Lamb Coconut Fry is one of Mint and Mustard’s most popular dishes. It beautifully blends typical Keralan flavours with the best British lamb to make a mouthwatering, lightly spiced dish that goes beautifully with simple boiled rice or Indian flatbread. With spring lamb currently in season, now is the perfect time to make this dish.

Ingredients:

Welsh Lamb leg boneless (diced) – about 1.3kg

Onions sliced – 350gms

Tomato chopped, seed pulp removed – 150gms

Curry leaves – 4 gm

Chilli powder (Kashmiri or mild) – 10 gm

Turmeric powder – 2 gm

Coriander powder – 10 gm

Salt – 15gm

Ginger/ Garlic paste – 30gms

Water – 600 ml

For stir fry:

Garlic slice – 32gm

Ginger julienne (thin matchstick-shape strips) – 16 gm

Green Chilli slit– 10 gm

Onion sliced – 150 gm

Coconut chips – 50 gm

Oil (use coconut oil or a neutral oil like peanut or grapeseed) – 60 gm

Mustard seeds – 2 gm

Garam masala – 2 gm

Black pepper powder – 2 gm

A note on ingredients

Curry Leaves are a key ingredient in Keralan cooking, adding flavour and aiding digestion. Many supermarkets now sell dried curry leaves, or you can find them in specialist Indian shops or delicatessens.

Coconut chips (or flakes) can also often be found in supermarkets or wholefood stores – but make sure you use unsweetened varieties.

This isn’t a hot dish, but if you want to make it even milder use less green chilli.

Method:

• Mix together diced lamb, Onion, Tomato, Curry leaves, Kashmiri chilli powder, Turmeric powder, Coriander powder and Salt.

• Sear the lamb and keep stirring continuously till the masala starts coating the lamb, then add ginger and garlic paste and stir them to let them lightly brown.

• Next add water and simmer gently on a slow heat till the lamb is cooked (about one hour, but check how tender it is and cook longer if needed). If the lamb starts to get too dry, top up with boiling water, but the final preparation should not be too watery.

• When the lamb is ready, in a separate pan heat oil on a medium hob. When hot, sprinkle in the mustard seeds till they make a crackling sound then add sliced garlic and keep stir-frying till it turns light golden brown (don’t let the garlic burn), Then add coconut chips, ginger julienne, slit green chilli, sliced onions and curry leaves and stir.

• Sauté for a while till it turns light brown. Then add the cooked lamb to the stir fried mixture.

• Stir-fry the lamb until the masala coats the lamb. Finish it with sprinkling of garam masala and crushed black pepper.

• Serve hot, with rice or Indian flatbread