Dhaniwal Korma

Celticevergreen's Note:

The recipe came from one of Madhur Jaffrey's cookbooks and is served at Dawat, a restaurant she co-owns, in New York City.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 whole chickens, cut into parts, skinned or 3 lbs lamb stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• salt, to taste
• 2 black cardamom pods
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 onions, sliced in half rings
• 5 black peppercorns
• 3 whole cloves
• 3 cardamom pods
• 1 (1 1/2 inch) cinnamon sticks
• 4 cups yogurt, stirred lightly
• 5 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. Combine meat, water, turmeric, salt, and black cardamom pods in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer 20 minutes for chicken and 45 to 50 minutes for lamb, until meat is cooked. Remove meat, reserving broth.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onions and sauté until reddish brown and crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels.
3. Add spices to the skillet and stir. Add yogurt and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture has reduced to a thick sauce.
4. Add meat to the yogurt sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 to 4 minutes. Add reserved broth. Continue cooking until sauce is reduced to come about 1/3 of the way up the meat.
5. Crumble onions and sprinkle over meat. Stir in cilantro and pepper. Spoon off excess oil and remove whole spices before serving.
6. Serve with rice.

Reviews

[Mia in Germany]

This was one of the best kormas I've had so far. Made it with lamb as suggested which needed approx. one hour to cook. I'm not sure if it makes a great difference to use green cardamom pods - that's what I had, and I've never tried black ones. Also I must admit that accidentally I mixed in one cup of vanilla yoghurt - I make my own nut yoghurt and didn't mark the vanilla ones, so one of them went into the korma. It's not a really sweet yoghurt, though, and only a hint of vanilla flavor which blended wonderfully with the other spices. This probably will become my standard for lamb korma. Thanks for posting! Made for India - More Than Just Curries Tag Game.