simmer very gently for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the meat is tender.
- Add the onions and cook, uncovered, over a medium heat for a final 3–5 minutes, stirring gently. Take care not to break up the meat. Any excess liquid should have boiled away, leaving the meat only with the sauce that clings to it, and the fat left in the pot. Serve as suggested above.
