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Lamb Curry - Recipe

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Apocalypse
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Lamb Curry - Recipe

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Post by Apocalypse »

So, to get the food section rolling , I'll post something old from a few years ago when I did a couple of articles for Leisure wheels.

the idea really is to put together a load of recipes that people can cook in the bush , or while camping or at home - this is easy to do in a driepoot and a pan for the bread and poppadoms. all the ingredients are easy to transport - refrigerated or frozen or are dried.

This recipe was before the advent of 'Apocalypse' Triggerfish beer.... which also goes very well with this curry.

For those of you familiar with Apocalypse - I know quite a few people are big fans - Crazy Diamond is heavier on the alcohol and definitely richer across the tastebuds....

Anyway.

here we go. Recipe at the bottom. this is the unedited version - the original (edited) version appeared in Leisure wheels a few years ago.




Pub Crawl / Beer Run


My little girl was only 3 at the time. (this was many , many years ago when I was still young and slim). We were on holiday at my aunt’s rambling old farmhouse in the English Countryside.

We had spent the day at a working farm looking at the animals - piglets squealing and charging around, calves tumbling and playing in the fields., lambs gamboling and generally being obnoxiously cute, chickens being stupid, geese attacking everything that moved and foul smells being emitted by all of them. A fun filled day that all parents are required to endure at some point.

Thankfully, eventually , it was over and we went home for supper. Supper was to be lamb chops.

While we were preparing the meal, my little angel said, all 3 year old wide eyed innocence, “isn’t it funny that this food has the same name as those cute little lambs outside!!!”

My little girl is pretty sharp. I didn’t say a word. It was one of those Original sin moments. the apple was eaten. Innocence was lost. The horror of the situation set in.

The face of a cross 3 year old is well known to every parent , pure , innocent unadulterated anger. You just don’t get that in people over the age of 6. the hands were placed on the hips. the foot was stamped. the chin went down and ‘the look’ was adopted. There was silence as we waited for the wrath of a 3 year old girl. The right arm went up, straight out with the finger pointed accusingly at the frolicking lambs “ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT WE ARE EATING THOSE CUTE LITTLE LAMBS FOR SUPPER?!?!?!”

“erm. yes my angel, we are”

a brief moment of thought.

“so, Daddy. Where does Beef and Pork come from?”

Honesty is the best policy. I took the plunge and told the truth. “That comes from Calves and piglets baby angel”

horror . “AND CHICKEN?!?!?!?”

“ go on. guess…”

The foot was stamped again. with more venom. the hand went back to the hip. the angry face got angrier. the chin went further down. her little blue eyes glared at me from under her wrinkled brow. the lower lip quivered.

“ I AM NEVER EATING MEAT AGAIN” she declared.

“yes my angel, I understand”


So, an hour later, her brow still furrowed, she was presented with a plate of steamed veggies. ‘Delicious’ Cauliflower, carrots and courgettes. In the middle of the table was placed an aromatic heap of lamb chops for the rest of us - the smell of thyme and garlic filling the room…

Look. I am a soutie, we do eat veggies, but her mother is from Pretoria. Rys, Vleis and Aartapples are food. Vegetables are simply punishment for naughty children. She didn’t stand a chance. She took one look at the plate of veggies and the cross face was replaced with the horrified face.

“ I’m sure the lambs don’t mind THAT much” she said, reached over and stacked her plate with chops like a true South African and, mercifully, her vegetarian phase was over in under 60 minutes.


Of course, the world is not a kind place. retribution often comes quickly. A couple of months later, back in Africa, I read a report that SA Breweries was pulling out of South Africa and listing on the London stock exchange. . “SCREW THEM “ I cried. “TRAITORS!!” I roared. “SPAWN OF HELL” I shouted. I stamped my foot and did the whole angry face thing.

I found my beret, dusted it off and placed it on my head at a rakish angle. I raised my fist and declared “ I SHALL NEVER DRINK ANOTHER SAB BEER!!!!!” and symbolically poured the remainder of my Amstel into the garden.

In a horribly ironic moment, my 3 year old daughter looked at me , full of innocence, and said “so Dad, what are you going to drink now?”

Kids. they always get you back. Every time. Monsters. Yet another revolution fell apart in the face of horrible reality. It took a 3 year old to see the sad truth. The only beer on the market was SAB. I opened another Amstel and contemplated the bleak future - South Africans dependant on foreign overlords for our beer.

And this was South Africa in the old days. It’s hard to imagine this, but , back then, not only did we not have cell phones, nor internet, not only did we have to endure black, scratchy, vinyl based audio and, worse , shoddy VHS imagery, we had but a single Rugby World Cup in the nation’s trophy cabinet, and, tragically, THE ONLY BEER AVAILABLE WAS SAB BEER.

The kids of today just don’t believe you when you tell them how hard it was in Africa in the nineties.

