Continuing our journey throughout the Middle East, this has to be one of my fondest memories of our years there. This dish Mom traditionally made with Iranian lamb, and I would eagerly eat it then. I’m not fond of American lamb as it is much stronger tasting, so I now make this dish with beef. Iranian lamb is processed under a year of age, and has thus not yet developed the stronger taste older lamb gets over time. Once we got back to the States, where lamb is processed much older, I could no long stand the taste of lamb (not even New Zealand imported lamb).
I cannot stand to even smell lamb cooking in the kitchen, as it reminds me of the smell of the unrefrigerated meat markets we had to patronize in Iran! Back in 1960, there was only one chain of meat markets in Teheran (German operated) that had refrigerators. You haven’t lived until you’ve smelled pork and lamb carcasses hanging on the hook for hours in the summertime, heat often as high as 112º in the shade. That olfactory memory just never goes away. Nope, I just can’t do lamb, even though I’ve tried a few times since. When my husband cooks lamb on the grill for himself, I make him clean the grill grate before we can do ribeyes on that grill again, my issues with U.S. lamb are so bad. As we don’t have easy access to the mild tasting lamb of Iran, lamb is a non-meat for me. Beef will have to do in those recipes.
This delicious curry is very simple to cook. Traditionally served over Iranian rice, a most unique rice and the best rice in the world in my opinion. I has a wonderful, indescribably nutty, highly aromatic flavor (similar to basmati rice , but much, much better!). It’s so unique my family shipped 250 lbs. of it back to the states in a huge metal storage drum. We ate that rice for the next 6 years, until I graduated from high school actually!
On Atkins I avoid rice due to high carbs, plus I can’t get Iranian rice anymore, so I serve this curry over a bed of steamed, mashed cauliflower. Or sometimes I grate the raw cauliflower into riced bits and microwave it 4 minutes on HI, stirring each minute. Bananas sliced in half lengthwise (if you’ve reached Atkins Maintenance) seared off in a skillet with melted butter are absolutely GREAT eaten with this particular curry! I just have to have my fried bananas with this curry!! Try them with it and you’ll see what I mean! This curry sauce is actually quite different from Indian curries, in my opinion, so I hope you’ll try this one if you’re a curry fan. This recipe (without the bananas) is Atkins Induction friendly.
INGREDIENTS:
1 ½ lb. thinly-slivered lamb, beef chuck, flank or sirloin
2 T. olive oil
Enough water to cover the meat
1/2 bay leaf
6 black peppercorns
4 oz. chopped yellow onion
2 T. chopped parsley
2 tsp. high quality curry powder (I use Sharwood’s mild)
1 T. tomato paste to thicken (2 if you’ve overdone the water)
Xanthan gum to thicken further, if desired
DIRECTIONS: Brown meat over high heat in a deep skillet or wok. Cover (just) with water and add remaining ingredients. Simmer covered with lid for about 1 hour or until meat is fully tender. Time will vary with different meats and thickness used in slivering it up. Maintain water covering, adding a bit as you cook down the curry. When your meat is tender (chuck will take the longest to get tender), lightly dust the curry sauce with xanthan gum a couple times (it doesn’t take much at all), stirring between each addition, allowing it to develop/thicken before adding more. Too much is not a good thing when it comes to xanthan gum. Stop when just when you’re satisfied with thickness (it only takes about 1/8-1/4 tsp xanthan gum in my experience). Taste for salt and add to your taste.
If you need fewer servings, go on and cook the whole recipe, as it freezes well and like Italian food, it just seems to taste even better each time you reheat and serve it!
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: Serves 4, each serving has:
290.3 cals,12.6g fat, 3.88g carbs, 1.93g NET CARBS, 1.95g fiber, 38.58g protein, 39 mg sodium
Buttoni's Low-Carb Recipes 