Bride-to-be Michelle has put in a request for a curry I cooked for her a couple of weeks ago - another experiment from the Faking It cookbook I borrowed from Nicole at work. It was delish and super easy. And I love the idea of incorporating the rice into the curry just at the end. The fewer dishes the better, if you ask me! I hate washing up! The end result is a kind of biryani/Indian risotto kind of thing. Really good! I served it with a veggie curry my Mum had made (the seven veggie special!)
Oven-baked lamb curry
Serves 4
600g lamb fillets, cut into cubes
2 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbs mild curry paste
600ml chicken stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 cinnamon quills
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
12 fresh curry leaves (impossible to find at the shops - Nicole randomly has them growing in her backyard, but I used curry powder instead and it had the same effect)
1 1/3 cups (300g) medium-grain rice
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Season the lamb.
- Heat half the oil in a fry pan over medium-high heat. Brown the lamb in batches for 2-3 mins, then remove and set aside.
- Return the pan to medium heat with remaining oil. Add onion and cook, stirring for 5 mins until golden.
- Add curry paste and stir for few seconds until fragrant, then transfer to a 2.5litre baking dish.
- Add the lamb, stock, tomato, cinnamon, garlic and curry leaves. Season with salt and pepper, stir well to combine, then cover with foil and bake for 20 mins.
- Stir the rice into the curry and then return to the oven, uncovered for 10 mins or until lamb is tender and rice is cooked.
- Serve with natural yoghurt and pappadums.
Enjoy Michelle xo