But - there was hope for the revolution . In those dark days we still lived on the wrong side of the pretty mountains. JHB was a Machiavellian hell of castle and black label. But, down in the colonies the dissidents took up the challenge. Mitchells Brewery had been in Knysna for years, and they were persuaded to share some of their finest with the rest of us. (under protest and in 2 litre PLASTIC bottles might I add. just so we northerners understood their contempt for us) There was Helderberg Brauery in the WC - Sadly, this esteemed establishment has been closed down (however, in yet another ironic twist of fate, the premises are now the school at which my little angel shall complete her matric. Education at a brewery makes me very very happy.)

Today there are dozens of independent breweries in South Africa and they are especially thick on the ground here in the Western Cape - the Beer route is now as big a drawcard as the Wine route.

For the next few episodes we’’ll be visiting various breweries around the Cape, and tasting what they have on offer.

Generally speaking we’ll be including some details on the trip to the brewery (after all, this IS leisure wheels and the journey is as important as the destination) but our first port of call is Triggerfish, and it’s only 200m away from my workshops in Paardevlei, which is the old AECI explosives site. It’s well worth a visit for anyone that finds themselves in the Winelands - There are several Herbert Baker houses built in the 1900s, as well as many other historic industrial buildings in the complex, Flagstone Wines occupy the old power station, plus you can visit the Cheetah outreach project in the old clubhouse.

Triggerfish is contained in the old sawdusting building - a beautiful Victorian industrial building set incronguously in a large open park.. you can hear the breakers 100m away on the other side of the Dune, but the beach is still off limits to us mere mortals. This must surely be one of the most unspoilt beaches on the false bay coastline, I can only hope that it stays that way for years to come.

Triggerfish is fairly unique in that they have 18 different beers on offer, and the Brewmaster, Eric van Heerden , always has something a little special gurgling away in the back room. The Tap Room is open Tuesday , Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday 12h00 to 19h00, and Fridays 12h00 to 21h00. The regular beers are on tap from R20 to R30 each , as well as a selection that are bottled for take away.

It’s a huge range, and a great introduction to the different styles of beer. Tasting is recommended - There is an American Pale Ale, Indian Pale Ale, English Bitter, Brown Ale, Hybrid Pilsner , Sweet Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Alt Beer, Weiss Bier, Barley Wine, Russian Imperial Stout - and a few more - my personal favourite is Titan , a hoppy Imperial Indian Pale Ale and, at 8.8% b/v it’s only available in 340ml servings…


but what we are here for today is his latest limited edition beer - “Crazy Diamond” - In fact it’s a collaboration between Eric and Andre de Beer from Cockpits brewhouse in Cullinan. This is the ‘Southern Barrel’ - Andre will be releasing his “Northern Barrel’ to the unfortunates that live beyond the pretty mountains at about the same time. The Southern Barrel is presented in a 750ml corked and wired bottle in a wooden box, and the batch only yielded 200 bottles. at R250/bottle it’s more than I like to spend on good wines, never mind beer - even though, at 13.2%b/v it has similar alcohol content to wine - it’s an AWFUL lot of money for a beer… However, this type of “hand Crafted” beer is gaining popularity, and beer is finally growing up. No longer are you condemned to the wobbly children’s table with a sticky plastic table cloth and a meal of ‘chicken strips’ or ‘vienna and chips’ - You can now drink real beer with the adults at a real restaurant with real food and a proper linen napkin. The kids are now eating at the adults table. Move up Granny and leave that nasty Sweet White wine in the fridge, because you are going to LOVE this…

Crazy Diamond is ,at heart , a Belgian Dark Strong Ale — like most beers, there is an interesting story behind Belgian strong ale. Many years ago - before the Dutch and English had even started fighting over Cape Town - the politicians in Europe had already begun to persecute beer drinkers. The Belgian beers were taxed on malt content, so, being good brewers, the Belgians worked out that keeping the malt content down and chucking in a heap of sugar to increase the alcohol content would give you the best bang for your Belgian Franc.

Crazy Diamond takes is a step further - it’s fermented 4 times - once, as normal with grain , malt and hops, then when fermentation slows down the ‘yeast gets another meal’ as Eric puts it (i.e. sugar is added) and a second later serving of sugar once the first lot has settled, To finish it off it gets a final meal of minced Raisins. that takes 4 weeks and raises the alcohol level considerably - which is necessary to prevent the fruit from spoiling, The Ale is then conditioned for a further 6 months before being bottled. If you consider that commercial beer is brewed for only 7 days before bottling you start to understand why proper beer tastes a whole lot better!

Quite Frankly though - you can keep Raisins. I do not like them. Bobotie would be fantastic if people didn’t ruin it with Raisins. Why on earth anyone would put them into a delicious apple strudel is beyond my comprehension. so I did approach this beer with some trepidation.

