Indian/Pakistani Braised Lamb in Gravy: Lamb Korma

The word "korma" means "braise" in Indian/Pakistani cooking. "Korma" recipes in northern India and in Pakistan generally vary from those in southern India, where coconut milk, and often ground cashews or almonds, are used, but the specific recipes, regardless of region, have numerous variations and preparation methods. Regular readers might recall that I love sauces and gravies, and I chose to do a "korma" with "gravy," but not every "korma" has gravy. What the people of the Indian Subcontinent call "gravy," Americans would call a "sauce," so don't let the terminology fool you into thinking this dish has some deep dark lamb gravy. Indians, both northern and southern, and Pakistanis tend to use meat cut into pieces still on the bones and the meat is likely to be "mutton;" that is, meat from a sheep that is in excess of one year in age, not the younger lamb that is now overwhelmingly common in the U.S (lamb is meat from a sheep a year or less in age). I understand the idea of cooking the meat on the bones, but I'm not much into then having to pick the meat off the bones when eating; so, I use lamb chunks and some separate lamb bones that can be cooked with the meat, but then easily taken out and discarded. There is a good deal of onion in this dish, but it is supposed to be that way, and part of the onion is sliced and part is finely chopped (in India and Pakistan, some smash or blend the onion into a paste, often with some other ingredients included). 

 

As I often mention about recipes from the Indian Subcontinent, the list of ingredient for this dish may seem intimidating, but if you cook such recipes anywhere near regularly, you will have most of the spices and other ingredients on hand. If you want to learn to cook recipes from the Indian Subcontinent, then the reality is, you are going to need to have these various spices and herbs anyway. Likely two of the less common spices to Americans are green and black cardamom. In more recent times, the small green cardamom pods have become more familiar to some Americans, but the far larger black cardamom pods are likely unknown to the overwhelming percentage of Americans. Sometimes cardamom is ground, but often it is used by cracking, crushing or slitting the pods to allow the cardamom to easily flavor the dish.  

 

Ingredients (4 servings):

 

1 to 1 1/4 pound boneless lamb meat, cut into bite size pieces (or use mutton)

couple lamb bones

1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 heaping tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground red pepper (like cayenne)

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoons butter & 1 tablespoon oil (or 3 tablespoons clarified butter, aka ghee)

1 onion, halved and then sliced

2 inch piece cinnamon stick

4 whole cloves

2 black cardamon, cracked 

5 green cardamon, cracked or crushed somewhat

6 peppercorns, cracked

1 or 2 dried red chilies, whole 

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated 

1 cup finely chopped onion (white or red)

1/2 teaspoon ground mace

1 cup heated water (a little more if needed)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (also known to some as fresh coriander)  

In a bowl or cup (I use my measuring cup), mix together the yogurt, salt, ground coriander, ground red pepper and turmeric. In a larger non reactive bowl, add the lamb pieces and then the yogurt mixture. Mix to coat the lamb pieces well, cover with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours (or even overnight). In a skillet, add the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and saute until the onion starts to soften and shows some brown color (do not blacken the onions), then add the cinnamon stick, whole cloves, black cardamon, green cardamon, peppercorns and dried red chili. Saute for 90 seconds, then add the garlic, ginger and finely chopped onion, then add 1 cup heated water, stir well and bring to a simmer; adjust the heat so that the mixture just barely simmers; cover the skillet with a lid or foil. Let the meat slowly braise, stirring it occasionally. If you feel the dish needs a little more water, add a quarter cup of hot water, and mix it in well. When the meat is tender, you can add the cilantro and the mace and stir them into the lamb, or top the finished dish with the cilantro. I've generally found the lamb needs to cook for about 75 minutes, but I've also let it cook for 90 minutes on occasion. Serve with rice ...    

 

 

Lamb Korma with some turmeric and saffron rice ...

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Myrtle-This word "perhaps" is related to "myrrh," a word borrowed from Latin, which had it from Greek which had it from Semitic, where it meant "bitterness." The ultimate origins of "myrtle" are uncertain, although it "could" be from the same source as "myrrh."^ Transliterated Persian "murt/murd," meaning "myrtle," a type of evergreen tree or bush with fragrant flowers,"^^ and some other Indo European languages in that general greater Middle East area/Caucasus region have similar words, but where all of these words are from is uncertain, but naturally Semitic is a definite possibility, as it was/is right there by some Indo European languages/dialects. Whatever the origin, Ancient Greek had transliterated "myrtos" (myrtle, the tree/bush, but also seemingly for a twig or branch of the tree) and Latin borrowed the word as "myrtus" (myrtle, the tree), and this gave Latin-based Old French "myrte," and English seems to have borrowed the word as "myrt," but then was further influenced in pronunciation and, thus, spelling by French "myrtille," from Latin "myrtillus," the diminutive of Latin "myrtus" (see above), but which meant "blueberry" and "bilberry" (similar berries in appearance, but not taste), but this moved the borrowing in English to be "myrtle." (Exactly why the word for blueberry and bilberry had such an influence on a word for a tree or bush is a bit of a mystery to me, unless they were thought to be related?)  

 

^ While "myrtle" and "myrrh" are similar words, "myrtle" is a tree/bush/shrub, and "myrrh" is a resin from some plants, but not from myrtle, although people a couple of thousand years ago may not have seen that difference in the same way (just my opinion). 

 

^^ Persian is an Indo European language from the Indo-Iranian branch; thus, it is related to English, which is from the Germanic branch.