Lamb & Plum Curry
It’s true meat curries always taste better the next day, well that was the theory for our post Cheltenham Gold Cup celebrations. Tweeded up our small posse returned to the biggest jump race meeting of the calendar. Intensely studying the form in the lead up to the climax of the four day racing festival, we were bent on returning victorious, intent on giving the bookies a thorough spanking with our superior knowledge and ‘boys own’ sense of equine adventure.
Tips scribbled down on scraps of paper littered the breakfast table in our pre-match ritual, a full English breakfast encouraged by 3 pints of Guinness at a pub on the way to the course. It set the pace for the day and probably contributed to the root of our collective form. Tips fell by the way side, we hungrily chatted odds and dashed between bookie, bar and borderline bankruptcy. As torn betting slips fluttered away in the wind so did our hopes of paying off our mortgages with a winning nag. Betting products more complex than Google’s algorithms yielded no consolation, Trifectas, Lucky 15s, accumulators were like reading Cyrillic. I’d have had better luck at pinning the tail on the donkey. Speaking of which, I made a mental note never to back a horse with a pantomime name again.
Rinsed in every sense the only odds I was guaranteed a decent return on was the crumbly tangy and fennel scented lamb and plum curry I’d made the night before. A sneaky taste revealed a piquant zesty tone to the dish, the re-hydrated plums adding a layer of latent sharpness offset by crushed fennel seeds. Unlike the usual earthy curries normally associated with lamb, this dish is one to back on the nose...trust me it’s a sure thing.
How To Make Lamb & Plum Curry
Serves 6
- 24 dried plums
- 50ml vegetable oil
- 150ml plain whole yoghurt, at room temperature
- 1kg boneless lamb shoulder or mutton
- 500ml water
- 2 tsp ground fennel
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1tsp cumin seeds
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 green chillies, finely chopped
- Salt
Re-hydrate the plums in a bowl of hot water for about 30 minutes, take out the stones.
In a large pan, heat the oil over low temperature and slip in the plums cooking for around 5 minutes, now add the lamb and brown for around 15 minutes, until the meat juices start to fill the pan. Add all the ingredients apart from the yoghurt and whack up the heat until the mix start to boil. Turn the heat down to a medium temperature and cook for about an hour, stirring frequently, by now the mix will have reduced and now it’s time to ladle in the yoghurt. To stop it from curdling, you could spoon in some of the pan’s curry sauce into the yoghurt, stirring it to bring it up to temperature and then add then add the yoghurt to the pan. Turn the heat to low and cook for another hour or until the lamb is tender and almost flaky.
Polish off this lamb and plum curry with fluffy basmati rice.
Lamb & Plum Curry
It’s true meat curries always taste better the next day, well that was the theory for our post Cheltenham Gold Cup celebrations. Tweeded up our small posse returned to the biggest jump race meeting of the calendar. Intensely studying the form in the lead up to the climax of the four day racing festival, we were bent on returning victorious, intent on giving the bookies a thorough spanking with our superior knowledge and ‘boys own’ sense of equine adventure.
Tips scribbled down on scraps of paper littered the breakfast table in our pre-match ritual, a full English breakfast encouraged by 3 pints of Guinness at a pub on the way to the course. It set the pace for the day and probably contributed to the root of our collective form. Tips fell by the way side, we hungrily chatted odds and dashed between bookie, bar and borderline bankruptcy. As torn betting slips fluttered away in the wind so did our hopes of paying off our mortgages with a winning nag. Betting products more complex than Google’s algorithms yielded no consolation, Trifectas, Lucky 15s, accumulators were like reading Cyrillic. I’d have had better luck at pinning the tail on the donkey. Speaking of which, I made a mental note never to back a horse with a pantomime name again.
Rinsed in every sense the only odds I was guaranteed a decent return on was the crumbly tangy and fennel scented lamb and plum curry I’d made the night before. A sneaky taste revealed a piquant zesty tone to the dish, the re-hydrated plums adding a layer of latent sharpness offset by crushed fennel seeds. Unlike the usual earthy curries normally associated with lamb, this dish is one to back on the nose...trust me it’s a sure thing.
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