Lamb isn't something that finds itself on my weekly shopping list and it isn't something I've ever cooked before. That's mainly due to the fact I didn't actually like the taste until recently but also I had little clue what to do with it- all I kept hearing was "low and slow".
So when I was approached by Suzie at The Scotch Kitchen to blog using either certified Scotch Beef or Lamb I jumped at the chance to try out something new! My inspiration for this dish came from my discovery of the most flavoursome curry I have ever tasted from Green Gates Indian Restaurant in Stirling - my 'go to' location for amazingly authentic Indian food with great service and atmosphere!
Lamb Pardesi is the curry I refer to: a rich, spinach and mushroom based curry which holds just the right amount of 'kick', a far cry from my usual Indian Food order of chicken based dishes which are typically cooked Tandoori style (equally as tasty but just completely different).
When aiming to replicate this dish I first of all fried off the spices, sealed the lamb and then transported it all into a slow cooker so it could do the rest of the work. For my spices,instead of going out an buying several packets of new spices I wasn't sure about, I used spare packets of spice from kits I had bought previously from The Spicery. This is an excellent way of getting to know and try new spices in small amounts as well as new dishes you may never have challenged yourself to try before!
- Prepare onion, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, chilli and bay leaves - the quantities of these will depend on how much lamb you are cooking and your own personal taste. However my advice is you can always add more, you can't take away! (3 large onions, 4-6 cloves of garlic and a tablespoon of each spice is usually a good start for around 2lb of meat.
- Fry all of these off in a hot pan with oil and butter (around 100g butter and 2 tablespoons of oil)
- Then add the lamb to the pan after dusting in a seasoned flour mix.
- Once sealed, transfer the spiced lamb and onions to your slow cooker with chopped mushrooms (I used a mix of button and chestnut mushrooms- around 600g combined), a large bag of spinach and 3 tablespoons of tomato puree.
- Leave to cook "low and slow" for at least 6 hours (the longer the better) and serve with rice, naan bread or both!
My Pardesi lovely but certainly not as good as Green Gates, I have a few more attempts to go to achieve their standards, but the Scotch Lamb was delicious - it wouldn't have mattered how it had been served, the quality spoke for itself!
I would encourage all of you to give Scotch Lamb a go whether in a curry, stew or Sunday roast but also to mess around with spices in order to add flavour and depth to a dish- it's not all about heat. The Scotch Kitchen Blog is a fantastic resource, offering handy hints and tips on how to cook your Scotch meat products in new and wonderful ways so head over their now and get experimenting!
Good Luck! x
