OK, so It's not authentic, but I like it. April Bloomfield's lamb curry (re-edited 10/12/20)

This is now officially my go-to lamb curry. In her book ' A girl and her pig' April Bloomfield admits that it isn't exactly an authentic recipe, but I can assure you it's absolutely delicious and really makes the most of one of my favourite cuts of meat; shoulder of lamb.

There are a few surprising ingredients like pineapple juice but go with the flow it all really works brilliantly in the end. I really like the way Bloomfield, one of Birmingham's finest exports, cooks and, having been to a couple of her New York restaurants you can see why her her inventive but laid back cooking has taken the city by storm.

We made this for the return of the prodigal daughter from Uni. She had asked for something with flavour ... this definitely delivers on that.

Some small amends that I make

The only significant thing I did do was to cut back on the heart attack inducing two tablespoons of Maldon salt that are added half way through, It just seems crazily too much to me. I put one scant tablespoon in, I think it worked well and allowed me to season to taste at the end .... but if you're feeling bold, go for it!

I grated the ginger on a micro plane.... I just prefer it to chopped pieces.

I also didn't think my meat needed 10-12 mins to brown so I took it out when I felt it was sufficiently coloured all over which was about 6-8 mins. Again, go for the full 10 if you want to be accurate.Who knows it might taste even better?

I also got the butcher to bone the shoulder and leave it in one piece so I could make sure I chopped it into nice big 5cm pieces as I think that is key to any of these slow cooked recipe. And yes I did measure one piece out as a template #sadoldocdcook

I made the sauce bit on a Saturday night and finished it off on Sunday afternoon. This is one of those recipes that you could definitely make in advance.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds, toasted

• 2 tablespoons cumin seeds, toasted

• 1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds, toasted (to toast these three, just add them to a dry skillet, turn up the heat and toss around until fragrant)

• 10 whole cloves

• 2 whole star anise

• 3 green cardamom pods

• 3 fresh kaffir lime leaves

• 1 tablespoon crumbled dried pequin chilies or red pepper flakes .. (I used 3 small dried chillies)

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus more for lamb)

• 2 cups thinly sliced shallots (or yellow onions, if that’s easier)

• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

• 1 small cinnamon stick

• 75g finely chopped fresh ginger 

• 2 x 400g chopped canned tomatoes

• 2 tablespoons Maldon or another flaky sea salt

• 8 coriander roots with 2 inches of stem attached, washed well and finely chopped (save the leaves for garnish)

• A 5-inch strip of orange peel, any white pith cut away

• A 5-inch strip of lemon peel, any white pith cut away

• 4tbs freshly squeezed orange juice

• 2 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

• 300ml pineapple juice (fresh, bottled, or canned)

• 1.8kg boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 5cm pieces ( make sure they are not smaller than this)

Method

1. Make the curry first by combining the toasted spices, cloves, star anise, cardamom, lime leaves, red pepper flakes, nutmeg, and turmeric in a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder, and grind them until you have a very fine powder. (you can also do this in a pestle and mortar if you fancy a bit of exercise!)
2. Heat a large Le creuset pan or other heavy ovenproof pot over medium high heat and add the olive oil. When the oil just begins to smoke, add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring often, until they’re deep brown, about 10 minutes. Add the ground spice mixture, cinnamon stick, and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and salt (I didn’t add all 2 tablespoons I added one, see above) stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture looks quite dry, about 15 minutes
3. Stir in the coriander, citrus peel and juice, and pineapple juice, then remove from the heat and set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 180c.
5. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over high heat until smoking; meanwhile, season the lamb with lots of salt. In batches, brown the meat all over, 12 to 15 minutes per batch. As the pieces finish browning, use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the le creuest with the curry mixture. Brown the following batches in all the nice fat remaining in the pan, transferring the pieces to the Casserole as they are done, and then discard the fat.
6. Give the lamb pieces a good stir to coat them in the curry mixture, cover the pot, and put it in the oven. Cook the lamb 1 1/2 hours, stirring now and then.
7. Reduce the heat to 130c and let it go until the lamb is fork tender but not totally falling apart, another hour or so. Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro leaves, if you like.

notes

We had it with a cucumber raitha and some naan 

Preparation time: 20 - 30 minute(s)

Cooking time: 3 hour(s) 

Number of servings  4 - 5