Serves 4 as a main dish

The use of the whole spices produces an earthy and aromatic dish and work excellently with lamb. Lamb Bhoona is a dryish dish, with the chunks of meat coated in the thick sauce. This is achieved by using less Base Curry Sauce than with other dishes and by cooking the sauce in batches slowly to reduce and thicken it.
What you need…
• 2 Tablespoons ghee
• 800g lamb, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 400ml Base Curry Sauce
• small handful fresh coriander (chop up the stems to add to the curry and set aside the leaves for garnish)
• 2 Tablespoons yoghurt
• salt to taste
Spice Mix 1
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 cardamon seeds, cracked open but not crushed
• 2 cloves
• 5 curry leaves
Spice Mix 2
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala

How to make it…
1. Heat the ghee to a high heat. Add the Spice Mix 1 and fry for 15 seconds. They whole spices should sizzle immediately. You can test the ghee is hot enough by adding one cumin seed.
2. Now add the lamb and stir fry until all the chunks are sealed. This should take 2–3 minutes.
3. Now add a quarter of the Base Curry Sauce and stir fry for 10 minutes. Add another quarter of the sauce and repeat. When you add the last quarter of the sauce also add the Spice Mix 2 and coriander stems. The sauce should be thick by the end of the 40-minutes process.
4. Add the yoghurt and salt, mix well and stir fry until the lamb is tender (about 5 minutes).
5. Serve, garnished with the coriander leaves.

If you don’t like whole spices in your finished curry you can put them in a little spice bag before dropping them in the ghee. You then remove the bag just before serving. If using the spice bag, cook the spices in the ghee for an extra 5–10 seconds at stage 1 to ensure the flavours are released through the bag into the ghee.

If you like this you should try our…
What’s your favourite curry?
Butter Paneer • Muttar Paneer • Chilli Paneer • Prawn Madras • Prawn Rogan • Prawn Vindaloo • Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona • Butter Chicken • Chicken Dopiaza