Lamb and Chickpea Tandoori Stew
Speed - 95%
Simplicity - 95%
Tastiness - 100%
97%
Delicious!
There are lots of interesting flavors going on in this dish. Highly-recommended for those who love the taste of lamb. Cooking Indian food in the slow cooker is one of my favorite ways to do it because it's less labor intensive and allows those delicious flavors to combine and enhance for a longer period of time. Don't forget to get some naan bread. You could even pick some up from your local Indian restaurant if you don't want to take the time to make it yourself.
Ingredients
- 1/2 Kilo Lamb Shoulder cut into cubes
- 1 Cup Coconut Milk
- 3 Tablespoons Tandoori Paste
- 1 Cup Canned Chickpeas drained, washed
- 1 Cup Diced Canned Tomatoes
- 1 Pieces Onion finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoons Black Peppercorns
- 5 Pieces Green Cardamom Pods
- 3 Pieces Black Cardamom Pods
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 2 Pieces Bay Leaves
Instructions
- Marinate lamb in a mixture of coconut milk and tandoori paste for an hour.
- Sautee onions in a lightly oiled pan.
- Add in black peppercorns, green and black cardamom, cumin seeds, and bay leaves. Roast for a minute.
- Add in canned tomatoes and continue roasting for another minute.
- Add in lamb with the marinade and bring to a boil.
- Transfer everything to the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours.
- Add in chickpeas and allow to heat for about 10-15 minutes.
This is a slow cooker adaptation of the traditional Indian lamb and chickpea curry made uniquely interesting with a few ingredient modifications. It uses tandoori paste instead of the typical curry powder and coconut milk in place of yogurt. The tamarind component in the tandoori paste gives this dish a perfect tang to balance out the richness from the coconut milk and the robust flavors of lamb.
For this recipe, I suggest that you go for tougher cuts of lamb such as those from the shoulder part. These will naturally give off more lamb flavor and are cheaper compared to more premium cuts. Their tough meat won't be of any concern as we will be stewing them anyway which should render them perfectly tender.
Mix the coconut milk and tandoori paste in a bowl. I would suggest that you mix in the tandoori paste a tablespoon at a time and taste as you go along. There are no raw ingredients in this marinade and is totally safe to sample for its spice level. The spice you'll get at this point would be close to that you'll be achieving in the end, so adjust for it now.
Add in the lamb cubes to this marinade, season with a bit of salt, and let it sit for about an hour. This would be a good time to get the rest of your ingredients ready.
Chop up the onion, which you don't really have to do perfectly, as it'll melt away into the sauce given the long stewing time . Rinse the chickpeas thoroughly as you don't want any flavor from that brine in the can to go into your stew. Gather all the dry spices. You'll be dropping them altogether into the pan later for roasting, and you don't want to stress over searching your pantry at the very moment you need them.
In a lightly oiled pan, sauté the shallots until translucent. Constantly move them around with a spatula to keep them from burning.
Next to go in would be the dry spices – green and black cardamom pods, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and cumin seeds. Giving them this time to dry roast will significantly enhance their flavors and aromas. This should take a little over a minute. You'll know if you've done enough roasting once they turn really aromatic. You'll also notice those cardamom pods open slightly.
Though I've tested a lot of slow cookers this year, I still go back to my favorite brands time and time again. One of these is of course Crock-Pot. You don't have to get fancy with a slow cooker! Just a standard manual slow cooker that costs about twenty bucks is enough to cook delicious meals.
Add in the tomatoes next. Sauté them until they give off that bright red tint to your pan. Doing this will improve the vibrance of your final dish.
Add in the lamb together with the marinade and bring it to a quick boil. Transfer everything to a slow cooker and allow to stew for about six hours at a low setting. You may pour in the chickpeas at this this time if you want them to fall apart into the sauce, eventually giving it more body. If you'll want more texture from them though, like I personally do, wait until the final fifteen minutes of your cooking before adding them in.
Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves to freshen up the flavors and for added aroma.
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Ingredients
- 1/2 Kilo Lamb Shoulder cut into cubes
- 1 Cup Coconut Milk
- 3 Tablespoons Tandoori Paste
- 1 Cup Canned Chickpeas drained, washed
- 1 Cup Diced Canned Tomatoes
- 1 Pieces Onion finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoons Black Peppercorns
- 5 Pieces Green Cardamom Pods
- 3 Pieces Black Cardamom Pods
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 2 Pieces Bay Leaves
Instructions
- Marinate lamb in a mixture of coconut milk and tandoori paste for an hour.
- Sautee onions in a lightly oiled pan.
- Add in black peppercorns, green and black cardamom, cumin seeds, and bay leaves. Roast for a minute.
- Add in canned tomatoes and continue roasting for another minute.
- Add in lamb with the marinade and bring to a boil.
- Transfer everything to the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours.
- Add in chickpeas and allow to heat for about 10-15 minutes.
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