29 February, 2012

February recipe: Lamb and chick pea curry



Spices and root vegetables make this simple curry a warming winter meal. It can be made with lamb or venison, and the vegetables can be varied according to taste and availability. If using dried chick peas, remember to soak them in advance. The curry can be frozen, so you can make a double quantity and freeze half for an instant ready-meal later.

Serves 4

Lamb and chick pea curry


4 oz (approx 125 g) chick peas
8 oz (approx 250 g) lamb (or venison), cubed
1 onion
6 oz (approx 150 g) cooking apple
1 lb (approx 450 g) vegetables (swede*, parsnip, turnip, leek, celery)
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon (1 x 5 ml spoon) ground cumin
1 teaspoon (1 x 5 ml spoon) ground ginger
2 teaspoons (2 x 5 ml spoon) ground coriander
4 oz (approx 100 g) chopped tomatoes
2 oz (approx 50 g) sultanas or raisins
Approx. 0.5 pint (approx 250 ml) water or stock

Soak the chick peas overnight in cold water. Rinse the soaked chick peas, put in a saucepan with plenty of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 – 1.25 hours until cooked. Drain.

Cut the lamb or venison into pieces about 1.5 cm (approx 0.5”) cubed.

Peel and chop the onion. Peel, core and chop the cooking apple. Peel and chop the vegetables. Peel the garlic.

Fry the lamb or venison in cooking oil over a medium heat until browned.

Add the chopped onion, apple and other vegetables and fry gently for a few minutes until starting to colour. Stir in the crushed garlic.

Stir in the spices and mix well. Add the chopped tomatoes, cooked and drained chick peas and dried fruit. Pour in the water or stock, season with salt and black pepper, and bring to the boil.

Simmer over a low heat approx 1 – 1.25 hours until the meat and vegetables are cooked.

Serve with rice and mango chutney.

Can be frozen.

*Short for ‘swedish turnip’. This is the English name; in Scotland the vegetable is called ‘neep’ (as in the dish ‘neeps and tatties’), and in North America I think it is called ‘rutabaga’.

5 comments:

Nicola Griffith said...

Yep, rutabaga. It took me ages to figure it out when I first moved here.

I've always loved the term 'bashed neeps' for mashed swede...

Carla said...

Thanks, Nicola! I had never heard of rutabaga until a commenter here queried 'swede' on an earlier recipe post. Yes, 'bashed neeps' has a certain direct style about it :-)

Kathryn Warner said...

As scrummy as all your recipes, Carla. :)

Patent Attorney said...

This looks so filling and warming. Do you have a calorie count for it too? Don't worry if not, maybe better if I remain blissfully unaware!

Carla said...

Kathryn - thanks!

Patent Attorney - I've never added up the calorie count. It's high on vegetables and pulses and low on meat and fat, so I shouldn't think it would be calorie-heavy. At a guess, 350 calories a portion or so, plus the calorie content of the rice or whatever you serve it with? If you find a data table listing the calorie content per gram (or per ounce) of common foods, you could work it out in detail from the recipe. Rememebr to divide by 4 to get the per-portion value! One of the nice things about doing your own cooking is you know exactly what is in it :-) I used to have a printed booklet with this sort of information in, I should think it would be readily available online.