An easy Lamb Curry

My daughter loves Lamb and also curry, so her treat for the end of half-term was a lamb curry for lunch. I don't use spice mixes, but this is such an easy and tasty curry, you will be really surprised.

Ingredients
1lb neck of lamb fillet cut into cubes
1 large onion finely sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic
1 inch piece of root ginger
1 small onion
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 pint water
4 fresh tomatoes cut into quarters
1 tsp salt

Method
Fry the sliced onions in the 1 tbsp oil, keep an eye on the onions and make sure they don't burn, they need to turn a reddish brown. This will take about 5-10 minutes, remove from pan.  In a small food blender, pop in the garlic, ginger, small onion and about a tablespoon of water and blend until a puree. Add remaining oil and fry the puree over a gentle heat until turns golden brown, add back in the sliced fried onion. Add the spices and fry off for a minute, add the 1/2 pint of water, pop in the lamb and the tomatoes, add salt, ensure water is topped up to cover the meat. Pop on a lid and simmer gently until lamb is tender (about 1 hour, but keep testing).  When tender, remove lid to allow liquid to bubble off if necessary.
Serve with basmati rice.

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Ox-cheek in red wine

Well I love the Ox-cheek with mushroom ragout recipe is use, but suffering from a cold, feeling rough, and realising that I didn't have any mushrooms, I thought it was time for a change.

Ingredients
2 ox-cheeks cut into 1 inch cubes
2 onions cut into large chunks
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 sticks celery cut into large chunks
2 carrots chopped into large chunks
plain flour
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 pint red wine
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 pint beef stock
olive oil

Method
Preheat oven gas 3.
Fry off the onions, garlic, celery and carrots until the onions have slightly coloured, add to a large casserole dish. Toss ox-cheek in seasoned flour and brown on all sides in batches, adding to the casserole. Once all the meat is browned add the red wine to pan to bubble off the juices that are on the bottom of the pan, add the tomato puree and stir together. Add the stock, bring all the to boil and pour over the meat and veg. Put a bay leaf in and cover. Put in the oven and leave to cook for about 3 hours until tender.

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