The morning after picture. . . A curry with a Chinese accent. . . As I get old and grey I keep returning to people and food memories from long ago. Of late, my mum’s lamb curry with its thin sauce, spiked with Madras curry powder. Mild, comforting and much missed. She only used 9 ingredients (including two spice blends – Garam Marsala and Madras) and gave minimal instructions
I was leafing through Jon Kung’s book – Kung Food – recipes from a third-culture Chinese kitchen. There’s a recipe for goat curry and lo mein. He lists over 30 ingredients (if you include the ones he repeats). . . After making an abridged (cutting 12 ingredients, much of suggesting prep time and several steps) and adulterated (adding 2 and using Shanxi noodles instead) version, I’m still struck by how much this reminds me of the lamb curry of my childhood.
It’s mostly the turmeric and coriander I think, plus the mildness and the slight graininess of the sauce from the spice. The Shanxi noodles are a plus – chewy and stretchy. . .
Start with a butterflied leg of lamb (1.2kg), trim the excess fat and sinew and then dice into 1 inch chunks. To this add the marinade ingredients – 2 tsp of Black Chinese vinegar; 2 tsp of light soy sauce; 1 tbsp turmeric; 1-1.5 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp allspice; 1/2 tsp ground fennel; 1 tsp black pepper – ground; 2 tsp garlic powder; 1/4 tsp ground ginger powder; 2 small shallots – finely diced; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp Sambal belachan (I had left over in fridge, a diced chilli would suffice); 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp dried thyme leaves. Mix well and set aside. I left mine only for 15 minutes. Fry the lamb in batches, this has the effect of cooking the spice and browning the meat. I used a non stick pan, before transferring the meat to a Dutch oven. Once all the meat is done and in the larger pot – cover with chicken stock (I used about 1L) and cook on the stove, partially covered, at low heat, with a heat diffuser to prevent bits sticking to the base. 40 minutes before serving (and after about 2 hours of simmering) add 3-4 roughly chopped carrots and 4-5 medium potatoes that have been quartered. Thicken the sauce with a cornstarch slurry (1-2 tbsp of cornstarch and the same of water). Just before serving stir in 2 finely diced spring onions and some fresh coriander leaves. Cook the store bought noodles as instructed, I used about 400g of Havista Shanxi Pull noodles (for 4 people). Toss the noodles though the curry and serve.
