Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry

Ripe, juicy tomatoes add a wonderful fresh zing to the fragrant sauce in this easy lamb and fresh tomato curry. Cook it down slowly to intensify the flavors.

Many years ago, my husband and I were living in Abu Dhabi where there is a large Indian and Pakistani population so good curry restaurants abound. We either ate out or ordered in at least once a week. 

He always got the chicken jalfrezi, a relatively dry curry with lots of peppers, tomatoes and tender chicken. I always ordered the chicken maharajah, which came covered in the richest, most succulent sauce. There might well have been ground cashews in there. When I close my eyes, I can still taste it!

Here’s the rub. He always wanted some of my sauce! Nice person that I am, I did share, but not without thinking to myself that he could order his own darn sauce. Am I right?

These days I am way more likely to cook curry at home than to go out, so I always make sure it’s a saucy dish. This particular curry is full of flavor and, thanks to puréed fresh tomatoes, it has plenty of sauce to go round for all the family. 

Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry

I know that not everyone is fond of lamb. If you aren’t lovers of lamb, by all means substitute beef. For me, curry is all about the sauce and this dish is one of my favorites, whatever protein you choose.

Ingredients

1 lb 13 oz or 840g lamb ribs, chopped into bite­sized pieces 

1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste when the dish has finished cooking

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon vinegar

4 large ripe tomatoes (1 lb 113⁄4 oz or 786g) 

1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil for browning the lamb 

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 red chili peppers, minced

3 tablespoons curry paste

1⁄4 cup or 60g plain yogurt

Good handful cilantro, chopped

Optional for garnish:

dollop of yogurt

chopped cilantro

Method

Chop the lamb into bite-sized pieces and put them in a non-reactive bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add vinegar and toss to coat. Set aside to marinate.

Core your tomatoes, cut them in quarters and pop them in a blender. Process until completely liquid. You might have to add about 1/4-1/2 cup of water to get them moving.

In a large skillet over a medium high heat, heat the olive oil and brown the lamb in batches, and remove to a plate.

Add the sliced onion to the pan and cook for a few minutes, until softened. Add in the garlic and chili peppers and stir.

Add in the curry paste. Stir and fry for a few more minutes.

Put lamb back in the pan, along with any juices that accumulated on the plate. Stir well to cover the lamb with the curry paste, onions and garlic.

Pour in the puréed fresh tomatoes. 

Stir well. Bring to the boil then reduce the fire to a slow simmer.

Cook covered for 45 minutes or until the lamb is tender, stirring occasionally.

Remove the lid and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half, so the sauce is thick and concentrated. This could take another 10­-15 minutes. Taste for salt and add more if necessary.

Finish by stirring through the plain yogurt and chopped cilantro.

Garnish with a dollop more of the yogurt and cilantro in your serving dish, if desired. Serve with rice or naan.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 12th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter L. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the L recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Lemon Rice/Chitranna 
• Food Lust People Love: Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry
• Culinary Cam: Lingcod Over Legumes 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Lemon Vinaigrette 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Melody’s Homemade Lemonade 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Mediterranean Lentil Salad 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Barbecue Pork Lo Mein 
• Blogghetti Lemon Pepper Tilapia Sheet Pan Dinner 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Fresh Dill Deviled Eggs with a Hint of Lemon 
• Palatable Pastime: Liver and Onions 
• A Messy Kitchen: Lemon Balm Jelly

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry - this post!

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Buttermilk-Brined Roast Chicken Crown

After 24 hours of marinating, and a hour + in a hot oven, this buttermilk-brined roast chicken crown is tender and juicy inside with the most delectable golden skin outside!

We love a good Sunday roast dinner, especially for a special occasion like Mother’s Day and, frankly, I am much more likely to roast chicken than an expensive cut of beef. No pressure to get it exactly the right amount of rare! Add some roast potatoes, tasty onion gravy and some young peas and I’m happy. 

I don’t know why but it’s hard to find chicken crowns, an all-breast cut that still has the bones underneath left on. I was jumping around in my local grocery store when I happened to come across one, on sale no less, because my mom was never a fan of chicken legs or thighs. A chicken crown was pretty much her ideal bird for roasting. She loved this dish!

Buttermilk-Brined Roast Chicken Crown

This recipe is adapted from one on New York Time Cooking, where it was in turn adapted from the fabulous cookbook, Salt Fat Acid Heat, Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat. If you haven’t read the book or watched the show on Netflix, I highly recommend both. 