I am happy to report though, that once the yeast has finished digesting them Raisins are in fact delicious. To describe this Ale.. It’s the colour of dark caramelised sugar with a small creamy head, not heavily carbonised. There is a distinct sweet aroma, almost like (real) maple syrup. It predictably tastes slightly sweet, The Raisins are there, but certainly not an overpowering flavour. The caramel and dark bitter chocolate flavours are more predominant - Eric certainly didn’t skimp on the Malt like the Belgians did! The flavour stays in the mouth - it’s a slightly ‘thick’ and ‘sticky’ beer which means the flavours linger, the caramel slowly fading away until there is only the taste of that very dark unsweetened chocolate…


So - what do you eat with something like Crazy Diamond? It’s definitely not something to waste on bangers and mash. The biggest problem with Triggerfish (and many of the craft beer places) is that they serve grown up beer but the food is still pub orientated and a bit ordinary. To be very fair, the average friday afternoon sees Triggerfish full of trendy-trying-to-be-a-hipster varsity students drinking far better beer than I could lay my hands on as a student. but, some things are eternal, students drink a lot of beer, and for that you are going to need some good solid starchy food.

and, it’s definitely a good quality of solid starchy food, for instance the Bratwurst is locally hand made by a real bavarian, on a really nice fresh yeasty bun with Sauerkraut and proper mustard, it costs R25 and it’s far superior to the popular fast food type meals.. but still….. ordinary.


Crazy Diamond needs something special, so … we plotted . Now, you do have to be careful about plotting while savouring a 13.2% alcohol content beer. First of all, beer drinkers swallow. We don’t do spitters. So, a couple of glasses of Crazy Diamond in half an hour leaves you a little wobbly. Fortunately I’d had the foresight to bring the lovely Yogagirl along to do the driving honours. Please do bear this in mind when drinking craft beers - they often have high alcohol contents and you can easily find yourself under the influence very quickly , and well over the legal limit. Drinking and Driving is not smart. Don’t do it. Have a nominated driver, or take a taxi . Lecture over.

Anyway, we did manage to decide on the perfect meal in the end, A mild and very aromatic lamb curry with Rotis, Poppadoms, Atchars, the usual Sambals, but no other starches. I made up the curry the following day and we tested it for suitability and I had to be driven home again!!!

Eric will serve this at the launch of the Southern Barrel of Crazy Diamond, and I’ll probably need to be driven home once more. The recipe is on the side panel for those that would like to try it - also very good in a Potjie served with any sweet stout or other robust beer.

Right! I’m off to do some more research. Life is hell in the colonies I tell you!
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Crazy Diamond Inspired Aromatic Lamb Curry

Ingredients :

Stock:

Couple of Marrow Bones. couple of peeled carrots (whole) , bay leaves, Peeled Onion (quartered)

The Curry:

1.5 kg Deboned leg of lamb, trimmed of fat and cut into 40mm cubes. keep fat for stock.
500g Onions, finely grated or blended
60g Ginger, grated
100g Fresh Garlic, Crushed
25g Tumeric
100g mild curry powder
1 tin (400g) of tomatoes, strained, keep pulp for stock.
30g Whole Fennel
30g Whole Coriander
30g Whole Cumin
10g Black peppercorns
5 Cardomom pods
250ml Cream
Tin of Coconut Cream
60ml Honey
8 to 10 Whole Chillis - birdseye or simlar.
Bunch of fresh Coriander


Start with the Stock - Fry the Bones and Fat in a stock pot until browned, add the Onion, Carrot, Bay leaves, Tomoto pulp and 1.5litres of water and leave to simmer away for a couple of hours. You should reduce it to about 750ml of water.

Heat some oil in a Flat bottomed potjie and fry the Lamb until brown - That would be brown please - not “kind of beige”. Brown. Thankyou.

“scorch’ the Fennel, Coriander and Cumin in a dry pan, grind it up with the black peppercorns in a mortar and pestle, or a spice grinder.

Take the meat out and put the cardamom pods into the oil - remember how many, because you are going to need to fish those out soon, then add the grated Onion, Ginger, Garlic and whole chillis, and fry until the onion is brown. I find that squeezing the liquid out of the Onion through some muslin cloth means the onions brown nicely, and you can then add the liquid afterwards. Do not rupture the chillis , or remove the ‘cap’ (stem) - this way they will impart only a slight ‘hot’ flavour to the curry, which won’t offend those with more delicate palates, and the ruffians can just cut them up to increase the burn…

Once the Onions and liquid have cooked down, fish out the cardamom pods, put the meat back in, once the meat is warm again, add the Tumeric, Curry powder, Ground Spices, to make a paste and fry for a minute or so.

add the strained stock , tomato and half the Coconut cream and half the fresh cream. Stir, and allow to simmer for a couple of hours. It does need to be stirred occasionally to ensure the bottom does not burn, but don’t get too vigorus or the meat will break up…

5 minutes before serving gently stir in the rest of the creams, the honey and the chopped Coriander.

Sambals:

Rotis (it’s easier to buy pre made) that have been browned in a dry pan
Poppadoms - also easier if they are pre made, 15 seconds in hot oil and drain well.
Atchar - I often make my own, but if you are buying it - Pakgo vegetable Atchar is the one to get!
Tomato and Onion Salsa - chop equal amounts of Fresh Toamto and Onion into 5mm cubes . Add some lemon juice and chopped Coriander and mix.
Cucumber Raita - Grate about 1/2 a Cucumber (skin on) and add 250ml of Double Cream Greek Yoghurt , and a teaspoon of Paprika. stir.

You can also serve this with rice, preferably Basmati with some Tumeric .

and never forget the important bit - BEER!
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes

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