It was a busy weekend, even without the FAMILY descending upon us. On Friday I went to a lovely tea party at my friend’s house. For the rest of the weekend, Dad & I put a dent in the never-ending To-Do list. By Sunday afternoon, I found myself (in a rare moment) home alone. I looked in the freezer for any dinner ideas. A lone packet of lamb shoulder sat at the bottom covered in frost. So, this isn’t really an experiment, but more of a test if I could make the Gosht on the fly. Therefore, no recipe notebook, no looking on the internet, and no calling Mom to remind me of the ingredients. Let’s see how I did.

A note to consider: I hate measuring. This is probably why the majority of my baking efforts never turn out how they should. As far as measurements for this recipe go, I keep a plastic spoon in the spice cabinet and eyeball the amounts. I’ve tried my best to provide a more scientific accounting of what I am doing. But as with all dishes, do little taste tests throughout the cooking process.

What you’ll need:

• 1.5 – 2 lbs. of Lamb shoulder or leg (cut into 1.5″ chunks)
• 1 med. Onion (sliced thin)
• 1 tsp. Salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp. ground Turmeric
• 1 tsp. Chili powder (more if you like it spicy!)
• 1 tbsp. ground Coriander
• 1 tbsp. Garlic paste
• 1 black Cardamom, whole
• 2 Cloves, whole
• 1/4 cup of Canola Oil
• 1 cup of Water (more if you like a thinner curry)

After thoroughly washing the meat, I then had the great pleasure of trimming the fat – as much as I could. Put the meat into a pot and heat to med. high.

It will take at least 5 min. to brown the meat.

Once most of the water has evaporated, put in the onions, oil and salt. Stir to coat everything in the oil.

Now it’s time to spice it up! Add Turmeric, Chili powder, Coriander, and Garlic paste.

Stir it up to roast the spices a bit and mix everything up. It should start to smell fragrant, but don’t let the spices burn. Once all the pieces of meat are coated in the spices, add Water, Cardamom, and Cloves.

Once it starts to simmer, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low.

Now leave it alone! Don’t keep opening the lid to check it. Trust that all is well. Because once you lift the lid all that built up steam will escape and your meat will turn tough. My standard is to stir it after 1.5 hrs. Then let it cook undisturbed for another 30 min.

The curry will darken and the meat should be tender and fall apart easily. I prefer to eat this with pita bread. However, roti, chappati, or steamed basmati rice is good, too.