Lamb Korma is one of my husband’s favourite curries. It is a delicious, creamy and mild curry. When cooked well the lamb is so soft that it should melt in your mouth. I have been looking for years for the perfect recipe for lamb korma and, as it often happens, I found it by chance. I have had this cooking book by Madhur Jaffrey on Indian Cuisine for a long time and have tried many recipes from it… I have to say they are all great. There was a particular dish that caught my eye: Mughlai Chicken with almond and sultanas. It sounded so yummy that I had to make it and I was so pleasantly surprised with the result… it was very tasty and we all liked it. But then I also thought that it tasted a lot like korma!!! So, the next time I tried and made it with lamb… and there I had it: the perfect recipe for lamb korma! It is so flavoursome and creamy… I make this quite often at home as we all like it. You can serve it with plain Basmati rice or with Pulao, I always serve it with my Kashmiri Pulao.
Sharing this post with Hearth and Soul Hop by Kankana.
Recipe adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s “Mughlai Chicken with Almonds and Sultanas – Shahjahani Murghi” (in Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking).
Ingredients (serves 5 to 6 persons):
1 kg lamb, diced
1 tbsp ginger, grated
8-9 garlic cloves, made into a paste
6-7 tbps almonds, blanched and slivered
4 tbsp water
7 tbsp vegetable oil
10 cardamom pods
2.5 cm (1 inch) piece of cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
5 cloves
200 gms onion, finely chopped
2 tsp cumin powder
1/8 tsp chilli powder (or more if you like hotter curries)
7 tbsp yogurt
1 ½ tsp salt
300 ml cream
1 cup sultanas/raisins
½ tsp garam masala
Grind 4 or 5 tablespoons of the slivered almonds into a thin powder. Add 4 tablespoons of water, the ginger and garlic pastes, cumin powder and chilli powder and mix until well combined (almond masala).
Put the oil in a wok and brown the cubed lamb on a high flame. Keep it aside.
In the same oil, sauté the cardamom, bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon for a few seconds.
Add the chopped onions and fry them for about 3 minutes or until lightly browned.
Put in the almond masala and fry it for about 3 minutes or until the oil separates from the mixture and the spices are lightly browned.
Add 1 tablespoon of the yogurt, stir and fry it for 30 seconds. Then add another tablespoon of yogurt and mix well. Repeat this until all the yogurt has been incorporated.
Put in the lamb cubes, any accumulated liquid, cream and salt.
Bring to a simmer. Cover, turn heat to low and cook for 1 hour (adding water as you go along). Add the raisins and garam masala, stir and keep cooking for another 30 minutes or until the lamb is so soft that it can be easily cut with a fork.
Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of roasted slivered almonds on the top.
Serve hot with some pickles and/or chutneys and jasmine rice or my Kashmiri Pulao on the side.
Mango Pickle & Chutney and Manu’s Brinjal Pickle
On another note, my friend Pola from An Italian Cooking in the Midwest has awarded Manu’s Menu with the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award! Ohhh how I love receiving awards, I could get used to it! Thank you very very much/grazie mille!!! Pola has a fantastic blog filled with authentic and absolutely gorgeous Italian recipes (but not only) and if there is still someone among you who hasn’t visited her blog, I can tell you, you don’t know what you have been missing! So, click on An Italian Cooking in the Midwest and catch up!
I have been passing along quite a few awards lately… so this time I’ll try and award someone I haven’t awarded yet (or recently)! Here it goes:
Hope you have fun surfing these amazing blogs! I love all of them! 🙂
Before ending this post, I’d like to take a minute to thank Kathy from Food Lover’s Odissey for featuring my recipe for Focaccia di Recco in her “Italy on a plate – Top 10 Italian Food Recipes from Around the Web” of this week! I am so honoured!!! Thank you so much Kathy! You should check out her site, it is really good! 🙂
I’ve been trying for YEEAAARRRS to get that perfect restaurant-grade Indian-style korma down and this far and away the closest recipe I’ve ever tried. I’m gaining a newfound appreciation for nut-based Masalas, thank you for sharing, this is spot on.
I normally don’t go out for recipes from Jaffrey after some failures early on in my Indian cuisine quest, but looking back it might have been that the cook needed improvement, not the book.
Congratulations on your award and thank you for sharing another delicious recipe with the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop. I love the sound of the spices in your Lamb Korma – it sounds amazing!
