Handi Lamb

Handi Lamb

Handi is a type of cooking pot but the word is often used to describe the food that might be cooked in a handi.

The recipe below is my version of the dish I cooked with Chef Lokesh Mathur in his cooking class in Jaipur.

Mr. Lokesh gave me a recipe which we then did not follow so I relied on my notes.

Serves 4

Ingredients

About 1 kg lamb on the bone. Scrag end of neck is suitable, I sometimes use Barnsley chops but these are probably rather expensive for this dish. 

coriander seeds

green cardamons

brown cardamon

cloves

peppercorns

1 onion

melon seeds

asafoetida powder 

chilli powder

melon seeds (ground)

garlic and ginger paste

salt

Cover the meat with water and boil for about 30 minutes. Skim off any fat after about 10 min. Remove the meat and keep the cooking water (to use later). If the pieces of meat are small enough, leave them on the bone, otherwise, strip off the meat and discard the bone.

Crush 2 tsps coriander seeds, about 8 green cardamons, 1 brown cardamon, 8 cloves and a tsp peppercorns. Add the spices to some ghee heated in a heavy bottomed pan. fry briefly, add a medium onion, sliced thinly. When it has softened, add 1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing) powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 2 tsps ground melon seeds and 2 tsps garlic & ginger paste and salt. Fry for 5 minutes; add enough lamb cooking water to make a thick gravy. Add the pieces of lamb, stir well, cover and cook for another 10 min. You might want to add a little lamb water.

Garlic and ginger paste. You can buy this in an Asian shop. To make your own, place about one inch of peeled ginger root and eight garlic cloves with a little water in a small food processor and whizz together.