So this Saturday night was curry night for Paulie and I. Paulie made a really lovely and healthy Rogan Josh, he loosly based this on a Madhur Jaffreys recipe but added and took a few things away to make it more to our palate. Garam Marsala being one of the things he added. I love this spice mixture and its easy to make your own and keeps for ages, next time Paulie makes his, I will share the recipe. If you want to add some flavour to mash potato or to a cottage pie it really does add a hint of spice and spruces up a blandish dish. My favourite is in a cottage pie, I will be adding Paulies recipe for that soon. Back to the curry. It is nice and healthy as it uses tomatoes as the base instead of coconut milk, it also has a really nice subtle kick. Not too hot to blow your head off, just a nice warm hum in your mouth. Perfect for a Satuday night in front of the TV.

Ingredients

• 5cm (2 inch) piece of fresh root ginger, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 tbsp olive or groundnut oil
• 10 cardamom pods
• 2 bay leaves
• Piece of cinnamon stick
• 1 KG boneless lamb from the shoulder, or beef cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes
• 2 large  onions, chopped
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1½ tsp red paprika or pimento
• 2 tsp tomato purée
• 1 tin of chopped tomato’s
• 1 tsp salt
• 300ml water

Method

1. Put the ginger and garlic into a food processor or blender, add 3 tablespoons of water and blend to a paste.
2. Put the oil into a wide pan, preferably non-stick, and set it over a medium-high heat. When it is hot, put in the cardamom pods, bay leaves and cinnamon stick and let them fry for about 30 seconds.
3. Quickly put in the lamb pieces – only as many as the pan will hold easily in a single layer and brown on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and put in a bowl. Brown the remaining meat in the same way.
4. Add the onions to the oil left in the pan. Cook and stir, until they turn a light yellow colour. Add the paste from the blender and stir for 30 seconds. Add the cumin, coriander, garan masala and paprika and then give everything a good stir – if mixture is too dry add a splash of water to loosen slightly
5. Next add the tomato purée and the tin of tomato’s, followed by the the meat and anything else left in the bowl as well,
6. Add the salt and water. Stir well and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and then turn the heat to low and simmer gently for 1 hour or until the meat is tender. If using beef, cook for 1½ hours rather than 1 hour.
7. Remove the lid and taste. Check the seasoning and add more Garam Masala if you want to as it is one of the only spice mixtures that does not need to be cooked out.
8. If the curry is a bit wet, you may want to simmer it until you get the consistency of curry that you like
9. Spoon into a bowl and serve with some freshly boiled or steamed rice