Naga lamb curry – recipe

This recipe uses the Naga Jolokia chilli (the clues in the name!) otherwise known as the Ghost pepper.

For those that don’t know, the Naga chilli is the hottest chilli on the planet. To put that in perspective it is over 400 times hotter than Tabasco! This means the dish I am about to share with you is hot…Very hot. I love hot spicy curries and this certainly hits the spot. It’s an edible hot and not ‘unbearable’, but it’s not for the faint hearted. If you like a vindaloo you’ll love this! If the thought of using Naga scares you a little (perhaps it should!), then by all means replace it with your favourite chilli and add to your required heat. This curry is my basic lamb curry recipe with some extra oomph to flavour it up for the added heat. The flavour is fantastic and using lamb on the bone adds so much to the dish I highly recommend you use it. If not stewing lamb is fine but you will miss out on a little richness and flavour. Ingredients

• 500g/1lb Lamb (stewing or on the bone cubed)
• 200g/1 cup Tinned tomatoes
• 1 Large onion
• 3 Cloves of garlic
• 2 TSP Coriander seeds
• 1 TSP Cumin Seeds
• 2 Cardamom pods
• 1 TSP Turmeric
• ½ TSP Graram Masala
• 2 Indian bay leaves (or 1 regular bay leaf)
• 2 Twists of black pepper
• 1 Large pinch of salt
• 1 Naga chilli!
• 2 TBSP Vegetable oil

Serves 2-3 First off preheat your oven to 150C/300F

Then take you coriander seeds, cumin seeds and the seeds removed from the cardamom pods. Place them into a grinder or pestle and mortar and grind into a rough powder. Heat the oil on medium heat on top of your hob in a casserole dish. Slice your onion and add it to the oil and let it fry off for a few minutes until it has changed colour. Crush your garlic cloves into the dish and mix for about 1 minute.

Add you lamb pieces and seal, frying so that the meat changes colour. Now put in your ground spices along with the garam Masala, turmeric and bay. Mix well and turn down the heat to low. CAUTION: Please note that we are about to use Naga chillies. Don’t mess with these chillies, I advise that you try not to get any on your fingers. Only use one, no matter how small it is, as using two will not be pleasant! Chop up your Naga as small as you can seeds and all. Then add it to the dish. Mix well then add your tomatoes, pepper and salt. Add water until it almost reached the top of the lamb and then place in your preheated oven and leave for 1 hour with the lid on, then a further hour with the lid off.

Serve the lovely spicy Naga lamb with rice, naan or both. It would go perfectly with an onion Indian style onion salad too. I would recommend a good dollop of plain natural yoghurt to temper the heat! Perhap this is the time to eat your curry with a lassi (a popular Indian yoghurt based drink) on the side to help you if you need it ;) Please remember to tell me if you were brave enough to try this dish in the comments below. Michael Robinson