Lamb Saag

3 garlic cloves, peeled
large thumb sized piece of ginger, roughly chopped
2-3 green chilies, roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped
oil for frying
750g diced lamb shoulder, fat trimmed off
2tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
2tsp coriander seed, toasted and ground
1tsp turmeric
2 cardamom pods, squashed with the blade of a knife
4 large tomatoes, quartered
300ml lamb stock
200g spinach, washed and roughly chopped
coriander leaves to garnish
naan bread or basmati rice to serve

Put the garlic, ginger, chilies, and onion into a small food processor and whiz to a puree (or you could very finely chop everything).
Heat a little oil in a large casserole. Brown the lamb all over and scoop out. Fry the spices in the same pan for a couple of minutes until fragrant then add the onion puree and cook for 2 min. Add the lamb tomatoes and stock. Stir, cover and cook for 45 minutes.
Stir in the spinach and cook for a further 45 min, or until the lamb is meltingly tender. Scatter the coriander over.

This is not a fast dish to cook, it takes over an hour and a half, on the stove, but it is really easy. There is very little preparation involved. A little food processor-ing a little browning, and your set to go about your other business.

I loved this. I used slightly less chilli, for the sake of the boys, and the flavor was still beautiful and multi layered. The coriander really brings it all together, so don’t skip it. It’s also a bonus that the lamb is a cheaper cut, so this is not absurdly expensive to make.

The one thing I would do different next time, is remove the lid a little early. I felt it could have benefited from reducing a little bit.

Still, it with the spinach in it, it felt like an all inclusive type meal. It’s got your meat and green veg, throw it on a little rice, and it’ll do nicely as a meal on it’s own. It would also be very good as part of a larger meal, but I didn’t have it in me to more today.

From 101 Global Dishes.