Lamb Curry (Jungli Maas)

Project Description

Jungli Maas seems to honour the Chilli in a way no other dish does, it is a simple 3 ingredient dish and tastes awesome despite it’s simplicity.

Legend has it the dish created by the Maharaja of Salwar (Rajasthan), or more likely a lowly cook in his employ. The Maharaja was a mad keen game hunter. (‘Jungli’ means wild game, and ‘Maas’ means meat), animals killed on the hunt would be cleaned, salted and cooked in Ghee with dried cayenne pepper. The tender meat could be kept submerged in Ghee without refrigeration for days and reheated as needed, a confit if you like.

The simple use of chilli and almost nothing else lets the true flavour of the chilli shine, and I like that.

BBQ Jungli Maas

Leg or shoulder of Lamb (or Goat)

600ml (pint) good beef or chicken stock

Ghee

Dried Chillies (lots) at least 20 pods (choose carefully, this is the heat and the flavour)

Salt

Pepper

** I have made this with dried Ancho with great success.

You could brine the first lamb if you like.

Coat the lamb with a rub of salt and pepper

BBQ the lamb at 85°C (185°F) for 4 hours to get a bit of smoke on it.

Meanwhile cut the top from half to 2/3 of the chillies and tip out the seeds (leave them in if you are crazy).

Heat a roasting pan, add the ghee, sear the lamb on all sides, remove from the heat add the stock and the chillies.

Place the Lamb in the roasting dish back in the BBQ for roughly another 4 hours till the meat is soft and falling from the bone. Baste the Lamb with the pan juices every half hour or so.

Serve it up with some grilled Naan bread or grilled Pea Bread (see recipe) as I do to sop up the juices!

This is a fantastic and easy dish, either made the traditional way or by my BBQ version. If there are any leftovers I’ll recook it all together till I get a dry almost stringy mess, this is fabulous on toast for breakfast or keep it in a tub covered in butter or ghee like you would potted prawns or pate, it’s a great addition to a cheese plate!