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:
Spicy Lamb Kebab Chutney (South African Recipe)
Lamb Kalya with yogurt and cream
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
- You can fry some potatoes and add it to the curry if you prefer
- You can also add boiled eggs
- 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
Hi Lorraine,
Thank you for the Dhall Roti recipe and for the Kalya recipe. I have my Mom’s recipes but they don’t have exact quantities and the method is missing some steps. really wanted to make this for Christmas dinner this year. I have been going through tons of You Tube videos tearing my hair out because the stuff did not look like my Mum’s at all. My mum passed away and I regret not getting details from her. its always too late or too early to call home. I live in the US now. I will make a chicken Kalya with fried potatoes of course!
So thanks again
will let you how they turned out. Have a wonderful holiday season! Crystal
Hi Crystal!
Sorry to hear about your mum. Don’t mums always make the best food. Pity you never got your mums recipes. I am glad that I could help with a recipe and I do hope it is as good as your mums. If you need any help following the recipe you are welcome to message me. Good luck with the cooking. Please do let me know how it turns out. Happy Holidays 🙂
Your recipes are so simple and so easy to follow. Your food looks delicious and i am sure i am going to attempt a few of them
Thank you so much Roanne:-)
Hi Lorraine.. I with like to say.. I cooked ur recipe yesterday for Eid.. And it came out perfect.. My family loved it. Thy just couldn’t stop talking about ur recipe. We had it with garlic naan. It was really finger licking good.. Thank you once again..
Hi Jayshree! Thank you so much, so glad the recipe turned out well and your family loved it. Hope you had a lovely Eid. Take Care:-)
Hi Lorraine.
Your food looks absolutely delicious! Thank you ! Want to attemp the lamb kalya today. Just a quick question if you don’t mind? What is “ medium masala”? I do know of garam masala but am a tad confused wrt “ medium masala”? Really want to follow your recipe exactly, so appreciate your feedback. Thank you once again!
Hi Zarina! Thank you so much. Medium masala, was just referring to the strength/heat of the masala. I think I should change that so I don’t confuse people anu further. Good luck with the recipe and hope to hear how it turns out. Have a lovely day:-)