Another personal favourite, this creamy lamb curry with coconut, cashews and spinach is from South Africa's eastern coast. Whilst creamy, it doesn't involve any dairy products. Thus, it's lactose-free.
This is another recipe given to me by Mrs Panday many years ago. I've always been curious about this one. Something about it definitely has a whiff of Parsi cooking based on Mughlai traditions. On the other hand, it also reflects Southern Indian cooking, one of the main origins of South Africa's Indian disasporan cuisine. Who knows? Chances are it's simply a very old "fusion" recipe.
The most famous "Durban curries" and many of South Africa's curries from the east of the country are notable for their lack of dairy products (yoghurt, ghee, cream etc.) or use of nuts—except for maybe peanuts—apart from the niche cuisine brought by small minorities of Parsi and other immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. This makes these dishes a great option for those who are lactose-intolerant.
This dish reflects a link with the traditions of parts of coastal Southern India, but probably also the evolution of a culinary response to a new geography when Indian immigrants came to work in (then) colonial South Africa. In the humid, subtropical climes of KwaZulu-Natal's coastal regions, dairy products would go off rapidly except for those nurtured by rich enough to afford ice boxes—and later fridges. Many other ingredients, including onions, mangoes, bananas, morogo and chard (confusingly both called "African spinach") and certain types of tomatoes, grew easily with relatively with little attention. To me, this dish seems a fusion of Parsi cooking and those South African East Coast styles of cooking.
The best cuts for lamb curry
As in recipes already published, I often favour what gets called "lamb trim" for many lamb curries. As the name implies, it's the meat butchers trim away when cutting those sought-after expensive cuts; pieces of meat generally too small to sell in their own right—and often with too much bone or fat to go into "lean" minced lamb. Still often considered "poor meat", it's not always that easy to find. If you can, I thoroughly recommended it: it's usually ideal to cut into the irregular, bite-size pieces needed for this recipe.
If it has large bits of bone, leave these on. They add to the flavour and will easily come away from the meat during the cooking process. With fat, you have to be a little more intuitive. Sometimes lamb trim has practically no fat on the meat at all. But, if it does, leaving some of the fat on the meat enhances the dish's flavour. However, this is already a fairly creamy dish with the coconut, so too much can make it too rich and a little "greasy".
Naturally, you can use more refined lamb cuts, whether pre-diced lean lamb or lamb steaks, neck or shoulder cuts you dice yourself. Apart from when it's cooked on a high heat in the first stages, this curry comes into its own when you slow-cook it on a very low heat for at least 2 to 3 hours, which gives that melt-in-the-mouth quality to the lamb.
It's also one of those dishes that is excellent when cooked a couple of days in advance and allowed to "mellow" in a sealed container in the fridge before being reheated. Mrs Panday told me that she usually cooked it during the day on a Friday in anticipation of Sunday lunches with her family.
The curry paste
I'm using the curry paste that I most often use for this dish—and various other South African curries. I make it in fairly large quantities in a blender and keep it in the fridge or decant to an ice tray since it freezes well. It's my version of what's generally known as Mother-in-law Masala in South Africa (historically by the more pejorative colloquialism of Mother-in-law's Tongue), where you can buy the readymade dry spice mix in many markets and shops. You can also buy it from specialist retailers around the world. It's pretty fiery, largely down to the cayenne. If you don't like things too hot—I would say it's mild-to-medium spicy in the quantities used in this recipe—leave out (some of) the cayenne. If you don't have time to make your own paste, the dish works perfectly well with a store-bought Madras or Rogan Josh curry paste (even if it's not as "authentic").
The main "essential" is that you use the yellow mustard seeds and fennel seeds at the start of the cooking process.
This time I've opted to serve it with raita (not a common feature in South African Indian cooking) and mango chutney as condiments. If you are lactose-intolerant, look to some of the other more traditional condiments of the region, such as a simple sambal of chopped raw tomato, onion and coriander dressed with malt or wine vinegar.
This dish feeds 2 to 3 diners. Scale up or down as required.
Shopping list
For the curry paste
6 garlic cloves, grated, crushed or finely chopped
4 x 5cm pieces of fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
6 to 8 hot red chillies (to heat preference), roughly chopped; not de-seeded
3 tbsp ground cumin
3 tbsp ground dried coriander
1 tspn mustard seeds
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tspn cayenne pepper
2 tspn fennel seeds
1 tspn turmeric
3 or 4 dried star anise
3 tbsp garam masala
3 tbsp tomato purée
Approx. 2 tbspns peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
NB: you will not use all of the spice paste for this dish; store and use later
For the lamb curry with coconut
3 tbspn sunflower or vegetable oil
1 level tbspn yellow mustard seeds
1 level tbspn fennel seeds
2 tspn garlic & ginger paste
1 tspn turmeric
2 or 3 dried bay leaves
2 onions (red or brown); cut in half then sliced vertically to produce "strips"
Approx. 450g lamb; cut into bite-sized chunks
1 large red bell pepper, cut into fairly large irregular pieces
8 to 10 small fresh ripe tomatoes (not plum tomatoes); roughly chopped
A generous clutch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
2 tbspns of concentrated tomato purée
Approx.100g fresh spinach (even better, chard, morogo or kalaloo, which are closer to the South African dish)
1 chicken stock cube/jelly (or vegetable stock); diluted in approx. 200ml boiling water
The juice of 1 lime (or lemon)
60g raw cashews
400g coconut milk
Cooking Method
For the spice paste
Blend all the dry spice paste ingredients together by hand with a pestle and mortar or using a spice grinder
Add the wet ingredients together with a little water (if necessary) and blend into a paste. You can do this immediately before cooking or some time before.
For the lamb curry
Before cooking, place the raw cashews in a cup and barely cover with boiling water
Heat the oil in a saucepan with a lid on a fairly high heat. When hot, add the fennel seeds and yellow mustard seeds, stirring to prevent sticking. Soon the seeds will begin to "pop". Add the onions and green chillies. Sweat until they soften, adding a dash of water every now and then if needed to prevent sticking
When the onions soften, add the garlic & ginger paste and approx. 1 tspn of spice paste and stir in. Release the aromas and cook for 2 or 3 mins. Add the bell pepper. Mix together, adding a little water, and sweat together for a further few minutes
Add the lamb, turning regularly so that it seals on all sides. Once the lamb has sealed on more than 50% of its surfaces, add another 3 tspns of the spice paste and stir in, adding a little water to prevent sticking. Add the chopped fresh tomatoes and stir in. Allow this combination to bubble vigorously for about 3 to 4mins
Pour in the stock and increase the heat to bring to a vigorous boil. Boil for about 3mins. Then, cover, reduce the heat and simmer at a healthy bubble for a further 5min
Uncover and stir in the tomato purée, ensuring it dissolves. Re-cover and simmer for a further 3mins. Simultaneously, drain the cashews and add to an appropriate jug. Pour in the coconut milk. Using a hand-held blender, blend into a near-liquid mixture. Slowly pour this into the pot and bring back to the boil. Add the bay leaves and coriander to the top of the pot. Boil vigorously for approx. 3mins without stirring
Re-cover and reduce the heat until the pot is barely simmering. Cook on a very low heat for at least 2 hours (ideally 3), stirring every 15mins or so to prevent sticking. (tip: if you notice it's sticking, reduce the heat further, until you reach optimum low heat)
This cooking process will naturally reduce the sauce, creating a thick, fairly creamy consistency—if something goes wrong and you need a "rescue" solution, use a little sifted gram flour to reduce it further
About 4mins before you plan to serve—6mins if using "African spinach"—add the spinach to the pot and gently fold in
Once cooked, remove from the heat and allow to rest for 5mins. Transfer to serving dishes or plate. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander and serve with rice or naan breads, and your condiments of choice
For condiments — raita and mango chutnery
In this case I bypassed the usual sambals that are so much of South African Indian diasporan cooking and went straight for mango chutney and raita; here made as yoghurt seasoned with salt and pepper with grated cucumber stirred into it.
Alternatives
Vegans and vegetarians
Essentially it's only the lamb (and the chicken stock that is readily swapped out with vegetable stock) that prevents this dish from being vegan. For the most successful vegan and veggie versions of this dish I've progressed with making and reducing the sauce—roughly steps 1 to 6 in the cooking process above—then adding cubed butternut squash (the frontrunner for me), large pieces of mushroom or (smoked) tofu in the last 30mins of cooking. NB: if opting for tofu or mushrooms (or a combination of thereof), they benefit from searing them in a separate hot wok or frying pan with a little oil and a sprinkle of turmeric before adding them to the sauce.
Pescatarians
Treat prawns, octopus or monkfish in the same way as the mushrooms or tofu above. Only, add them a minute or so after the spinach. They really do not need to be cooked in the sauce for more than a few minutes; only until tender and perfect.
Carnivores
This dish works well with either beef or chicken as the protein. If you want a poultry version, cut pieces of chicken, turkey or other bird into slightly larger segments than you would with the lamb. But, otherwise treat it in the same way when cooking. Remember that poultry will seal much more rapidly than lamb. Don't overdo it at that step.
Pairings
I usually have this dish with sparkling water, beer or iced coke (the oral not the nasal variety), all of which work well.
On the wine front, this is another of those dishes where my suspicion of Shiraz proves unfounded and it has worked very well with South African or Australian shiraz grapes.
Saying that, the best match I ever had with this dish was a Domaine des Tourelles Carignan Vieilles Vignes from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. Kinda makes sense to me as a wine-growing region that has produced red wines that pair well with spiced and fragrant dishes for time immemorial.
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