I tried Rick Stein's lamb dopiaza on Sunday. Rather than frying and toasting off the spices to release their flavour, in this dish they just all go in the pan and 2 hours later you have a lovely curry with thickish gravy.
His recipe called for coriander and cumin seeds but it didn't stipulate if they needed to be ground or not. I chose to grind then roughly then added them to the ither spices. I cut back the 10 Kashmiri dried chillies to six but wow, it still had some kick! You know how you take a mouthful, it burns, you swallow it down, appreciate the flavour then immediately take another mouthful? Thats what it was like. Wowsers!
I love making accompaniments for my curries, they just make it interesting. This is Apple Chutney - 2 royal gala apples and 1 small onion, grated; One green chilli, diced; a handful of chopped parsley; 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar and 1/4 tspn salt. Combine all ingredients.
I diced the lamb, sprinkled over the spices, threw in the cinnamon sticks and chillies...
Next, I dolloped in the yoghurt and stirred to combine. Re-reading the recipe, I've just realised I missed adding in 60gms of ghee. Hmmm, it just got healthier as I used low fat yoghurt too!
I made naan bread and although this had 40gms of ghee in it, I didn't brush the other 40gms of ghee over them, as requsted, when cooked.
Beautiful, tender lamb chunks...
My standard extra is the cucumber raita which aids in cooling the dish down - greek yoghurt, cucumber, chopped fresh mint, cumin, lemon juice and sugar.
Since buying Rick's book, I have really enjoyed experimenting with his curries. There are so many more yet to cook - Lamb Korma, Rogan Josh, Beef vindaloo, Butter Chicken, Madras Club Sheperds Pie....
I haven't had a cold this winter, maybe the curries are keeping the lurgies at bay?
Cheers - Joolz xx
Posted by Joolz with Blogsy
