Lamb Pepper Fry ~ Lamb Kurumolagu Olathiathu

I am not even going to go into the reason for the long absence from here. It happened, now I'm back and that's what matters. I recently bought this new cookbook “The Kerala Kitchen” by Lathika George. I was just going through it when I was at Borders and did not realize that I spent almost an hour going through the book. I did not hesitate to buy the book and I am happy I did that. I have already tried a couple of fish curries from this book which the meat-a-holic absolutely loved.
Last night when we were in Safeway doing a usual late night grocery run, I saw some Lamb for Stew and picked it up. I don’t know what drew me to it, but I knew I can make something with it. I was initially thinking of a lamb stew (Duh! thats what it says the meat is for, so obviously that is the first thing to cross my mind) and I somehow expected to see one in this book, but I didn’t find any. There were only two lamb or rather mutton dishes in the book – one was this pepper fry recipe and the other a kofta recipe with ground meat. The pepper fry recipe looked pretty simple and a quick check in my refrigerator and pantry ensured that I had everything I needed.


The Recipe:

1 lb lamb for stew, cubed 2 – 3 cups water 1 tbsp coriander powder 1 tsp turmeric powder 2 tsp cayenne / red chili powder 1-2 tsp salt 1 tbsp coconut / canola oil 1/2 red onion, chopped 2 tomatoes, chopped 3 cloves garlic, crushed 2 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed 5-6 curry leaves To be roasted and ground to a powder: 2 cardamom pods 4 cloves 1” piece cinnamon

In a saucepan bring the water to a boil and add the meat, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt and cayenne to it. Let it continue to cook on medium-high heat for about 15-20 mins till the meat is tender. In a separate heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil and sauté the onions. Add the tomatoes, garlic, curry leaves to it. Once the tomatoes look a little cooked, add the peppercorns and the meat with whatever is left of the spiced water. Meanwhile, dry roast the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and grind them finely. Add the spices to the pan and mix well. Fry the meal well till it is browned and all the water has evaporated.
Serve hot with rotis or even rice.