Both my boys are now home for the holidays, that means loads of cooking and eating. My middle son already messaged to ask what I was cooking before I had breakfast. As soon as he entered home this morning, he says “I’m starving”. You would think they are never fed. It is a cool day in JHB so I thought a curry would be a good choice. I haven’t made this Lamb Kalya with yogurt and cream in a while and I thought he would appreciate a good curry.

Lamb Kalya with yogurt and cream is a rich, spicy and creamy dish. Whenever I cook it my kids absolutely devour it. It is so full of flavour with succulent, tender lamb pieces. It does require a lot of spices but it is one of the simplest dishes to cook.

For the Lamb Kalya you marinate the lamb with all the spices and it simmers on a low heat for a long time until the meat is melt-in-your-mouth delicious. It really isn’t one of those dishes to fuss over. I love cooking it. I prefer using cubes of lamb leg because it has minimal bone and my kids prefer the little chunky pieces of lamb in this dish.

The yogurt and cream gives the gravy that added richness and makes this dish all the more tantalising. It is best served with Naan Bread of Rice. I think this dish could work great cooked in a slow cooker as well. Especially if you are working, you can pop it all in  the slow cooker and let it cook for a few hours.

As always I recommend freshly roasted and ground spices. If you wish you can also fry you onion beforehand and add it to the marinated meat.

More of my Lamb Recipes:

Lamb Pilaf

Spicy Lamb Kebab Chutney (South African Recipe)

Lamb Pasta Bake

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Lamb Kalya with yogurt and cream

Aromatic and delicious slow-cooked lamb in a rich yogurt and cream sauce

Course MAIN COURSES

Cuisine Indian

Keyword iindian curry, lamb curry, lamb in yogurt and cream, lamb kalya

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

Marinating the Lamb

• 1 kg lamb pieces preferably the leg
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
• 1/2 tspn turmeric
• 2 tspn kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 tbsp medium masala
• 2 tspn ground cumin/jeera
• 1/2 tspn ground soomph/fennel
• 1 tspn garam masala
• 1 tspn ground coriander/dhania
• 1 tspn salt
• pinch of egg yellow food colouring
• 3 roma tomatoes skin removed and chopped
• Handful of mint leaves chopped

Cooking the Kalya

• 2 tbsp solid butter ghee
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 bay leaf
• 2 star aniseed
• 1 black cardamom/elachie
• 4 green cardamom/elachie
• 1/4 cup fresh cream

Instructions

• Marinate the lamb with all the spices, salt, yogurt, mint, tomatoes, ginger/garlic paste overnight or for an hour. Refrigerate
• In a large pot heat the butter ghee. Add the whole spices, cinnamon stick, bay leaf. star aniseed, black cardamom and green cardamom. Fry until fragrant
• Add the curry leaf and onion and fry until onion is golden brown
• Add the marinated meat and bring to a boil
• Lower the heat, cover and simmer. After 45 minutes add the fresh cream and simmer further until meat is tender and gravy thickens.
• In between cooking you can add a little water if you prefer for more gravy
• Serve with rice or naan bread

Notes

1. You can fry some potatoes and add it to the curry if you prefer
2. You can also add boiled eggs
3. If you are short on time you don't have to marinate your meat for a long time, however marinating overnight does allow all the flavours to really get into the meat