I’ve been trying to find an authentic curry recipe for a long, long time and still have yet to find one that satisifies my curry house cravings.

This one comes the closest, but to be honest, the spices in this curry were quite bland and I had to add some more ingredients to give it some kick, otherwise it was very mild! The finished result was very tasty and I would make this again – but definitely up the spice amounts!

• 4 tbsps ghee
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1tbsp grated ginger
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 1tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cayenne pepper
• 200g chopped tomatoes
• 4tbsp plain yoghurt
• 1.25 lb lamb mince
• 1.25 tsp salt
• 250ml/8oz water
• 2tbsp lemon juice
• 150g/5oz fresh or frozen peas

Instructions

1. Put the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion, garlic and ginger and stir until lightly browned.Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper and stir for 10 seconds.
2. Stir in the tomatoes and yoghurt. Cook on a medium-high heat until the tomatoes have softened.
3. Add the mince and salt. Stir for two minutes, breaking all the lumps. Stir in the water and bring to a simmer, then cover. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.(I tasted it at this point and thought it was completely bland – so I added some dried chilli flakes for a bit of heat).
4. Add the lemon juice and the peas and cook gently for 10 minutes. (If you want to retain any colour or flavour in your peas, they shouldn’t be cooked longer than a minute or two – I just simmered it for a couple of minutes before taking it off the heat. I also added some fresh coriander for more flavour).

Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey