Hairy Bikers Lamb Vindaloo Recipe

This Hairy Bikers lamb vindaloo from Meat Feasts marinates lamb shoulder in red wine vinegar then braises it in a spiced double onion sauce with potatoes. And it serves six in about two hours of oven time at around 700 calories, plus two hours marinating beforehand.

The Goan roots show in the vinegar, which is a Portuguese trick that tenderises the meat and cuts through the chilli heat. And the potatoes going in halfway are traditional Goan, not a British curry house addition, because they soak up the lamb fat and go impossibly soft.

Most vindaloo recipes fry the onions one way, but this one uses a double method. So three get slow-fried until golden while a fourth gets blitzed raw with the garlic, ginger and spices into a paste.

Hairy Bikers Lamb Vindaloo Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Braising Cuisine:British Indian Courses:Main Course

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 20 minutesCook time:2 hours 20 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time:2 hours 40 minutesServings:6 servingsCalories:700 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

A proper Goan-style lamb vindaloo from Meat Feasts where shoulder marinates in red wine vinegar, then braises in a double onion spice paste with potatoes added halfway through. Allow two hours marinating time before cooking.

Ingredients

For the Marinade:

• 1.3kg boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 4cm chunks
• 100ml red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp sea salt flakes

For the Sauce:

• 125ml vegetable oil
• 4 onions (3 thinly sliced, 1 roughly chopped)
• 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 3 long red chillies, roughly chopped (do not deseed)
• 25g fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp English mustard powder
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp ground paprika
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 bay leaves
• 500g potatoes, peeled and cut into 2.5cm chunks

Instructions

1. Marinate the lamb: Trim the lamb and cut into chunks, keeping a bit of fat for flavour. Mix the vinegar, oil and salt in a non-metallic bowl, add the lamb and turn to coat. Cover and chill for two hours.
2. Slow-fry the onions: Heat three tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan and cook the three sliced onions very gently over a medium-low heat for fifteen minutes until softened and golden, stirring now and then.
3. Make the spice paste: While the onions cook, blitz the remaining chopped onion with the garlic, chillies, ginger, mustard powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric, cayenne and cinnamon in a food processor until smooth. Stir this paste into the fried onions, add two more tablespoons of oil and cook for five minutes until thickened and starting to colour. Tip everything into a flameproof casserole dish.
4. Brown the lamb: Drain the lamb in a colander over a bowl, keeping the marinade. Fry the lamb in the same pan in four or five batches until lightly browned on all sides, adding a splash more oil between batches if needed. Transfer each batch to the casserole as it browns.
5. Braise: Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Pour the reserved marinade and 500ml of water into the casserole, add two teaspoons of salt and the bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Press a piece of greaseproof paper onto the surface, then cover with the lid. Cook in the oven for 45 minutes.
6. Add potatoes and finish: Stir the potato chunks into the curry, replace the paper and lid, and cook for another hour until the lamb and potatoes are very tender. Serve with rice or warmed naan and a bowl of cooling yoghurt.

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FAQs

Why does the sauce use two types of onion?

The three sliced onions get slow-fried for fifteen minutes until golden, which brings out their natural sweetness and gives the sauce its deep brown colour. The fourth onion goes in raw, pureed with the garlic, ginger and spices, which thickens the sauce and gives it body.

Together they do two different jobs that one method alone cannot manage. The fried onions melt into the background and sweeten while the raw one binds the paste, and that is why this vindaloo tastes richer than most.

What does the greaseproof paper do?

It sits directly on the surface of the curry under the lid and traps steam tighter than the lid alone. This keeps the lamb submerged and braising evenly rather than drying out where it pokes above the sauce.

You can use baking parchment if you do not have greaseproof paper, but do not use foil because the vinegar reacts with aluminium and can give the curry a metallic taste.

Can I make this in a slow cooker?

Build the sauce and brown the lamb on the hob as written, since a slow cooker cannot give you the browning or the paste reduction. Transfer everything to the slow cooker with the marinade and water, then cook on low for five to seven hours.

Add the potatoes for the last two hours so they do not fall apart completely. The greaseproof paper trick is not needed in a slow cooker because the sealed lid already traps enough moisture.

Is there a quicker version?

The Everyday Winners book has a Lamb Kofte Vindaloo that takes about 40 minutes. It uses oven-baked lamb meatballs made with oregano, pine nuts and basil dropped into a quick vindaloo sauce, and it is a completely different dish that borrows the vindaloo name for a weeknight meal.

That same book also has a homemade vindaloo spice paste recipe if you want to batch it and keep a jar in the fridge. Making the paste in advance cuts the prep time on this full version down to ten minutes.

How hot is this vindaloo?

Three whole red chillies with seeds plus two teaspoons of cayenne makes it properly hot, but not painfully so. If you want it milder, deseed the chillies and halve the cayenne. If you want it fiercer, add an extra teaspoon of cayenne or throw in a scotch bonnet.

The cooling yoghurt on the side is not optional if you are serving this to people who are not used to heat. And the lamb shoulder from the same book takes a gentler Indian route with yoghurt and curry powder if you want spiced lamb without the vindaloo burn.