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This is a mutton curry recipe I found in “Singapore Food” by Wendy Hutton. I'm copying it here because I've deviated from the original in a number of ways. In particular, it uses about double the quantity of spices. Why do Western books recommend so few spices? This is no criticism of Wendy Hutton: other recipe books recommend as little as a tenth of the correct quantity of spices.
quantity | ingredient | step |
40 ml | coriander seeds | 1 |
20 ml | cumminseed | 1 |
10 ml | fennel seed | 1 |
3 cm | cinnamon stick | 1 |
8 | cloves | 1 |
5 ml | black peppercorns | 1 |
1/8 | nutmeg | 1 |
20 ml | turmeric | 1 |
30 ml | hot chili powder | 1 |
300 g | onions | 2 |
4 | cloves garlic | 2 |
3 cm | ginger | 2 |
500 g | mutton | 3 |
200 ml | coconut milk | 4 |
40 ml | tamarind concentrate | 4 |
Bake the whole spices in the oven at 50° for about 10 minutes to dry them out (otherwise they will clog up the grinder). Grind in a spice grinder. If any are already powdered spices, add them now. Mix with enough water to make a thick paste.
Finely mince the onions, ginger and garlic. Fry in oil until the paste starts to dry out (the oil will separate), about 3 minutes.
Add the spice paste and mix well. Cook for another 3 or 4 minutes.
Add the meat and mix in well. Add water to cover and 1½ teaspoons of salt. Bring to the boil and simmer until nearly cooked, which can be a long time (up to 1½ hours).
Add the coconut milk and tamarind paste and cook for another 10 minutes.
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