Mission

Celebrating the delights of good healthy everyday food and special treats! Sharing recipes, information, and experiences.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Recipe for Lamb and Sweet Potato Curry





According to Wikipedia, curry is a dish of meat and vegetables, cooked in an Indian style spicy sauce and served with rice.  And while not what I think of when I think "curry", other than the rice, this full-of-flavor dish meets the definition.  I adapted this dish from Meena's blog "Hooked on Heat", a great spot for Indian recipes that anyone can tackle.  As you know if you've been reading ELEB for a while, I'm trying to cook more Indian recipes.  This one is a winner!

You have to be somewhat committed to cooking Indian flavored food to tackle this recipe.  It has quite a few spice ingredients.  As it turned out, I had all of them in my cupboard and I would encourage you to suck it up go ahead and stock your spice shelf with these flavorful spices. You'll be all ready to whip together a batch of chai concentrate or another Indian dish.  And trust me, when you taste this one, you'll be glad you did. In addition to a great meal, your kitchen will smell amazing.


Whole spices


Recipe for Lamb and Sweet Potato Curry

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients: 
  • 2 TBSP canola oil
  • 5 whole cloves
  • 5 whole cardamom pods
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 TBSP coriander powder
  • 1 tsp roasted cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
  • 1 TBSP ginger-garlic sauce
  • 2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped, about 2 cups
  • 1 lb ground lamb
  • 1 large sweet potato, cubed, about 3 cups
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 cups baby spinach, washed and dried
  • salt, to taste

Method:
  • Sauté cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, and cumin seeds with onions in hot oil over medium high heat until lightly browned.
  • Add in tomatoes, ginger-garlic sauce and remaining spices, and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes until tomatoes soften and begin to break down.
  • Crumble in lamb and cook until most of pink is gone, about 5 minutes.
  • Add in sweet potatoes and cook covered for 20 minutes over medium-low heat until potatoes are cooked through.
  • Stir in spinach and cook uncovered until wilted, about 3-4 minutes
  • Taste and season with salt as needed.



Ready to add tomatoes


Ready to add potatoes
Ready to add spinach

I wasn't sure whether to leave the cloves and cardamom pods in the finished dish.  I decided to fish them out, not that it would have been bad to eat one but...


So, thanks to Meena for an inspiring recipe.  I hope you'll give it a try.




What ethnic dishes are you cooking these days?


Printable Recipe