Indian Lamb Curry With Eggplant

Ingredients and recipe (4 servings):

This Indian dish is a typical 'slow cooking' recipe which should be cooked at a low temperature. It will take a little longer (around 90 minutes) but the result will be delicious. I used a Moroccan tajine but any large thick bottomed pan will do. Cooking this curry feels like a long and refreshing meditation session.

We'll start off by slowly frying 'whole garam massala' which is a choice of spices that are not ground nor cut. 2 small bayleafs, 1 star anise, 1 coriander root, around 10 pepper corns, 3 cloves, 1 pod of black cardamom, 5 pods of green cardamom and 1 cinnamon stick. Slowly fry these for about 5 minutes. The whole garam massala gives a wonderful fragrance to the oil and will not burn that easily like seeds and ground spices may do. That's why we start off with these whole spices. Please note that most restaurant cooks will remove the whole garam massala as the taste of getting a whole piece of star anise or clove in your mouth may be a very intense experience taste wise. If you have guests for dinner you may want to do so too. But I left them in this time. The kids did not join us for this dinner.

After 5 minutes we'll add a large, finely chopped onion and let this fry for another couple of minutes. Then we'll add 1 teaspoon of kurkuma (turmeric) which will colour the onion beautyfully. Give it a stir and then add about 500 grams of lamb. Bones included as those give your curry a wonderful flavour. Add 1 teaspoon of salt. Give it a stir and then add 4 cloves of garlic and a 3 centimeter ginger root. All finely sliced. And stir again. 

Then it's time to add the seeds. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds and 1 teaspoon nigella seeds (nigella is not traditional so optional). And stir. Wait 10 minutes.

Add 4 roughly cut tomatoes which is the first moist ingredient. The second one will be 1 cup of Greek yogurt. Also add some mint leafs and some coriander leafs. 1 teaspoon of ground fenugreek, 1 or 2 teaspoons of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of ground kardamom and 1 teaspoon of ground garam massala. Close the lid and let it simmer for at least 10 minutes.

Then add about 6 dried chilies and a small piece of santen which is pressed coconut. Originally an Indonesian ingredient and in this case a 'fusion' choice as the traditional Indian cuisine doesn't include santen. According to the more authentic recipes we should have added a cup of coconut milk. I do prefer santen as its fragrance is much more intense. It adds a little sweetness and it thickens the sauce instead of making it more moist. However you may need to add a splash of water. Less than half a cup.

Let this all simmer for at least 20 minutes before you add 1 medium sized eggplant chopped into bite-sized cubes. 

After about 10 minutes you should have a taste and add whatever you think is missing. I added 1 teaspoon of salt, some sugar and some chili powder as I like it hot (when the kids are not at home). Then start cooking the basmati rice which will take about 10 minutes. When the rice is done it's time to plate this wonderful meal. Enjoy your dinner!