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Directions
This Indian dish is anything but understated. It piles flavour upon
flavour to stunning effect and would overwhelm milk-fed lamb.
Amazingly, for something so sumptuous, it is comparatively
nutritionally sound, as it has been modified to eliminate most
saturated fat. However it is not for the meal-in-a-moment cook.
Cover 45 g of raisins and 30 g sultanas in boiling water. Leave to
soak. Trim an 800 g boneless piece of young lamb (leg or shoulder) of
all visible fat. Put the piece in a large saucepan and add 3 cups of
water, a tablespoon of lemon juice and 2 bay leaves. Cover, bring to
the boil, skim, and simmer very gently for about one hour or until a
skewer glides into the meat with ease. Remove the meat, setting it
aside, and reduce the stock over high heat to about 1/4 of a cup.
Reserve the stock and wash the saucepan.
Into a processor bowl put 2 large onions quartered, 6 cloves of
garlic, 5 cm ginger roughly chopped, 1/2 tablespoon ground cardamom,
2 tablespoons ground coriander, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1
tablespoon white poppy seeds, 45 g ground almonds and 1 teaspoon
black pepper. Process to a paste. Chop finely a generous handful of
fresh mint and have ready 200 g plain yoghurt (low fat yoghurt can be
used).
Heat 2 tablespoons mono- or polyun- saturated oil in the saucepan, add
onion and spice paste and fry, stirring, for about 3 minutes or until
it is fragrant. Add the mint and yoghurt and simmer gently till the
sauce is thick and creamy. Return the meat to the saucepan, spooning
the sauce over it, cover and braise gently until the meat is heated
through. Add the reserved stock to the saucepan and stir through.
Continue to simmer uncovered until the stock is completely reduced.
Sprinkle over the meat and sauce 2 teaspoons garam masala, 1 teaspoon
chilli powder and salt to taste if you regard it as necessary.
In a frying pan, heat a little oil and gently fry the drained
sultanas and raisins, together with 45 g blanched slivered almonds,
for about 5 minutes. Add them to the saucepan and stir. Infuse a few
strands of saffron in a tablespoon of boiling water and add 1 1/2
teaspoons of rosewater. Stir this mixture into the saucepan and heat
for a minute or so more.
Slice the meat, which by now should be meltingly tender, and arrange
on a serving dish. Spoon the sauce over the meat. Serve with rice.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
From "Raw Materials" by Meryl Constance, The Syndey Morning Herald,
10/6/92. Courtesy Mark Herron.
Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; October 30 1992.
Servings: 4 servings
Braised Lamb With Fruits & Nuts Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Fruit; Lamb; Meat; Nut
The History of Recipes
We can read the history of written recipes far back into antiquity, certainly as far back into recorded history as pharonic Egypt, and possibly even further. Having said that, in the main part, these early cookbooks were just very simple hieroglyphic instructions for meal preparation.
In fact, the oldest recipe found, according to historians are some stone tablets in the Sumerian language which show the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel wonderful and blissful. Later on, we find a couple of cookery books which were published in the 1300s ; one book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, they have no connection with the indian food that is served today, but rather recipes for the types of food served to the rich and powerful of the time. For the next few years, the powerful and wealthy houses competed to lay on the most extravagent banquests, and as a result cooks and their recipe collections were greatly in demand. Nevertheless, it was during the 1800s that haute cuisine and cookery books really came of age. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to collating, verifying, and writing down recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. The introduction of the TV gave us TV cooks and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the internet revolution, allowing everybody to access massive numbers of recipes like those on the site you are now reading. |
We hope you enjoy this Braised Lamb With Fruits & Nuts recipe.
