Gosht Kali Mirch – Lamb in Black Pepper Curry

Mallika Basu - Gosht Kali Mirch – Lamb in Black Pepper Curry

The champagne went in the fridge. The quality lamb was acquired. The stage was set for the mid-week girly dinner. Now I needed a recipe to really wow the girls on a Wednesday night. I chose to dust off one of my Indian cookbooks. Now, Indian cookbooks are objects of great desire in my home. I purchase many. Mainly to see the spines lined up on the bookshelf. Occasionally I leaf through each recipe. Ogle over the full page of ingredients required. And then stick it back on the shelf. This time, I decided to put one to better use. Out came this one. It was the photos of the whacky chef with elephants in South India that first attracted me. But ultimately it was his sister's recipe for Gosht Kali Mirch or Lamb with Black Pepper that clinched it. The recipe was simple, used (comparatively) few ingredients and so delicious that I had to restrain myself from eating it all immediately. Not for the faint hearted or chilli challenged mind you. We'll see if the girls leave it on the shelf.

Method:

Chop the onion into little pieces and grate or puree the garlic and ginger together. Quarter the tomatoes.

In a large pot, bring the oil to heat over a high flame. When it’s hot, add all the whole spices. As they splutter, mix in the onion, garlic and ginger.

Fry this mixture for about five minutes until it turns a rich golden colour. Then add in the tomatoes, chillies, black pepper and garam masala. Stir for two minutes and as the tomatoes disintegrate, mix the yogurt and the lamb.

Mix the lamb into the masala vigorously. Add a pint of water, cover and cook on a medium flame until the lamb is tender. When it is, raise the heat and reduce the volume of liquid until the oil separates from the curry.

Serve with a squirt of lemon juice and chopped coriander.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *