Bhuna Gosht ('Bhuna' Lamb or Beef Curry)

Unlike many curries, this one isn't surrounded by lakes of sauce, rather a great aromatic, thick and punchy sauce. The recipe works great with beef or lamb, and I often like to use a beef off the bone, and lamb bones to enhance the flavour. Serves 4-6, and serve with chapatis or rice, and an onion relish of tomatoes, cucumber, onion, mint and coriander with a squeeze of lemon.

 Ingredients

Spice Mix

2tsp Whole Cumin Seeds

4tsp Whole Coriander Seeds

2tsp Whole Mustard Seeds

4 Whole, Dried Chillies

1tsp whole Caraway Seeds

2tsp Whole Fenugreek Seeds

Curry Ingredients

5tbsp Corn or Peanut Oil

140g Shallots, peeled and very finely chopped

4cm Fresh Ginger, peeled and very finely chopped

5-6 Cloves Garlic, peeled and very finely chopped

13 Curry Leaves, fresh if possible

2 Medium Tomatoes

900g Boneless Lamb or Stewing Beef, cut into 3cm pieces

1.5kg Lamb bones (just ask at the butcher; I often get them with a bit of meat on them) - optional

1.5tsp Salt

Method

1. Place a medium frying pan or skillet on a medium-high heat. When hot, add the spice mix, and stir on the heat until lightly browned and toasted. 

2. Using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, grind the spices to a powder, and set aside.

3. Before you start the curry, score an 'x' in the bottom of the tomatoes, and place in boiling water for about 30 seconds, and then remove, peel and chop.

4. Pour the oil into quite a large saucepan with a lid, and set over medium-high heat. Once heated, add the shallots, ginger and garlic and fry, stirring as you go along, for about 5 minutes or until the mix goes golden-brown. Add the curry leaves and tomatoes and cook on a lower heat until the tomatoes are reduced to a paste, stirring to make sure nothing sticks.

5. Stir in the spice mix, and cook for another minute before adding the meat, bones and salt, and cook on a medium-high heat to sear the meat. Add 250ml water, and bring to the boil, then turn down to a low heat to simmer. Cover the pan and cook for about 1.5 hours, or until the meat is tender (Lamb might take 1 hour 20 minutes, depending on preference).

6. Remove the lid, increase the heat to high, and stir continuously to reduce the sauce until the point where it's thick and clings to the meat. 

Enjoy :)

Spicy Gingerbread Custard Creams

It's coming to the end of my academic year, and I wanted to make something for my teachers as a sort of 'thank you'. Inspired by an idea of lots of spice going into gingerbread, I thought - how about spicy gingerbread? It turned out very well, and I embossed the tops with a special tool used to emboss letters. Makes about 30 sandwich biscuits. 

Ingredients

For the Biscuits 

113g Softened Butter

75g Granulated Sugar

165g Dark Brown Muscavado Sugar

1/4tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1/2tsp Salt

3tsp Ground Cinnamon

3/4tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/2tsp Ground Ginger

1/4tsp Ground White Pepper

1/4tsp Ground Black Pepper

1 1/2tsp Vanilla Extract 

235g Plain Flour

1 Egg, Beaten

Chilli Powder

For the Filling

25g Softened Butter

1.5tbsp Instead Custard Powder

100g Icing Sugar, sieved

1/2tsp Vanilla Extract 

2tsp Milk

Method 

1. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add all the other dry ingredients except the flour, and mix until properly incorporated.

2. Slowly add the beaten egg, mixing between each addition, then add the flour, and fold in. Collect up all the dough and wrap in cling film. Refrigerate for 20 mins. Preheat oven to 190C/fan 170C.

3. Take a lump of dough, and roll out on a floured surface to about 1/2cm in thickness and using a cookie cutter, cut out cookies, and using a palette knife, transfer onto a lined baking tray. Rub a little chilli powder into each biscuit, and place batch in the oven for 9-10 mins. In the meantime, roll out and cut another batch. Once cooked, leave for 2 mins, then place on a wire rack. They will be soft and will harden when cool, so be careful.

4. To make the filling, cream the butter until light, and slowly add the custard powder and sugar. Add the vanilla and mix until well combined. Add more milk/icing sugar until you achieve a thick paste texture. Spread a dollop on one, leaving a bit on the edges without, and place another on top, wiggling it to spread the filling around the entire biscuit. 

Enjoy :)