Slow-cooked Lamb Madras

Ingredients:

2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 red chilli, coarsely chopped
2 plump garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 cm piece of ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 ½ tbsp tomato puree
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
250ml chicken stock
750g lamb (use leg, shanks or neck fillets)
6 curry leaves (fresh are best)
200g baby aubergines (brinjals) halved lengthways
30g fresh mint
30g fresh coriander

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C, gas mark 4). Dry heat a small frying pan, add the mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black peppercorns then toast gently for a few minutes, until they begin to pop and turn a golden brown. Immediately tip into a mortar and crush to a coarse powder with a pestle.

Combine the paprika, chilli, garlic and ginger in a food processor and blitz to a fairly smooth paste. Add the tomato purée, chopped tomatoes and ground spices and blitz again until thoroughly mixed. Pour the resultant mixture into a deep roasting tin and add the chicken stock and a pinch of salt. Stir everything together thoroughly.

Sit the lamb in the tin, skin-side down, spooning some of the sauce over to cover the meat. Scatter on the curry leaves then cover the tin with foil, sealing this tightly around the tin.

Roast for 2½ hours then remove from the oven and baste the lamb. Stir the aubergines into the sauce, re-cover and cook for a further 30 minutes. Remove the foil and roast uncovered for a final 30 minutes. Take the tin out of the oven, cover loosely with foil and set aside to rest for about 10 minutes.

At the end of this time shred the meat with forks (it should be fall-apart tender), and stir back into the sauce, along with most of the mint and coriander. Serve with the remainder of the herbs scattered on top. Serve accompanied by pilau rice and a mint and yoghurt raita.

The finished curry freezes well so you can prepare a double batch and freeze half for later.