Kerala-style Lamb Stir-fry (Lamb peralan)

Eventhough we are hardcore carnivores, we rarely buy lamb in the US. Even while we were in India, mutton was considered a bit pricey a few years ago, so it was only prepared for special occassions. I first bought lamb in the US for an Easter meal, the recipe for which I have posted on my blog. It was the recipe for a roasted lamb which was marinated overnight in red wine. We loved it! When my MIL came here, we once again bought the boneless leg of lamb for a taste of Indian Lamb Curry. My MIL made this preparation which is relatively easy to execute. With just some basic Indian spices, she made an extraordinary dry lamb preparation which we absolutely loved!! It was just another version of the typical Kerala-style beef that we make at home, and it was fantastic. It would be an excellent accompaniment to rice, rotis or chapathis. We even used a bit of the lamb curry to make a lamb stew for appam, the recipe for which I will post soon. Hope you all would give this recipe a try. This would be a great collection to your lamb recipes!

Recipe:

Lamb (Boneless leg of lamb) - 4 lb

Onion - 2 large, sliced

Thai green chillies - 2 small, sliced

Ginger - 2" piece, sliced

Garlic - 2 cloves, sliced

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbsp

Coriander powder - 3 tbsp

Garam masala - 2 tbsp

Black pepper powder - 1 tbsp

Vinegar - 1 1/2 tbsp

Method:

Heat oil in a large skillet.

Saute the onions, green chillies, garlic and ginger until tender and cooked.

In a small bowl, mix the red chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala and black pepper powder.

Make a smooth paste of the powders with water.

Add the spice paste to the sauteed onions mixture.

Saute well on open flame until the spices are cooked and oil starts to separate from the mixture.

Toss in the cubed meat and vinegar.

Mix until the meat is well coated with the spice mix.

Pour a little bit of water if needed.

Close the pan with a lid and cook on low flame until the lamb is cooked and tender.

When the lamb is cooked, remove the lid of the pan.

Stir fry until all the water is evaporated and the spices cling to the meat.

Serve hot.

Tip:

1. The lamb can also be cooked in a pressure cooker. Saute the onion-spice mixture, mix with the lamb and add the vinegar. Then cook in the pressure cooker. Once the lamb is cooked, transfer the cooked lamb curry to a skillet and stir fry until all the water is evaporated and the preparation is dry.
   

Almond-Pork Curry (Rogan Josh)

Well friends, the votes are in.......Dont know what I'm talking about? I was conducting a poll on my blog about the reader's favourite set of lemon rice pictures. And the winner is...Set 2 (Pictures 2 & 4) which, as many of you guessed, is my choice too!! Yaaay!!! I believe I proved my point, we should stick to what we do best. JM is the best at photography between the two of us and I guess food styling should be left to me! But to tell you the truth, I value JM's suggestions a lot, but sometimes, we do disagree!! That happens, right? Like a few readers mentioned, the pictures of rice in the bowl does look wholesome and would probably be how I would serve when I have guests over. Thanks a lot everyone who took a minute to participate in the poll, I had a lot of fun!!

Please dont forget to vote for my entry: Black forest cake at the "Great Cooks Community: Kid Friendly Cooking" event. I would really appreciate your support. Click on the link below and vote for JZ's black forest cake. For the original recipe, click here.

http://www.greatcooksblogroll.com/group/greatcookscountyfair

Last night I made "Rogan josh" at home. Until now I thought "rogan" meant lamb in some other language. After a bit of research on the net, I am as confused as ever. On wiki, it is mentioned that rogan means clarified butter and josh means fiery, hot or passionate! It is also mentioned that almost always it is made with lamb. But another site mentions that rogan means red. I am more inclined to go with rogan = red! If anyone knows the actual deal, please let me know. Anyhow, I was going through the Betty Crocker's Indian cookbook and the chef mentioned that lamb can be substituted with beef or pork. So I adapted the recipe to be made with pork. When I work on unfamiliar territories like this one, I usually follow the recipe as such. The speciality of this particular recipe was that it involved baking the meat in the oven for a long time and the meat came out succulent, moist and perfectly cooked! I just do not have words to explain how rich, creamy and tasty it was. I wish you all couldve had it!! As you all might know, this Kashmiri dish is a rich curry with almonds and cream, so dazzle the eyes of your guests with this "fit-for-a-king" recipe! Enjoy!

Recipe:

Lamb/Beef/Pork - 1 lb, cut into 2" cubes
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Red onion - finely chopped, 1/2 cup
Ginger - finely chopped, 2 tbsp
Garlic - 5 medium cloves, finely chopped
Slivered almonds - 1/2 cup, ground
Red chilly powder/ cayenne pepper - 1/2 tsp
Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp
Tomato sauce - 1/2 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Fresh cilantro - 2 tbsp, freshly chopped
Whipping (heavy) cream - 1/2 cup

To grind together:

Cardamom seeds - 1/2 tsp
Whole cloves - 1/2 tsp
Black peppercorns - 1/4 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp ( I used coriander powder)

Method:

Heat oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat.

