Everything about food, from matching food and wine to recipes, techniques and trends.

RCP: Mirchi Qorma (Northern Indian lamb & red chile curry

Moderators: Jenise, Robin Garr, David M. Bueker

no avatar
User

Jenise

Rank

FLDG Dishwasher

Posts

42549

Joined

Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:45 pm

Location

The Pacific Northest Westest

RCP: Mirchi Qorma (Northern Indian lamb & red chile curry

by Jenise » Wed Aug 06, 2014 5:04 pm

My husband has been talking about last night's dinner all morning. This recipe is in the latest issue of Saveur, and it is indeed one of the best Indian dishes I've ever made. I had most but not all of the ingredients, so some substitutions were required, plus I thought using and resuing a blender as I did bested their one use of a food processor. I'll include my changes in red. The temp on this was way up, not Paul Winalski-hot but Jenise-hot, which is fairly hot but not so incendiary as to render the rose we drank with the dish completely tasteless or leave our mouths on fire for hours afterward.


SERVES 4–6

Ingredients
6 dried Kashmiri chiles or pasilla chiles, stemmed
3 guajillo chiles plus 1 medium mild red bell pepper (cuz I had one that was getting soft, so why not
2 small red Thai chiles or 1 red jalapeño, stemmed
2 tblsp Aleppo pepper
2 lb. lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 2″ pieces
1 tbsp. black peppercorns
used green because I love the way they soften in stews)
4 green cardamom pods
1 stick cinnamon
¼ cup canola oil
1 tsp. kala jeera (black cumin seeds)
10 cloves garlic, mashed into a paste
2 Indian or regular bay leaves
¼ cup tamarind paste
Juice of one orange with 1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp. dried mint
1 tbsp. red chile powder, such as cayenne
did not use, the two chilis above provided all the heat needed
Kosher salt, to taste

Instructions
1. Heat a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high. Cook dried chiles until lightly toasted, 1–2 minutes. Transfer to a food processor; add fresh chiles and 1 cup water. Purée until smooth and return to pan. I used a blender, which came in handy again in step 2 belowAdd lamb, peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon, and 3 cups wateradded only 2 cups additional, was plenty; boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until lamb is very tender, about 1 hour. Transfer lamb mixture to a bowl.

2. Wipe pan clean; heat oil over medium-high. Cook cumin seeds, garlic, and bay leaves until seeds pop, 1–2 minutes. Add reserved lamb mixture, the tamarind paste, 1 tbsp. mint, the chile powder, and salt; boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook until thickened, about 1 hour. Garnish with remaining mint. I cooked the initial lamb mixture as prescribed. I then toasted the garlic and added it to my blender with a ladle full of the red chile sauce including every one of the cardamom pods and some fresh mint; I then toasted the kala jeera seeds and added everything back to the lamb pot and continued cooking as per the recipe.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
no avatar
User

Frank Deis

Rank

Wine guru

Posts

2333

Joined

Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:20 pm

Location

NJ

Re: RCP: Mirchi Qorma (Northern Indian lamb & red chile curry

by Frank Deis » Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:54 pm

Sounds really good. I should look for that Saveur. I love lamb in a curry…
no avatar
User

Paul Winalski

Rank

Wok Wielder

Posts

7974

Joined

Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:16 pm

Location

Merrimack, New Hampshire

Re: RCP: Mirchi Qorma (Northern Indian lamb & red chile curry

by Paul Winalski » Thu Aug 07, 2014 1:40 pm

Thanks for posting this, Jenise. This looks like a variant of the famous Kashmiri dish rogan josh.

It's worth trying to find Kashmiri chiles. My local Indian grocery store sells powdered Kashmiri chiles. These are not particularly hot, but they have a very vivid red color.

-Paul W.
no avatar
User

Jenise

Rank

FLDG Dishwasher

Posts

42549

Joined

Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:45 pm

Location

The Pacific Northest Westest

Re: RCP: Mirchi Qorma (Northern Indian lamb & red chile curry

by Jenise » Thu Aug 07, 2014 1:44 pm

Paul Winalski wrote:Thanks for posting this, Jenise. This looks like a variant of the famous Kashmiri dish rogan josh.

It's worth trying to find Kashmiri chiles. My local Indian grocery store sells powdered Kashmiri chiles. These are not particularly hot, but they have a very vivid red color.

-Paul W.


Oh, good info! The pic of this dish showed a very vivid red dish and Bob and I actually discussed whether or not they'd photoshopped it--obviously not. Mine couldn't get close, even with the addition of the sweet red bell pepper. I'll put Kashmiri chiles on my shopping list. In fact, Bob just suggested a trip over the border for lunch--that part of surrey has a huge Indian population, I've been meaning to look for a good Indian grocer up there and you've just given me a reason to make today the day.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
no avatar
User

Jenise

Rank

FLDG Dishwasher

Posts

42549

Joined

Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:45 pm

Location

The Pacific Northest Westest

Re: RCP: Mirchi Qorma (Northern Indian lamb & red chile curry

by Jenise » Thu Aug 07, 2014 7:57 pm

Paul, success! Thank you again for mentioning what you did, I now own a bag of super bright red chile powder called "Mirchi Degi". Thank god I posted the recipe here and remembered/could recognize the name 'Mirchi'.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ClaudeBot, DotBot, Jenise and 3 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign