TBK cooks Lamb and Mango Curry

I love cooking a good curry , and among the foods I am currently eating a lot of for my Intermittent fasting are Lamb and Mangoes.

When I saw this recipe in the BBC Good Food Magazine I knew I had to try it and having shared it on Facebook I have already had advance orders for it from Gracie in Palawan and Ash in Pasig in the Philippines! I love dishes that are easy to prepare ( 10 mins) and take a long time to cook ( 2 hrs. 45 mins) so the smells waft all over the apartment! This recipe serves 6 so living alone I ate one portion the day I made it, put two in the fridge for later in the week and froze the other 4 portions to reheat next week and in April! That saves on cooking time and washing up the saucepans etc. Who needs Talibat? You just have to plan ahead and you can have delicious healthy meals daily. 

     Banana yogurt with cinnamon, Cucumber Raita, Poppadom's and Chutneys

One of the things I really like about curry is making all the accompaniments so I had Cucumber Raita, Banana yogurt with cinnamon, Caramelised onion chutney, Beetroot relish, spicy mango chutney, Poppadom's and smooth Mango chutney with the curry ( a real mango overdose!). 

So what do you need to make this dish?

Ingredients

As my good friend and Kuya, Chef Coco, reminded me a few weeks ago when we had tea at the Orangery with Miss A, the secret is Mis en Place. This is a French culinary term meaning "Put in Place" and is the secret of all good Chefs. So I checked I had all my ingredients, washed the coriander, lamb , mangoes etc. and made sure everything was prepared, ready to cook. 

Canned ingredients ready, Coriander ( Cilantro to my Kubayan) washed and chopped

Method

As I do not have an oven or a food processor here I just chopped everything finely, used a potato masher and cooked the curry in a large saucepan 

My curry paste made with chopped onions, garlic, ginger with the spices and tomato puree

Next I added the lamb , which the nice butcher at Alosra Juffair had cubed for me, and turned it until it changed colour all over. I put 2 tablespoons of the coconut milk in my measuring jug for the garnish and then added the rest of the coconut milk to the curry. I also added the tomatoes and 100 ml of water and bought it to a simmer. You could put it in the oven at this point but I just left it to slow cook in the pan for 90 mins, stirring occasionally. The smell was delicious!

Next you dice one of the mangoes and add this to the curry and cook for a further hour. I always find it very messy to prepare mangoes but they taste delicious and are very healthy. Here in Bahrain we have mangoes from Kenya, India and Thailand and they vary in freshness, ripeness and price ( from 1 bd to 5 bd per kilo!) . Now I am short of money I am checking the price of every item before placing it in my trolley, like my Kabayan! Before I would wait until I got to the till to find out how much it all cost ( usually around 100 bd a week!) . That is what most of my Kabayan here in Bahrain earn a month after paying their rent and load and sending money home!

           The second set of Mis en place for the garnishing of the curry

While the curry was cooking I diced the second mango and added to the 2 tablespoons of coconut milk ready for the garnish. Once the lamb was tender I turned off the heat and let the curry rest for 10 minutes ( any fat will rise to the top and can be skimmed off. Next I partly stirred in the remaining mango and sprinkled the coriander / cilantro on the top and drizzled the reserved coconut milk around the coriander/cilantro. 

               This is how the magazine showed the final dish

I was really pleased that my dish ( see the top of the blog) looked like the picture in the Magazine! I know, from my Little Chef Days, how long they take to prepare each photograph for a magazine or menu with the food stylist ensuring the food looks perfect, the lighting team and the Creative Director and the photographer. My photo was taken with my Samsung Galaxy A6 phone in my kitchen without any colouring, touching up etc.!

Next I "prepared" my chutneys and pickles and Poppadom's. Ok , so I just opened the jars from Alosra and opened the packet of cooked Poppadom's! I really love Sharwood's Extra smooth Mango chutney and the "SuperValu" range of relishes from Alosra. For my Lamb and Mango Chutney I bought their Caramelised red onion and beetroot relish. However I also made some Cucumber Raita ( yogurt and grated cucumber, and some sliced banana with yogurt and cinnamon. By the time I had finished I had a curry feast to be proud of!

I am looking forward to reheating the rest over the coming weeks as the magazine reminded me curry, like adobo, tastes even better reheated the next day!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe- we will have another recipe vlog for you on line next week on our You Tube channel ( Pork with garlicky broccoli) so make sure you subscribe and click the notification bell. 

Some good news on the move to Palawan to end with today. I am going to collect the Good Behaviour Certificate application form from Bapco security this morning , after 3 weeks of chasing, and I made an appointment on the Skiplino app at 2 am for 7.30 am on Monday ( the last appointment available for the week- they are released at Midnight on Sunday and are usually all taken within an hour by the agents! Hopefully I will have my new Good Behaviour Certificate next week ready to get apostilled with my medical and other forms to send to the PRA for Pre - evaluation. 

All that remains is for me to say Ingat Palagi ( take care) and kita Kits ( see you soon) Palawan!