Ingredients

1 chicken crown, weight about 4 lbs 4 oz or 1966g

Kosher salt or fine sea salt

2 cups or 480ml buttermilk (or substitute 3 tablespoons white vinegar in measuring cup filled to 2 cups with milk)

2 medium onions

1 small lemon

Method

The day before you want to roast it, season the chicken crown generously with salt and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Stir 2 tablespoons kosher salt or 4 teaspoons fine sea salt into the buttermilk to dissolve. Place the crown in a gallon-size resealable plastic bag and pour in the buttermilk. 

Seal the bag, squish the salty buttermilk all around the chicken, place on a rimmed plate, and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours, turning the bag every once in a while. 

Pull the chicken from the fridge an hour before you plan to cook it. 

Heat the oven to 400°F or 180°C with your degrees with an iron skillet on a rack set in the center position.

Slice the onions in thick slices to act as a baking trivet. Poke the lemon all over with the sharp point of a knife. 

Remove the chicken crown from the plastic bag and scrape off as much buttermilk as you can. If the skin is riding up a little bit at the pointy end, use a toothpick or two to secure it.

Carefully lay the sliced onions in the hot cast-iron skillet. 

Place the chicken on top, tucking the lemon underneath it. Put the hot skillet back in the oven. 

If you have eagle eyes, you might notice that I also put my Meater thermometer into the chicken crown at the thickest part. (The silver thing on the top left, with the black top.) It was a Christmas gift from my husband a few years back. The Meater runs with an app and tells me when the internal temperature has reached whatever I set it on. Like magic.

After about 20 minutes, when the chicken starts to brown, reduce the heat to 350°F or 180°C and turn the pan around. Cook until the internal temperature of the crown reaches 165°F or 74°C, about another hour.  

If the skin is getting too brown before it is cooked through, use a foil tent to protect it.  

Once the chicken crown is cooked to the desired temperature, take it out of the skillet and put it on a board covered with a foil tent to rest for 10 minutes.

Carve to serve. Enjoy! 

It's Sunday FunDay as well as Mother's Day in the United States so my friends and I are sharing recipes for a mom pleasing brunch! Many thanks to our host, Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures. Check out the Mother's Day brunch links:

• Buttermilk-Brined Roast Chicken Crown by Food Lust People Love
• Cheesy Chive Popovers by Culinary Cam
• Mini Pavlova by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Moong Dal Chila by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Sausage Balls by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tomato Ketchup Chicken & Rice Platter by Sneha's Recipe
  

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Java Dry Spice Mix Chops

These java dry spice mix chops are seared for a few minutes in a hot grill pan, then finished off in a hot oven, which keeps them tender and juicy. The java dry spice rub is made with ground roasted coffee beans, cumin, brown sugar, smoked paprika and garlic powder. And, of course, salt! 

This is probably my favorite homemade spice mix. The roasted coffee really adds a depth of flavor that goes so well with pork. So well, in fact, that I also use it on whole pork roasts. If you have a sous vide precision cooker, you'll want to have a look at my sous vide java dry spice pork roast recipe. Boy, howdy, it is good! 

Java Dry Spice Mix Chops

Apologies for the lack of photos of the pork chops being cooked in the griddle pan. Lighting wasn't great but I hope I have made up for it with good instructions. Should you have a question, please leave me a comment. 

Ingredients

2 thick cut pork chops, untrimmed 

3­-4 teaspoons java dry spice rub (Get the recipe here: Java Dry Spice Rub)

Tools needed

heavy grill pan 

wooden skewers

Method

Wash the pork chops and dry them slightly with a paper towel. Sprinkle the chops liberally with the java dry spice rub and use your clean hands to rub it all over.

Cover the chops with cling film and refrigerator at least half an hour or longer if you have the time. 

When you are ready to cook the pork chops, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and remove the chops from the refrigerator. 

When the oven is just about at temperature, heat your grill pan or an iron skillet over a medium high flame. 

Use several wooden skewers to pin your chops together, fat/skin side together. Once the pan is hot, stand the chops up fat/skin side down for 4­-5 minutes. 

Move them around the pan to take advantage of the heat to render the fat and get the skin a bit crispy. 

Transfer the chops to a plate and remove the skewers. 

Put the chops back in the pan, this time on their sides and set a timer for 3 minutes. 

