Fab Lamb Korma

After Chicken Tikka Masala, the Korma has to be my second favourite Indian dish. I've tried out many different recipes and think I've finally cracked it. I started out with Mr Ramsay's Lamb Korma fromhis Indian cook book I've mentioned in an earlier post. But I found it a little on the dry side, so I made a few adjustments. Here's hat you need:

Ingredients (4 people)
500g Lamb cut into cubes
1 red chili
1 whole dried cayenne, crushed
75g Almonds, lightly toasted
75g Cashew nuts, lightly toasted
3 cloves of garlic
3 cm of fresh Ginger root
150 ml water
Ghee (clarified butter) or oil frying
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
2 tsp ground coriander
2 cardamom pods, pinched
2 onions, finely chopped
100 ml natural yoghurt (preferably greek, as thick youghurt tends to curdle less)
pinch of safran soaked in 1 tbsp of hot water
1 tsp tumeric
1 tbsp sugar
1 can of coconut milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Start by toasting the nuts and blend them into a fine paste along with the ginger, garlic, chili, cayenne and water.

Season the lamb and brown it on all sides for a couple of minutes in the ghee or oil. Remove and reserve for later.

Wipe away some of the excess fat, but don't clean the pan. Fry the cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf and ground coriander for a minute until it starts getting fragrant.

Add the chopped onion. Fry at mid-heat until they turn soft and lightly brown around the edges.

Meanwhile add the yoghurt and the safron to the almond paste.

When the onions are ready, add the almond paste. Fry it for about 5 minutes before adding the lamb from before along with any accumulated juices. Add a bit of extra water if too dry. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't catch. It's still quite dry at this moment, so don't leave it too long unattended.

Prepare the rice (Fry a bit of cumin seeds, some cardamom pods and a whole star anise, add 1dl of basmati rice per person, fry the rice for 3 minutes while stirring. Add 1.5 dl water per person, bring to a boil and cookat low heat for 15 minutes under lid. Turn off heat and leave covered for 10 minutes).

After 30 minutes of cooking the lambs in the amond sauce, add the cream of the coconut milk, i.e. remove the more solid/thick part of the coconut milk with a spoon. Provided you haven't shaken the can of coconut milk it should separate into a thicker part on top and a more watery part at the bottom. At least the brand I'm buying does. Save the watery part for adding later if still too thick.

Add a tsp of tumeric. Let the dish cook for another 15 minutes.

Just before serving, add the lemon juice and about a tsp of salt or to taste.

Serve with aromatic basmati rice. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did.

Gyro or is it souvlaki (or both)?

The king of Greek fast food - the gyro or souvlkai. It was a bit confusing when we were there to find out what the difference actually was, but I had a feeling gyro (pronounced: 'jeee-ro') had something to do with gyrating and had to be the big vertical, rotating spits similar to the ones found in kebab shops. And later investigation told me that word souvlaki is the diminutive of souvla meaning skewer. Mystery solved. However, as they are served in a similar fashion in a pita bread with tzatziki, tomato and some lettuce they are often just all called suvlaki for the non-caring tourist.

So when I set out to make it, I had no idea what would be better and I couldn't decide which to make, so I made both as you will see. The end result is very similar so it's really up to you what you find easier. Also, I used lamb although the original souvlaki is made with pork. I just had some minced lamb lying around so I went for that and adjusted the spices accordingly. You can find plenty of souvlaki spice mixes with google, so I won't bore you with that.

Ingredients:

750g minced lamb

1 medium onion

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp diced rosemary

1 tbsp dried majoram

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp salt

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Wheat tortillas (or pita, see later in the recipe).

Lettuce

Tomato

Tzatziki

Start by chopping the onion finely.

Add the onion and the rest of the ingredients to the lamb mince. Put it in a blender.

Until it's very finely ground, almost like a paste (be careful not to over heat your blender). Put it on cling film.

For making gyros, shape it like a loaf and roll it up really tight. You don't ant any air in there. Put it in the fridge for a couple of hours or over night.

Alternatively, put the meat on skewers (for making souvlaki) and roll them up in cling film and put in the fridge for a few hours.

Fry the suvlakis at high heat. Time depends on the thickness of the meat and the skewer. Thicker skewers conduct more heat and cook the meat slowly from the inside.

And for making the souvlaki, heat up the wheat tortilla on a dry, hot frying pan for 30 secs on each side. Pita bread is another posibility. However, the Greek souvlaki used a flat bread a bit thicker than the tortillas, but which had been brushed with olive oil and fried lightly. It was delicious, but this will work just as great. Add some lettuce, tomato and a dollop of tzatziki.

Break the meat into smaller pieces and put it with the rest. Fold it and eat.

Alternatively, to make the gyro you need to spit roast the meat. If you have and oven or even better a grill with a spit, that's just perfects. If you haven't, do like me for a reasonable result. Place two skewers through the meat lengthwise. Hang the meat over a bread mold inside a water bath. This will add moisture to the cooking and at the same time let the meat drip off some of it's fat. Put it in a preheated oven at 160ºC.

Turn the meat every 20 minutes. You need to cook the meat for 1-2 hours depending on the thickness of your meat. You want to reach an internal temperature of 75º.

Then simply start shaving off the meat with your sharpest knife.

Add it to the bread like above mentioned.

Fold it and reminisce (or dream up) your holidays in Greece.