Add the cumin seeds and sizzle for 15-30 seconds.

Toss in the onions, ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes or until onion and garlic are light brown.

Add the ground almonds, ground coriander, salt, red pepper, cardamom powder, ground cloves and ground black pepper.

Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes or until the almonds are partially brown.

Stir in the tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of water and reduce heat.

Partially cover and simmer for 4-5 minutes or until a thin film of oil separates from the sauce.

Stir in the meat and a half of the cilantro.

Heat oven to 300F.

Cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is partially cooked.

Stir in the remaining water.

Spoon the meat mixture into an ungreased casserole/baking dish and cover with foil.

Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Uncover and bake for 45 minutes longer or until the meat is tender and the sauce is slightly thickened.

Remove from the oven and gently stir in whipping cream and cilantro.

Seve hot with rice or any Indian bread.

Source: Betty Crocker's Indian Homecooking, Recipes by Raghavan Iyer.

Tips:

1. I used about 2.3 lbs of pork. For this, I just doubled all the ingredients except salt.
2. I had less that a cup of almonds, so I used a few cashews to compensate.
3. I used store-bought 12 oz can of tomato paste which yields about 1 cup.
4. While adding water with the tomato paste (to simmer) I had to add more than what was mentioned in the recipe.
   

Hyderabadi dum biriyani

Biriyani is a family of primarily South Asian dishes made from a mixture of spices, rice (usually basmati), meat/vegetable and yoghurt. Biriyani has always been an all time favourite Indian dish. All of us have a favourite biriyani either from a region (Hyderabadi, Malabari), by a special cook or from a specific restaurant. During my childhood, biriyani was always served as the special dish on family gatherings and important occasions. When I was in college, three of us close friends would get together after classes at one of our homes, buy a couple of biriyanis and share them between us. Even now, after 6 more years of studies, marriages and kids between the years, whenever I go to India, we would get together to share gossips and ofcourse biriyanis ! Until I came to the US, I never knew all the steps behind making the wonderful dish. This recipe for Hyderabadi dum biriyani from pachakam.com is one of recipes that I have frequented. Hyderabadi biriyani is notable because of the technique of cooking in dum, where the vessel is sealed with flour and the whole thing is cooked in the steam within. Eventhough this recipe has mixed reviews, I have found this to be one that has consistently given good results for me. I have tried this with lamb and chicken. Hope you will find this recipe to your liking too. Enjoy hot with raita !!

Tips:

The changes that I made to the recipe include,

1. I omitted the pudina (mint) leaves because I am not a fan of minty flavour.


2. I also did not add saffron. The color can be attained by sprinkling a bit of water with yellow food color.


3. The lamb in the US is not as tough as the meat in India, so it cooks at around 30 minutes.


4. Be careful about the cooking time beacuse the meat layered at the bottom could burn if left longer on the flame.


5. The biriyani shown was garnished with sliced hard-boiled eggs, fried raisins and cashew nuts.

Roasted boneless leg of lamb

I have been wanting to make a traditional American meal on a special holiday for some time now. But at the last minute, I would always go back to my comfort zone of Indian specialities like biriyani. This year I was determined to test my skills with a roasted lamb recipe. As with everything new to me, I searched on the Internet for recipes that I thought would best suit my needs ( I wanted to make a boneless leg of lamb) and my family's tastes. After reading through more than 10 recipes or so, I finally decided on a recipe from another blog. It involves some pre-planning because the lamb has to be marinated in herbs, lemon juice and wine. But the next day, I could see that it was well worth the trouble of all the prep. My husband, who is always conscious about his food portions, ate like anything ! The lamb was perfectly cooked, moist and flavorful with a nice crust. So I thought that it is only just to share the wonderful recipe with you all. Please visit startcooking.com for the recipe. I found the step-by-step instructions to be very helpful with a lot of tips everyone could use, especially newbies like me. It also has several pictures illustrating the tips. Above all, I found that the combination of the herbs and marinade to be in perfect blend with our tastes. I am sharing the pictures of my first attempt on roasting the lamb. I sincerely hope that the pictures will inspire you to prepare this wonderful dish, especially if you have never tried roasting before. May it be the perfect introduction to roasting !!

Tips:

1. I cooked the lamb (4.25 lbs) until medium doneness which is about an internal temperature of 160F (approx around 1hr 40 min). I removed the roast at about 155F and the temperature rose to 160F while resting.
2. A detailed table of cooking times, temperatures and other instructions can be found at the original website.