Yesterday, I prepared a lamb curry using 'Cooking with an African Flavour' as an inspiration, a book given to me by a dear friend who passed away 10 years ago. Anyway, this book is beautifully illustrated and a delightful guide to the East African cuisine. Many recipes in this book use indigenous African crops and special cooking methods, but this one is quite simple.
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| Mwango, Elaine 1993. Cooking with an African Flavour. Recipes from Rosanne Guggisberg and traditional sources. Sapra Safari Guide, Mount Kenya Sundries Limited, Nairobi. |
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| You need a variety of veggies e.g. chopped red, yellow and green bell peppers, 4 crushed garlic gloves, 1 finely chopped chili pepper, 2-3 finely chopped onions, 2-3 finely chopped carrots, 5 finely chopped tomatoes, 2 bunches of finely chopped dhania (coriander leaves), and a good piece of grated fresh ginger. |
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| You
will also need smoked paprika (1 tsp), 1 cinnamon stick, curry powder (2 tsp), turmeric (1 tsp), garam
masala (2 tsp), dhania powder (2 tsp), creamy coconut milk (400 ml), tomato paste (140 g), juice of a lemon, salt, pepper, and chopped boneless lamb leg (1 kg). |
As with any curry, you start by 'waking up' all the dry spices in a stew pan with plenty of ghee or vegetable oil. Then stir in the onions, garlic, ginger, chili, carrots and dhania leaves, and continue frying until the veggies are getting dark brown. Now stir in the tomato paste and cook further 5 minutes, after which move the batch into a large pot with 1.5 litres of boiling water. Continue cooking until it the liquids have reduced into half, then sieve to obtain a smooth sauce and put back into the pot with the creamy coconut milk. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile place into a stew pan ghee or vegetable oil and start frying the chopped tomatoes and the meat. After 20 minutes or so, add the chopped bell peppers and a juice of lemon and continue cooking for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Finally combine this batch with the creamy coconut curry sauce and cook for additional 5 minutes. Add more salt if needed. Serve with plain Basmati rice or Pilau.
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| Hubby thought that this was one of the best curries I have ever prepared. Our bairns liked it too. |
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