Super delicious and thanks so much for sharing the award with me. I am honored! I’m adding it to my award section at the bottom of my sidebar right now with a link back here 🙂
This looks amazingly yummy. I should get that cookbook you have. The ingredients are so fresh and I love that you mix your own spices. Thanks for sharing.
I love chicken korma but if you can believe it have never had lamb korma! I will have to try with your recipe. Madhur Jaffrey is the best! Love your step-by-step photos.
Wow this is some serious Indian cooking. I am always intimidated by Indian food: too many steps and spices…. Luckily my BF is Italian so he is OK with the fake Indian I cook….
Oh and thanks for mentioning me on your blog and saying all those nice things about my blog!!
I felt like I could smell those spices (especially the cardamom) through my computer screen!
Thanks so much for the award! Woo hoo 🙂 This dish looks outstanding as well. I LOVE me some lamb korma. Bookmarked! Thanks for sharing and for the kind words for my mum
I love lamb korma!! I can almost smell the delicious spices. YUM. Beautiful photos as always 🙂
Hooray for awards! You deserve them all and more!
Now, this is one beautiful lamb dish. Hubby is not a fan of Indian food, so I’ll just have to dream of a few wonderful bites of your korma…
Happy Tuesday, Manu!
Your Indian cooking looks fabulous too. I still dream about the food I had in the month I spent in India. I guess with an Indian husband, you have quite a judge!
Gorgeous! My husband is always trying to get me to cook lamb but I have yet to find a recipe I love. This one looks perfect!
I was hoping this would be your next post, I am going to add it to my list 🙂 Looks fantastic.
Manu! I just realized that you had given me another award in another post… I’m sorry I missed it! I promise to give you a shout out when I post my next recipe, and thank you so much!
No worries Elyse! I really thought you deserve it! 🙂
Lamb korma looks so delicious, even tempting for a veggie like me. congrats on your award, thanks for sharing the award with me;.
I love korma SO MUCH!!! I will definitely be trying this as soon as I can get some lamb! Thanks for sharing with us a winner recipe. I love Jaffrey’s recipes, among other Indian cookbooks. I don’t have any of her cookbooks, however and appreciate being able to find one someone has tried and really liked. Great photos, also!
Manu—-do I like lamb? Have I had lamb before? I’m not sure….so I’m going to guess no. That said, I love the spices in this recipe so I think I’m going to have to try it sometime. I’m going to be out of touch for a week as we’re taking a little vacation to NYC. I’ve never been and I’m so excited. I’ve scheduled re-posts for each day so please visit….Hugs to you!!!
So funny I don’t eat lamb (I “can” eat but somehow I choose other meat most of time), but I got almost sold on this lamb curry. I think I can use other meat, right? But I know this is great with lamb. When you started to cook spices… my mouth was watering. I love Indian spices (minus spicy one). Manu, you are eating so well everyday…. 😉
Oooh this looks amazing! I love lamb but I have not yet had the courage to make this. Saving this for later!!
Oh my! Thank you so much I’m humbled and honored, to say the least. Congratulations on your offical sisterhood status. Well deserved. And this dish looks like heaven. The layers of flavor and the spices….oooheeyeah! Good cookin’!
Oh My God! This looks amazing! And I almost smell it!!!
Very Creamy indeed. I like the combo, I am not big fan of lamb but could eat it! Sounds like perfect korma full of wonderful flavors!
Wow, Manu. I know my kormas, and this one is just beautiful. I make my kormas with coconut & cashew, but i have tasted kormas made with almonds, and i know how delicious they can be! I am not a huge Madhur Jaffrey fan, but i have to admit this recipe’s a keeper! Thanks also for the award 🙂 i really do appreciate it!
Congratulations on all those awards!
Your korma sounds amazing! Such wonderful flavors all in one dish.
Your korma looks so rich and creamy! It’s look so delicious. I will defitely try this dish.
Congrats on the awards, and thank you so much for sharing it with me 🙂
Oh, Manu! You have hit the spot. We also adore curries in our house and this looks divine! I’m also a fan of Madhur Jaffrey and have her Curry Bible, which is great as well. I don’t normally like lamb, but done this way is just TOO tender and delicious. Love your photos, as ever!
I would love to know how to make my own Korma *saved* this looks amazing.
Congratulations and that is so sweet of you to pass on the award to me 🙂 And the lamb korma looks simply superb! And what a lovely addition – roasted almonds 🙂 so yum!