Lamb Handi and mango lassi

A few years ago, I tried the lamb handi for the first time in an Indian retaurant on the curry mile (Rusholme in Manchester, where Indian restaurants stretch on a mile of road, on both sides!). It dawned on me it was the best Indian Curry i'd ever had. BUT, never ever I tasted it that way again. So I decided that the best way to taste it again was to try and reproduce it at home. What got me in this curry is a particular and perfect tanginess, where I recognised fresh ginger, cardamon, tomatoes and tamarind (and maybe lime?).
To start it off, I looked on the internet for handi, and I hardly found anything. I used as a base the cooking method found in a recipe called mutton handi althought it missed the ingredients I had guessed.

So here's what I concocted in my kitchen:

Ingredients for 4
- 1 kg of lamb with bones
- 2 large onions
- 1 bunch of fresh mint leaves or a big spoon of dried mint
- 2 tsp mustard oil (or vegetable oil)
- 2 pieces of green cardamom)
- 2 pieces of black cardamom: I did not have any when I made the recipe....
- 2 pieces of cinnamon (or 1 tsp of powder)
- 1 thumb of fresh ginger
- 3 garlic cloves (remove the germ)
- vegetable oil
- fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)
- 2 tsp garam masala powder
- 1tsp chili powder or 2 fresh chilis or chili flakes, or chili oil... to taste
- 1/2tsp tamarind
- 2tsp turmeric powder
- 1tsp coriander powder
- 1 can chopped tomatoes (fresh tomatoes in season)
- salt to taste
- 1 small pinch of salt

Marinate the washed, dried lamb with the salt, the mustard oil, the turmeric powder, the chili powder and the coriander powder for 2 hours.

In a blender, place the onions onions, the garam masalas, the fresh coriander leaves, the mint mint leaves, the ginger and the garlic cloves and blend not too finely.Heat some vegetable oil in a wok.
Add in the blended mixture and saute for 5 mins.
Add the marinated lamb pieces. Cook for 10 mins.
Add a pinch of salt, turmeric and chilly powder.
Add water tomatoes and tamarind and cover cook till the sauce is dense and lamb pieces are tender.Garnish with freshly cut coriander leaves. Serve hot with plain rice, roti or paratha.
I really enjoyed this dish. It was not exactly exactly as I remembered it, but still, I will do it again and will strive to perfection!! and I'll add some fresh lime...

Serve with a mango lassi:

In a blender, mix 500g yoghurt, 1 ball vanilla ice cream, 1fresh mango peeled and boned, 3 or 4 ice cubes, and adjust the texture with water and serve quickly to keep it fresh. It is great to calm the fire of Indian dishes.
Bon apetit!

Source: inspired from the handi mutton recipe on http://food.sify.com/