Lamb Madras

Jun 13, 2024

Lamb Madras Curry

A British curry house favorite, Madras curry is easy to recreate at home. This rich and spicy lamb curry is delicious! The lamb should be very tender. We have used coconut milk in this recipe but you can use either stock or tomatoes instead. Add spinach at the end for some added greenery. This tastes even better the second day so make a day ahead if you can - see our notes below.

To make this curry go much further, add in vegetables like potato, carrot, red peppers and celery. This 'stew' version is delicious. We omitted the coconut milk and just used a tin of tomatoes. Don't be shy with the spices!

Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 80 minutes
Method: Oven (or hob)
Heat scale: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp oil
2 onions, finely chopped or sliced
5 garlic cloves, crushed
5cm ginger, grated
10 tsps Madras curry powder for a medium to hot result (use less for milder)
1kg lamb, chopped (neck filet works well)
400ml coconut milk (or replace with 300ml stock or 400g tins tomatoes)
2 tsps salt (or to taste)
Coriander, to garnish

Method

Heat the oven to 170 fan /190 conventional
Heat the oil and cook the onion until soft, for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic & ginger and stir for another minute.
Add the spices with a splash of water and cook for a minute
Add the salt and the chopped lamb and fry on a high heat for around 2 minutes, until the lamb is lightly browned
Add the coconut milk (or substitute with 250ml stock or a 400ml tomatoes if you prefer) and mix well
Put on the lid and put in the oven for 40 mins. Remove the lid and then cook for a further 40 minutes in the oven until the sauce has reduced and the lamb is tender. Check periodically to ensure it is not drying out. If so, put on the lid.
Check the seasoning and add salt as required
Garnish with chopped coriander and enjoy!

Recipe Notes:

Check the curry a few times during cooking to check it does not dry out
Add a little boiling water or stock if it needs more liquid.
Freeze any leftovers.

Cooking your Lamb Curry the day before - our top tips

We suggest cooking your Madras curry the day before you would like to eat it. This is not essential, but somehow the flavours have properly mingled and the depth of flavour is incredible. There are a few top tips to cooking your lamb curry the day before:

Although we say that the meat should be very soft and tender in the method, if you are going to reheat the next day, you should make sure that it is JUST ready or even could do with a TINY bit more cooking. Heating it up on the day you are going to eat it will finish off the cooking process completely.

Make sure there is enough liquid to cope with a reheat. If it's looking very dry when you go to reheat, perhaps add 100ml of stock to allow it to stay moist whilst cooking. Or if you think it's too 'saucy', leave the lid off for some of the time to reduce the sauce.

Add any final touches to your curry after you have reheated on the day of eating - i.e if you are adding any additional greenery like spinach or garnishing with coriander.

Check your seasoning again before serving.