When the timer rings, turn the chops over and set it for another 3 minutes. 

Repeat, giving the chops only 1 minute on each side. If you want to get fancy, turn the chops so the grill lines cross. 

Transfer the grill pan to your preheated oven and roast for a further 8-10­ minutes. You can cut near the bone to check for doneness. (If you have a meat thermometer, the ideal temperature is 145°F or 62.8°C.) The pork can be slightly pink. It will continue to cook as it rests. 

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 10th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter J. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the J recipes below:

• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Jeera Bhaat | Jeera Rice 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Jhatpat Bhendi Masala 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya 
• Culinary Cam: Bulgogi-Inspired Oven Beef Jerky 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Blueberry Jam Palmiers 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Johnnycake Cobblers 
• Blogghetti: Jam-Filled Corn Flake Muffins 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Brown Sugar Caribbean Jerk Seasoning 
• Magical Ingredients: Jackfruit Paratha 
• Food Lust People Love: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far: 

A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs

B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly

C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw

D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing

E: Everything Pizza Tartin

F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

G: Grape Juice Jigglers

H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts

I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream

J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops - this post!

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Quiche Lorraine Filled Portabella Mushrooms

Who needs a crust when garlicky mushrooms fulfill that role gorgeously in these Quiche Lorraine filled Portabella Mushrooms with Gruyère cheese and bacon! 

It’s not often that I find four reasonably equal large portabella mushrooms so when I do, I like to make a recipe that puts them center stage. I can’t bear to cut up such beautiful specimens and destroy their perfect shape and size. 

While I’ve made quiche Lorraine, that typical French recipe with bacon and Gruyère cheese, feel free to substitute your favorite cheese and perhaps ham, chicken or a cooked vegetable for the bacon.

Quiche Lorraine filled Portabella Mushrooms

I use store-bought already cooked bacon crumbles here but you can certainly fry up two or three strips of bacon then chop them with a sharp knife. These make a special first course or side for any meal. We actually ate them this time as a main course with salad and steamed baby broccoli on the side. A lovely meal!

Ingredients

4 large portabella mushrooms

2 cloves garlic

Olive oil

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 egg

1/4 cup or 60ml cream

1/2 cup or 50g Gruyère cheese, grated, plus extra for topping

1/4 cup or 30g crispy bacon crumbles

Optional garnish: chopped chives

Method

Preheat your oven to 410°F or 210°C. 

Cut the stems off of the mushrooms, discarding any hard ends. If you have a vegetable stock bag in the freezer, pop the rest of the stems in there. 

Mince the garlic. Put the mushrooms cap side up in a baking pan.  Add the garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. 

Roast in the hot oven for about 10-12 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whisk the egg and add the cream. 

Stir in the grated cheese and bacon crumbles. 

Remove the filled mushrooms from the oven and leave to cool for about five minutes. 

Divide the quiche filling between the mushroom and sprinkle with a little extra grated cheese and some black pepper. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the filling is just setting. Turn your oven on to broil for a few minutes to brown the tops. Keep a very close eye on the filling to make sure it doesn’t burn. 

Leave to set for a few minutes then garnish with a few chopped chives, if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today my blogger friends and I are sharing mushroom recipes! Check out the links below:

• Beef Tips with Mushroom Gravy from Palatable Pastime
• Boursin Stuffed Mushrooms from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cheesy Stuffed Mushrooms from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Mushroom Spinach Curry from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Mushrooms in Creamy Gravy from Sneha's Recipe
• Quiche Lorraine Filled Portabella Mushrooms from Food Lust People Love
• Stir-Fried Cellophane Noodles with Enoki Mushrooms from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Three Mushroom Pâté from Culinary Cam

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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My Ideal Birthday “Cake” (is Meatloaf!)

A savory dish made with ground meat, my ideal birthday cake is meatloaf! This one is filled with curried carrots and covered with buttery cream potatoes. Happy Easter to all who celebrate and an early Happy April Fool's Day to all!

We all love a good prank for April Fool’s Day but I can’t remember the last time I actually pulled one. Probably when our girls still lived at home and that’s was a very long time ago – COVID days excepted. 

If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you probably know that I’m not much of a sweet eater so when our Sunday FunDay host for this week challenged us to make a dish that looked like something else for April Fool’s Day, I knew I’d make a savory dish. 

