This is my step-by-step recipe to cook a Durban Lamb Curry.

The lamb was really of a fantastic quality and very soft, so I used a slightly different technique to how I normally cook mutton curry and braised & sealed the spiced lamb in oil beforehand. Normally (like for mutton curry), I add the raw meat to braise in the onion and tomato base but some of the meat breaks up like this. For tougher meats like mutton it is fine, but for this super quality lamb I wanted to retain the pieces as best I could.

Ingredients

Sunflower Oil (80ml for every 500g of fatty lamb, 100ml for lean)
Cinnamon Sticks
2 Teaspoons Turmeric
2 Teaspoons Jerra Powder (cumin)
2 Teaspoons Dhania powder (Coriander)
1 Teaspoon Fennel powder
1 Teaspoon Fenugreek powder
Mustard seeds
Grated Onion (3 medium size)
4 Teaspoons Garlic & Ginger
Bay Leaf
Organic Cayenne Pepper (optional & to taste)
1kg Lamb Pieces
4 Tablespoons Mother-in-Law Masala / Curry Powder (Adjust according to your own taste and requirements)
Curry Leaves
Jam tomatoes (3 large)
5 Potatoes (halved and poked with fork)
Salt
Water, if required.

Method

A few hours before cooking, coat your lamb pieces with curry powder / masala
On a medium head, add oil to pot
Gently braise your curry powder coated lamb pieces – and set aside. (retain as much oil and meat juices in the pot as possible. Pour any juices from the bowl into which you set your pieces aside, back into your pot.
Add cinnamon, turmeric, jerra powder (cumin), dhania powder, fennel powder, fenugreek powder, mustard seeds & split chillies
Allow your spices to fry a bit in the oil (Do not let them burn)
Add grated onions, saute until soft
Add garlic & ginger, saute until fragrant
Add grated tomatoes, cook until tomatoes are have “melted”
Add Curry Powder / Masala. (allow to fry, but do not allow to burn)
Add Lamb pieces, mix into sauce and gently saute
Add water if desired (I add a cup or 2 and let it cook down)
Turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until the lamb pieces are soft (I set timer for 20 mins and then check)
Add salt to taste
Add potatoes
Cook until potatoes are soft. (Turn up the heat if you want to cook off liquid, but do not allow the sauce to burn on the bottom of the pot)
Serve with rice, roti, as a Bunny Chow, on slices of thick buttered bread or even as our friends in the UK do … over a portion of chips.

Learn how to make Durban Carrot Salad Sambals to accompany any Durban Curry.

UPDATE: Don’t bother using all the different spices, just use our All-in-One Masala Range. Perfectly blended and balanced, just use 4 tablespoons per kg of meat / protein. Easy as that, best you will ever taste.