An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [32]
Lamb with vinegar and mint
SERVES 4–6
This is a very refreshing way of cooking lamb. I like to make this dish fairly hot, but you could use fewer red peppers or none at all, as you prefer. Fresh mint is available all year round in specialty stores, but since this dish requires a whole bunch of mint, it would certainly be cheaper if you cooked it in the summer months. As a substitute, you could use dried mint flakes, but I find all dried herbs seem impregnated with a rather undesirable musty flavor.
There are three ways you could serve this meat. You could dish it out with all its sauce—in which case you should serve the meat either on rice, to soak up the sauce—or in a little bowl, like a stew, set on the dinner plate. Or you could use the last 5 minutes of cooking time to reduce the sauce by about half by cooking it uncovered over a high flame—you will then be left with a thick sauce which can be served directly on the plates with the meat. The third alternative is to use the last 10 minutes of the cooking time to dry up almost all the sauce and serve the meat as a “dry” dish. The recipe given here is for the “dry dish,” which I happen to prefer.
2 pounds boneless meat from shoulder of lamb, cut into 1-inch cubes (or shank, neck, or leg—see proportions)
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1½ tablespoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon dry English mustard
1–2 whole dried hot red peppers (optional)
6 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
A piece of fresh ginger, about 1-inch cube, peeled and coarsely chopped
5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 medium-sized onions, peeled and minced
1½ teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons well-packed finely minced fresh mint, or 1 tablespoon dried mint plus 2 tablespoons trimmed, chopped parsley
Wipe lamb cubes well.
Put oil in a 10–12 inch skillet and turn the flame on high. When hot, put in 7 or 8 cubes of meat at a time and brown them on all sides. As each lot gets browned, remove it with a slotted spoon to a heavy-bottomed pot and cover. Brown all the cubes of meat this way. Turn flame off under skillet and set aside to use later.
Put the cumin, cloves, cinnamon, turmeric, and mustard powder, as well as the 2 (or less) red peppers and the chopped garlic and ginger, into the container of an electric blender. Add the vinegar and blend at high speed, until you have a smooth paste.
Put the minced onions in the skillet in which you browned the meat. Turn the heat to high and fry the onions for 5 minutes, scraping up the meat juices in skillet as you do so. The onions must turn brown in spots. Turn heat down to medium and pour in the thick blended paste. Stir and fry for 5 minutes, adding a teaspoon of water every minute.
Now put in a cup of water and bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
When the sauce has cooked, pour it over the meat. Add the salt and mint, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 45 minutes.
Remove the cover and raise the flame to high. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes until the sauce is almost dried up, leaving only a few tablespoons in the pot and what is coating the meat. You will need to lower the heat the last few minutes so that the sauce does not stick.
To serve: Serve with pooris, a potato dish, and a green vegetable dish. You could also serve it with a rice dish and a green vegetable. As part of a Western-style meal, serve it with wild rice and a green salad.
Lamb with spinach
SERVES 6–8
This is a traditional Moghul recipe. I use lamb for the recipe, but you could use beef (chuck or round) if you like.
3 pounds fresh spinach (or four 10-ounce packages of frozen spinach)
3 medium-sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
A piece of fresh ginger, 2 inches long and 1 inch wide, peeled and coarsely chopped
7–8 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 fresh hot green chili, chopped (optional), or ⅛–½ teaspoon cayenne