I also wanted to make a fun recipe that we could actually enjoy for a main course. I created this meatloaf recipe to fit the bill. Doesn’t it look like cake?!!!

My Ideal Birthday Cake is Meatloaf

I used two 6-in or 15cm round “smash” cake pans to bake the meatloaf layers. A tradition that started well after my two girls had turned one, smash cakes are little cakes baked so the birthday baby can put her whole face in. I presume there’s another cake for the rest of the guests at the birthday party.

Ingredients

For the “cake” layers:

2 slices sandwich bread (brown or white)

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

1 small onion or 1/2 medium onion

1 lb or 450g ground beef

1/2 lb or 225g ground pork

2 eggs

1/4 cup or 60ml ketchup

2 teaspoons dry mustard powder (like Colman’s)

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the cream potato “frosting”:

4 medium Russet potatoes (weight peeled: about 1 lb 6 oz or 625g)

1 teaspoon fine sea salt to boil, plus extra after mashing, if needed

1/2 cup or 120ml whipping or heavy cream

1/4 cup or 57g butter

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

For the savory carrot filling: 

3 medium carrots (weight peeled: about 7 3/4 oz or 215g)

1/4 medium onion

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon salt  

For decorating:

1 teaspoon paprika

Large piping tip

Piping bag

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Cut the bread into small squares and pour the milk over it in a small bowl, pushing the pieces down into the milk. Soak until all the milk is absorbed.

Mince your onion finely. I usually use a small food processor for this to make sure there are no big bits because no one wants to bite into a big bit of onion.

In a large bowl, add your onion, ground beef, ground pork, eggs, ketchup, mustard powder and salt. Mash the soggy bread with a fork till it falls apart and then add it to the large bowl with all of the other ingredients.  Mix well.

Divide the mixture in half and press it into the smash cake pans. My whole mixture weighed 1062g so each pan holds 531g.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the meatloaf is browned nicely and cooked through to a safe internal temperature of 160°F or 71°C.

While your layers are baking, make the filling and "frosting." Peel your potatoes and cut them into chunks. Boil them until tender with the teaspoon of salt. 

Warm the cream and butter together till the butter is just melted. I do this in a microwaveable vessel, with quick zaps, watching carefully so it doesn’t boil over. 

Drain the potatoes and mash them right away. I find they mash with fewer lumps while still hot. Add in the melted butter/cream and the white pepper. 

Stir well till combined. Taste and add more salt if needed. 

Peel and cut the carrots into chunks. Finely mince the onion (or use a processor) for the filling. 

Boil the carrots until very tender then drain and mash them right away. 

Transfer the carrots to a heat -proof bowl and melt the butter in the pot you used to boil them. Sauté the curry powder and chopped onions in the butter until the onions are translucent and very soft. 

Add the carrots back into the pot with the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and mix well. Set aside.

When they are done, remove the meatloaf layers from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes. Run a silicone spatula around the edge to loosen. Carefully remove them to plates.

Top one meatloaf layer with the carrot filling. 

Carefully put the second meatloaf layer on top. 

Cover the “cake” with the cream potatoes. 

You should have plenty left over so don't be shy.

Add the paprika to 3/4 cup or 170g of the cream potatoes and mix well.

Fit a large tip on your piping bag and use a spatula to add the paprika potato down the insides of the bag in stripes. Spoon the rest of the cream potatoes in the middle of the piping bag. Decorate the “cake” by piping on little rosettes or stars.

I did a row around the bottom, then a row around the top. And because more is more, I piped rosettes to cover the top. You do you. 

(You will probably have potato leftover at the end unless you choose to cover the whole cake with rosettes. Eat it as is or follow these instructions to make baked Marquis potatoes with the rest. 

I must confess that by the time I finished assembling the “cake” it was closer to room temperature than hot so we sliced it up and warmed it by the slice in the microwave. Delicious! 

If you make one to trick your family, I’d love to hear about it!

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and, as mentioned above, we are sharing April Fool’s Day recipes. Many thanks to our host, Camilla from Culinary Cam. Check out all the illusion recipes below:

• April Fools Calzone Donut by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• April Fools' Day Chicken Nuggets & French Fries by Sneha's Recipe
• Big Ice Cream Taco by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Grogu's Frog Egg Dessert by Palatable Pastime
• Hot Beef Sundae by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• My Ideal Birthday "Cake" by Food Lust People Love
• Potted Plant Cremeux by Culinary Cam

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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