Cooking lamb low and slow in a mild and fragrant yogurt and cardamom sauce makes it meltingly tender. This indulgent curry that is guaranteed to beat anything you can buy from a takeaway, and can be made ahead a couple of days in advance, so you can enjoy it at your leisure.
The crispy onions give deep flavour and textural contrast, but if you don’t fancy making them you could use shop bought. Reserve the onion-infused leftover cooking oil and use it to make another curry or stir fry – it will keep for a couple of weeks in an airtight container in the fridge.
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Yields:
4 serving(s)
Prep Time:
25 mins
Cook Time:
3 hrs 15 mins
Total Time:
3 hrs 40 mins
Cal/Serv:
607
Ingredients
3Tbsp.
vegetable oil
4
large ripe tomatoes (400g total weight)
20
green cardamom pods, bruised
800g
lamb neck fillet, cut into 4cm pieces
5
cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
1
bay leaf
4
black cardamom pods, bruised, see GH TIP
1/4tsp.
dried chilli flakes
175g
full-fat Greek-style yogurt
2
onions, finely sliced
For the crispy onions
150ml
vegetable oil
1
onion, finely sliced
Directions
Step 1Heat oil in a wide casserole dish or heavy-based pan (that has a lid) over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-12min until soft.
Step 2Meanwhile, score a cross in the bottom of each tomato and coarsely grate on a box grater, discarding skin. Remove seeds from 1/2 the green cardamom (discard pods) and grind using a pestle and mortar.
Step 3Increase heat under pan to high, add lamb, stirring occasionally, and cook for 7-8min, or until just browned. Add ginger, bay, whole and ground cardamom, and chilli flakes and cook for 2min. Stir in grated tomatoes, yogurt, 500ml water and plenty of seasoning. Bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 1hr 30min, until almost tender.
Step 4Meanwhile, make the crispy onions. In a medium pan heat oil over medium heat for 3min, until warm, then add sliced onion and a pinch of salt. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until onions are deep golden-brown, about 15-20min. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with kitchen paper (they will crisp as they cool).
Step 5Uncover lamb pan and continue to cook gently, stirring occasionally, for a further 1hr-1hr 15min, until the sauce reduces, and the lamb is very tender. Check seasoning, sprinkle with the crispy onions and serve with rice or breads. Remind your guests when serving not to eat the whole cardamom pods!
GET AHEAD:
Prepare curry and crispy onions up to 2 days ahead; cool completely. Cover curry and chill. Store onions in an airtight container at room temperature. To serve, reheat curry over low heat until piping hot, adding a splash of water if needed.
GH TIP
Black cardamom pods are larger than green and have a distinctive smokey flavour. You can buy them in the Indian or ‘World Food’ aisle of larger supermarkets, or online. If you can’t find them, you could substitute 4 whole cloves instead, for a slightly different but still tasty curry.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
Emma is Cookery Editor for Good Housekeeping and loves nothing more than sharing her bottomless enthusiasm for all things food and drink with anyone who wants to learn (and even those who don’t!). From super simple one pan suppers to showstopping wedding cakes and everything in between, there’s very little that doesn’t come out of her kitchen. When not developing recipes, writing features or styling food for photography she can be found hiding behind the mountain of cookery books that’s slowly overtaking her house, or exploring restaurants, food shops and festivals in search of the next big thing to share with readers. On the rare days when she’s not thinking about food, you’ll find her in a cosy pub at the end of a long walk with her dog and expert food taster, Angua.
