Lamb Bhuna

My cousin Audrey posted a photo of lamb bhuna on Facebook the other day and I knew immediately what I was making for dinner that night.  She used this recipe.

I read it over, decided it was a winner and promptly ran out to buy the meat and chiles.  I completely forgot to buy the fresh methi, so I used the dried I already had in the cupboard.  I walked to the grocery store, found they only had red chilies, so decided to go with them as I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference.  I also used fresh tomatoes from the garden, rather than canned.  I also didn't bother adding the extra water at the end, as I didn't feel it needed it. I think I pretty much stuck to the recipe otherwise.  This was absolutely wonderful.  Best Bhuna I've made (and tasted) and all three of us just loved it.  I'll be making it again soon.

Here's what I did...

I put 4 roughly chopped chilies into the Vitamix (blender)

 Added 8 cloves of garlic

 About 2 inches of ginger

 Then I whizzed it until it became a paste

I removed half of the paste to a separate small bowl and then added 1/2 a very large onion (roughly chopped) to the blender

 I whizzed all this again until it was a fairly fine paste

 In a small pan, I dry-roasted 4 green cardamom pods, 4 cloves, 4 dried red chilies and a cinnamon stick

Then I ground the roasted spices in a spice grinder

 To a large bowl, I added 1 tsp. each of cumin, turmeric and white pepper

 I added 1 tsp. each of cayenne pepper, Celtic sea salt, coconut palm sugar, coriander and the ground spices

Then I added 1/4 cup dried methi (fenugreek) leaves and 3 tbsp. full-fat yogourt

 To the dried spices, I added the mixture from the blender

 I added 3 lbs. cubed lamb and mixed it all by hand until it was really well coated.  Covered it and left it for about 2 1/2 hours

 After the meat had marinated, I sautéed the other half of the large onion (sliced) until it was lightly browned

Then I added the remaining garlic/ginger/chili paste and sautéed for another few minutes

 Next, I added the chopped fresh tomatoes and cooked until they were softened

 I added the meat and brought to a light simmer.  Next, I covered the pot and let it cook for about half an hour.

By this time, it had let out quite a bit of liquid, so I uncovered the pot and let it simmer for about 2 more hours, stirring occasionally.

 I let it cook until the there was only a thick sauce coating the meat.

I served it atop cooked brown Jasmine rice.  Delish.! :-)