Jane Kennedy's Korma

I hate the cold weather, but I do love all the rich, hearty winter foods.  Stews, curries, roasts and puddings - here we come!

I adore a good curry - I like a little bit of kick, but not so much that your eyes water and it plays havoc with your digestive system.  When I was looking for inspiration for this week's meals, I turned to Jane Kennedy's OMG! I Can Eat That?  This book takes traditionally boombah foods (ie foods that make your backside huge) and turns them into more calorie-friendly options. She has a few great sounding curries, and I selected her lamb korma curry.  The twist is that lamb is hideously expensive, so I substituted beef - making mine a beef korma curry! 

To make this curry, mix 250g Greek yoghurt, 2 teaspoons grated ginger, 3 crushed cloves garlic, a pinch of sea salt, a teaspoon of ground chilli powder and a quarter of a teaspoon of  turmeric together in a bowl. Coat 1kg lamb (or beef!) with the marinade, then cover and place in the fridge to marinate for 1 hour.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frypan.  Add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, 3 bay leaves, 5 cloves, 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (I skipped these) and a cinnamon stick to the pan, and cook for 15 seconds.  Add one sliced onion to the pan, and cook until the onion is golden brown.  

Put 1 x 400g can of tomatoes, a bunch of coriander (all of it!!  I love it - no waste), 2 sprigs of mint (I skipped the mint) and 1 tablespoon of dessicated coconut into  a food processor and puree the ingredients.  Pour the puree into the fry pan with the onion, together with 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 2 teaspoons garam marsala, 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon of chopped chilli (I just added the whole chilli - after all, what was I going to do with the rest of it?).

Add the marinated meat to the pan with 500ml warm water, and simmer the mixture for an hour or until the meat is tender.  Just before serving, stir through the juice of half a lemon.

To serve with the curry, I made Jane's cauliflower "rice" - simply cut up half a cauliflower into florets, microwave on high for 5 minutes (don't add water), then blitz the cooked cauliflower in a food processor:

The cauliflower is not quite the same as rice in texture or flavour, but it is a good vehicle for soaking up all the curry sauce.  Yum!