Rainy Baja Curried Lamb

July 8, 2010

It's raining, which is amazing here in northern Baja. Chilly, damp, lovely, perfect weather for a hot, spicy dish.

I'm a dinner for breakfast person, but almost no one else is, so don't feel any pressure to do the same. Eggs and minute amounts of carbohydrate just don't work for me. I'm hungry soon after and feel tired all day.

Dinner last night was baked lamb shoulder, too expensive, too late, too tough and I ate too much. So I had a whole "chop" left. It wasn't really a chop at all, but bits of meat from around the shoulder bone rolled up and tied with string.

The left over piece was too well done and tough for plain eating, but chopped up small with a chef's knife it was perfect for my not necessarily ethnically correct Indian Curry.

For two:

1. 6 or 7 ounces of cooked lamb, or any other meat. Chicken, pork, or beef are fine.
2. half a huge onion or a whole small one, chopped medium.
3. 5 cloves of garlic chopped fine
4. 1/4 cup of raisins are good in this. I didn't have any, so I soaked some dried cape gooseberries and chopped them up.
5. one ounce of port wine is optional
6. lots of spices: a really good curry powder (1 teaspoon), turmeric (1/2 teaspoon), fresh ground pepper (to taste), salt (1/2 teaspoon), cumin (1/4 teaspoon)
7. Olive oil to saute the onions, garlic and meat. (A couple of generous tablespoons.)
8. 14 ounces of coconut milk. (This really works better here than any other kind of milk or substitute.)
9. 1/2 cup of chicken broth, if you have it. If not, what have you got? More liquid from cooking the cauliflower? Water?
10. 1 tablespoon of potato starch for each cup of liquid. About 2 1/2 tablespoons if you're doing it just as written.
11. Rice to serve with the curry

Put it together:
1. Start the rice cooking. I do like a rice cooker.
2. Saute the onions and garlic together 'till soft and sort of see through.
3. Add the chopped lamb and raisins.
4. Add the port wine.
5. In the blender, mix the coconut milk, and all the spices and chicken broth and potato starch.
6. When the pan full of meat and onions is hot, add the blender liquid and stir steadily until it's thick and bubbly. Taste it. Is it spicy enough? Add more and stir if you wish more flavor. I like it pretty strong.
7. Serve rice and spoon the curry over the top. I prefer a bowl so the curry doesn't run away.


We had well done green beans with salt and lime juice for the vegetable. Yum. A great way to start the day.

I admit it doesn't look as stunning as it might in the picture, but boy is it good, and worth the little trouble. Nothing you can get at a stand on the way to work, even if it is gluten free, is going to taste this good, or do as good a job of keeping you smart and strong all day long.

This is Jose Antonio in front of my garden which steadfastly refuses to grow anything but squash, beans and tomatoes. Still I'm grateful. The pleasure it gives me to go out and pick even three fresh vegetables from my own dirt and eat them is immeasurable.

Send an email if you have questions or thoughts.