Lamb Curry! You just gotta love it. It's winter here in Brisbane and even though it's only getting down to lows of 7 / 8 degrees celsius at night it still feels bloody cold. Strange considering we just moved from NYC where we had winters of -26c for a few years. You'd think we would be used to the cold. All this Queensland sun must me making us soft! Personally though I'm gonna blame the Queenslander homes. They are SUPER cute but they have about as much insulation as a paper bag. Hence the slow cooked food and curry recipe!!
Curry
Typically when I make curry I use chicken and typically when I make lamb shanks I use red wine and root veg. WELL as you can see neither of those occurred in this recipe. One of the drawers in AnotherFoodBloggers kitchen is the EPIC spice drawer. I am a firm believer in having a well stocked pantry I didn't just pick up a load of little jars from the local grocery store, I hit the local Indian store and Asian market. I bought in bulk and grabbed a whole load more spices than I probably needed. That is until you start to make things like a curry and realise how essential having all these spices is.
There are always tins of coconut milk or cream in our cupboard because all 3 of us here love a good Thai green curry. Chickpeas are a must for the hummus monster that is my daughter and 99% of the time you will find tins of chopped tomatoes too. That is unless I have made a big batch of my braised beef cheeks - now that's a dish to die for (ok, ok, you twisted my arm. Here is the recipe ;)). Right, back to this curry. So since I pretty much had all the ingredients in the house it seemed like the right thing to make with this cut of meat. My only gripe with curry, and this really is only a gripe for my instagram ego, is that I can never make it look "sexy" SO if anyone reading this has some tips feel free to send them my way!
The Dish
To start with, for this dish I had to make a fresh curry paste. This may seem like a daunting task at first. Honestly though all it took was opening the right spice containers, a measuring spoon, some oil and a small food processor. Job done and suddenly my house smells like my local delicious Indian restaurant. Nice!
I served this lamb curry with some garlic naan bread. Which the boss went and picked up from said Indian restaurant. You could also serve it with some steamed jasmine rice too OR both! If you aren't a big fan of lamb shanks or don't want to wait 2+ hours for them to cook then this dish will work amazingly with some chicken too - thighs, use thighs. The brown meat is, in my opinion, the best. So, next time you are thinking of ordering a takeaway why not make up a batch of this curry instead. I know, I know we still ended up getting the naan from the local BUT in my defense it's just so damn good! Bonus points for the fact that it freezes well too.
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Ingredients
Curry
- 2 lamb shanks
- 1 can chopped tomatoes 400g
- 1 coconut cream
- 200 ml chicken stock
- 1 red onion sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- 1 can can chickpeas
- 2 ears corn or 1/2 cup frozen corn
- coriander garnish
- spring onions garnish
Curry Paste
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tsp ginger grated
- salt
- pepper
- 25 ml olive oil
- 1 red onion diced
Instructions
Curry Paste
- Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blending to a paste consistency.
Curry
- Oil & season the lamb shanks and sear on a high heat in pot/pan until golden brown - approx 5 mins.
- Remove shanks, reduce heat to medium and add onions to pan. Cook until golden brown. 3 - 5 mins.
- Add curry paste and cook for a couple of mins.
- Add coconut milk, chopped tomatoes & stock and bring to a simmer. Add in shanks.
- Cover with a lid and cook for 3hrs in oven @ 160c until lamb shanks are falling off the bone.
- Stir in chickpeas & corn and cook for a further 3-5 mins.
- Sprinkle with coriander & spring onions and serve with some naan bread / rice.
Notes
Essential Tools
- measuring spoons/jug
- chopping board
- knife
- dutch oven or large pot
- small food processor
- wooden spoon
Tips/Tricks
- feel free to use different veg in the curry if you like - things like broccoli or cauliflower will work well too
- once cooked, the curry may require some of the oil to be removed. Do so by using a spoon once the curry has been removed from the oven before you add the vegetables
- this dish can be made in advance and reheated. If doing so then don't add the vegetables in until reheating. Reheat curry in oven @ 160c for approx 30 mins
- substitute chicken thighs for an easy chicken curry. If doing so allow the curry sauce to cook on low-medium heat for an hour to let the flavours marry and then add chopped chicken thighs and cook for 15-20 mins on low-medium heat
Nutrition
Agnel Fernandes
Thanks for the recipe. Everyone loved it.
Alexandra
What a delicious bowl of comfort food - this will be ideal for Winter.
AnotherFoodBlogger
Sure is! Not the current Australia temps ?
Noa
I love Carry since I visited Thailand and India I always looking for new recipes. This one looks great, very detailed and easily follow. im definitely going to try it
AnotherFoodBlogger
That’s awesome Noa!! Thanks so much. Don’t forget to tag me @another_food_blogger or subscribe to join my journey ?
Christian Stanley
This is a fantastic quick recipe, thank you for the brilliant write up.
Christian Stanley
This is a fantastic website, thank you for taking the time to write the article.