Scurry Curry

Indian Food is not, in my opinion, without curry.

Personally I've always loved the smell of the Indian spices...Including curry.
I would be one of those food crazed people that would wander around Penzey's spices sniffing all that I could...And the Indian spices were what got to me the most.

Why?

Studies have shown that when you smell something, it reaches your taste buds and goes to your brain...And yes, I am talking in a 'gist' kind of form.

The smell of curry warmed my tongue.  Warmed my senses.
Not so much in the way that it was hot, but more so in the sense that it was a very warm embrace.

I have adapted the recipe from Elise at Simply Recipes

Lamb Curry Recipe

Cook time: 3 hours

INGREDIENTS

2 lamb shanks AND 2 lamb shoulder steaks (yielding about 2 lbs of meat without the bone)

**I had used 2 lamb shanks and used a 1 lb of goat leg meat**

1 large onions, chopped, about 3 1/2 cups

3-5 cloves of garlic, crushed

2-3 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter) or 1 Tbsp olive oil with butter

2-3 Tbsp curry powder

2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp black pepper

1 Tbsp ground coriander

1 Tbsp cumin

1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped**

1 tsp thyme, dried**

**I had since I did not have any rosemary or thyme I had subbed it with Herbes De Provence**

1/2 Meyer lemon sliced (with rind)  **Did not include the lemon however I used some lemon juice**

2 peeled and chopped apples (tart green granny smith if possible), about 2 cups

1/4 cup of raisins (my addition to Maria's recipe)  **Did not use raisins**

1 1/2 cups chicken broth*  **Subbed the chicken broth for some homemade duck broth that I had**

8-12 small potatoes, quartered, about 1 1/2 pounds

Chutney, yogurt, rice

*If cooking gluten-free, use homemade chicken stock or gluten-free packaged broth.

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 300° F. On stovetop, add the ghee or the butter-and-oil mixture to a large covered pot or Dutch oven and turn the burner to medium-high. Brown the meat well and remove it from pan.

2 Add curry powder to the ghee or oil, turn the heat down to medium and cook gently for a minute or two. Add onions and garlic and cook 5 minutes. Return lamb to pan.

3 Add coriander, black pepper, cumin, rosemary, thyme, sliced lemon, apples, raisins, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Cover the pot and put it in the oven. Cook for 2 hours. Check at 2 hours to see if the meat is falling off the bone. It should be starting to do so. Add the potatoes and cook for another 45 minutes.  **I had cooked this for approx.  6 hours…That was when it was fall off the bone tender**

4 To serve, you can pull the meat off the bones or leave it on. Taste for salt and add some more curry powder or cayenne if you want things spicier. Serve over rice with chutney and yogurt.

Yield: Serves 6

**I also added extra Madras Curry**

For the love of Samosas

I've always had a certain love for Indian food.  

In fact one of the most romantic dates I've had involved Indian food.  While I know that most people have a love/hate relationship with it...I have a certain affair with it.  

I love the warmth of the spices that fill my senses and the versatility of the spices.

So one day I just decided to make Samosas.

1 tbs ghee, 1 clove finely chopped garlic, 1 tsp finely chopped ginger, 2 medium finely chopped onions, 1 tsp curry powder, 1 tbs, lemon juice (or vinegar), 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tbs coriander.....

The recipe called for 2 tbs chopped fresh mint which I didn't bother with and I had decided to add

1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp cardemom.

The recipe also requested 250 grams of minced beef or lamb...I used about a pound of beef.

To make the filling, heat the ghee in a sauce pan and fry garlic, ginger and half the onion until onion is soft.  Add Curry powder, salt, vinegar/lemon, mix well.  Add minced beef/lamb and fry over high heat.  Stirring constantly until meat changes colour.  Turn heat down and add hot water.  Cover pan and cook until meat is tender and all the liquid is absorbed.

Towards the end of cooking, stir frequently to prevent meat from sticking to the base of the pan.  Sprinkle with garam masala and chopped mint/coriander, remove from heat and allow to cool.  Mix in reserved onion.  

For the dough, use 225 grams plain flour, 1 tsp salt, 3 tbs oil, 1 approx 100 ml hot water, 1 oil for frying.

To make the dough, sieve together the flour and the salt.  Rub in the oil.  Add enough water to form a stiff dough.  Knead for 10 minutes until smooth.

Divide into 12 balls.  Roll each ball into a round 15 cm/6" across.  Cut in half.

Pick up one half, flatten slightly, and form a cone, sealing the overlapping edge with a little water.  Fill the cone  with 1.5 tsp of the filling and seal the top with a little water.

Make all the samosas the same way.

Heat the oil in a Karahi (Wok) over medium heat.   Put as many samosas as you can into the hot oil and fry until crisp and golden.  Drain.  Serve with a chutney or your favourite chilli or tomato sauce.

Now, this is my first time working with samosa dough and I don't have the most delicate of fingers.  Needless to say this is how my first batch came out.....

So I went with a second bout with my second batch and went in an easier direction.  With won ton wrappers.  And this is how THESE came out.

Either way both came out good although very different from each other.

Would I make it again?  Sure.  I'm a huge fan of the filling.

I had adapted my recipe from here

My next adventure is supposed to be with curry.....I'll get to that eventually.