Bengali Black Lamb

Ingredients

• A1: 8 tablespoon of oil or butter (I prefer a mix of both)
• A2: 2 big or 4 small bay leaves
• A3: 2/3 cinnamon sticks - smashed/thrashed
• A4: 2 table spoons sugar
• A5. 8 cloves smashed garlic
• A6. 4 green chillies chopped
• B1. 1 kg finely chopped onions
• B2. 4 tsps (heaped) haldi (turmeric)
• B3. 1 tsp flat (or less) red chilli powder
• B4. 1 tbsp garam masala
• C1. 50 gms (5 cm) smashed ginger
• C2. 1 kg cubed lamb (preferably on the bone from the rump area)
• C3: 1.5 tsp tamarind paste (use 2 tbsp lime/lemon juice as replacement); Note colour won't be very black if using lime juice
• D1: 1.5 tsp salt (or to taste)
• D2. OPTIONAL: Potato big (3 cm chunky pieces with skin on)

Method

1. A items: (7 minutes)
   Heat oil in a pan large enough to allow stirring well.
   Add sugar, bay leaf, cinnamon powder, garlic, chopped chillies
   Stir couple of second (just to flavour the oil without burning)
2. B items (8 minutes)
   Add chopped onion and stir for a few minutes
   (Maintain enough heat to ensure that onions fry and not boil)
   Add haldi, chilli powder and garam masala powder and stir for a couple of minutes
3. C items (30 minutes)
   Add ginger (from now on you have to stir every few minutes as ginger sticks to the base)
   Add lamb - stir; lamb will release water. Stir until water is fully released.
   Add tamarind paste,
   Then cover for 20 minutes (stirring once in a while)
   After 15 minutes check lamb if is cooked (chewy - not over cooked)
   If gravy is dry and lamb is not cooked add half a cup of water (and repeat until lamb is cooked).
4. D items (20 minutes)
   Add salt; Add optional potatoes; Lower heat to a simmer and dry out the gravy until you see 'oil/butter' like dry consistency - don't over cook. Keep stirring all the time to avoid the burning/sticking to the base.