Bite Me

One for Curry Lovers

This lamb dhansak recipe may not be truly authentic but it is delicious. I cook it regularly in a slow cooker as the spices develop throughout the long cooking time but equally it can be put in a large casserole dish with a lid in the oven.

Warning: Cooking this dish will fill your house with the smell of rich warming spices. Don’t be tempted to eat it sooner, it’ll be worth the wait. You may never order this from a takeaway again. I haven’t.
It requires some preparation the night before cooking and a spice grinder or pestle and mortar and good upper body strength but it’s so worth the effort.

Lamb Dhansak




Ingredients

For the meat marinade
600g lamb cut into large chunks
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp fennel seeds
4 cardamon pods
2 inches cinnamon
1 tbsp black peppercorns
½ tsp black mustard seeds
2-3 kashmiri chillies (seeds removed if you want to tame this a little)

For the curry sauce

3 large onions (chopped)
1 tin tomatoes
6 cloves garlic
1½ pints water
1 tbsp mango chutney
1 tsp tumeric
200g split yellow peas
100 red lentils
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
2 tsp garam masala
Handful of chopped fresh coriander
Juice of one lemon

• Grind all the spices for the marinade to a fine powder, coat the meat and cover with clingfilm in the fridge for at least 2 hours, I leave this overnight.
• Brown the lamb pieces in batches in a hot frying pan with a little oil and set aside on a plate.
• Fry off the onions until slightly browned. Put ⅔ into the slow cooker or casserole dish, add the meat.
• Add the remaining onions to a food processor, along with a tin of chopped tomatoes, the garlic and 1 ½ pints water and blitz until smooth. Add to meat and onions.
• Add tumeric, mango chutney, split peas, red lentils and bay leaves. Stir and put on low setting on the slow cooker, or place in oven set to 140.
• Leave to cook unaided for 6 hours in a slow cooker, or 2 hours in a conventional oven.
• Add garam masala, salt and pepper to taste, coriander and lemon juice, stir well, serve.