Before I started my cooking journey, back in February, I prided myself in having a very minimalist kitchen. Clean, orderly shelves, the simplest of tools and a manageable–if somewhat restricting–selection of ingredients. I could keep a mental stock of everything in my kitchen at all times. Simple. But in the long run, increasingly dull.
After two years on an autoimmune protocol with adjustments for histamine intolerance, I was finally feeling robust enough to start reintroducing some foods into my diet. Slowly but surely, as my list of permissible foods grew, so did my interest in cooking. My cooking experiments gathered seal over the next months, which negatively correlated with the amount of free space in my pantry and kitchen cabinets.
Having a well-stocked kitchen, is both a blessing and a curse. A curse, because the more spices and condiments you own, the harder it is to keep them organised, and to keep track of what you have and don’t have — of what’s running out, what’s about to expire and what has, unfortunately, already done so (oops).
A blessing because I can decide on Thursday that I want to make a beautiful lamb curry in my Instant Pot the next morning, and only have to go out to buy lamb, yogurt and fresh vegetables. Everything else, I am almost embarrassed to admit, already inhabited my pantry (although it may have required some digging).
I’ve come a long way. For better or for worse.
Despite the lengthy list of ingredients, this lamb curry comes together in an instant (pot)! For half an hour of work in the morning, I was rewarded with a luscious, flavourful curry when I arrived home in the evening with M. All we had to do was prepare some vegetables, chop some cilantro and quarter some limes.
Joëlle
Serves 4
A luscious lamb shank curry with coconut milk and an array of toasted spices, served with yogurt on a bed of riced broccoli. Delicious!
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Ingredients
- 2 lbs lamb shanks
- 1 tbsp beef tallow (or other cooking fat)
- 1 can (398 mL) diced tomatoes
- 1 small can (165 mL) full-fat coconut milk
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 3 inch piece ginger, grated
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 7 green cardamom pods
- 6 cloves
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp curry
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/8 tsp paprika
- 1 bunch cilantro, chiffonaded
- 2 cups plain yogurt
- 3-4 cups broccoli, riced
- 2 limes, quartered
Instructions
- Toast whole spices over medium heat until fragrant. Turn off the heat and grind your spices (except the cinnamon stick and the bay leaves) in a mortar. Set the spices aside.
- Sprinkle salt all sides of your lamb shanks.
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute mode. When hot, add a tablespoon of tallow and sear your lamb shanks, about 5 minutes on each side. Do this in batches if you can't fit all of your shanks onto the bottom of the liner at once. Place the seared shanks on a large plate.
- With the Instant Pot still on Saute mode, add onion, cook for 2-3 minutes, then add ginger and garlic and cook for another few minutes.
- Add diced tomatoes, coconut milk, and all the spices, including the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, and mix well.
- Put the lamb shanks back into the liner.
- Press Cancel on the Instant Pot to turn it off, and screw on the lid. Making sure the Steam Release Handle is turned to the Sealing position, set the Pressure Cook program to cook for 50 minutes on high pressure.
- Let the Instant Pot do a natural release, and take the lid off. If you wish, turn the Instant Pot back to Saute mode to reduce the sauce.
- While the sauce is reducing, prepare the broccoli rice. Cut the broccoli into chunks and pulse them in a food processor until it resembles couscous. Steam the broccoli over medium heat for 3 minutes.
- Fill your serving bowls with riced broccoli and ladle curry over the broccoli. The lamb meat should be sliding off the bones at this point, and easy to separate into chunks.
- Serve with yogurt, lime wedges and fresh cilantro leaves.
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