We had a good night on Saturday at the Blog Awards Ireland 2013. For me, it was more than just a chicken dinner. It was the culmination of a year of slaving over a hot stove, slaving over a hot camera and slaving over a hot computer. I was nominated for the Best Food Blog (after a subtle campaign) and I entered one of my recipes for the Glenisk competition. Given that I haven’t won anything since accepting a carton of 200 Benson and Hedges in a rugby club raffle over 30 years ago, I was not anticipating a lot.
So, I was pretty delighted, amazed and thrilled when I won Best Food Blog AND the Glenisk competition. I had obviously managed to curry favour. How could I give something back? How could I honour the Blog Awards and Glenisk? Curry seemed like a good idea and that’s where my headline comes from. So it is time to favour a Lamb Curry.
My ingredients:
- 1 leg of lamb or 1.5 kilos of lamb chunks
- 3 onions
- 1 cooking apple
- 100 gms of raisins
- 1 small tin of tomato purée
- 750 ml of top quality yoghurt.
- 1 big handful of fresh coriander
- A curry spice mix. I made my own (as you do).
The mix:
- 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of white pepper
- 2 teaspoons of mixed peppers
- 6 whole cloves
- 3 teaspoons of cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon of chili flakes
- 3 teaspoons of cardamom pods
- 3 teaspoons of turmeric (if you are lucky enough to have an international traveling friend, get the dried roots and crush them yourself).
Dry fry the cumin seeds until they start to change colour. Pod the cardamom and throw away the shells. Crush the turmeric if you are using dried roots. Then add everything that needs crushing into a mortar and crush with a pestle.
If you are using a leg of lamb (they are very cheap at the moment and it made sense to do so), de-bone the leg and chop into nice chunks discarding the fat, skin and other bits as you go.
Side note of kitchen caution: If you are deboning a leg of lamb, don’t do it the morning after the night before using a big, very sharp knife. You might do what I did on Sunday….
When you have stemmed the bleeding, pieced your thumb back together and bandaged the appendage, get on with the lamb preparation.
Put your injured hand into a plastic glove to keep the spice out of the wound and the blood out of the meat. Toss the meat in the spices.
Next, fry the meat until nice and brown on all sides.
Meanwhile chop the onions into chunks and sweat them off in a casserole dish. Then add the meat.
Let the frying pan cool down a little. deglaze the pan with a nice big dollop of yoghurt.
This picks up all the fried spices left in the pan.
Add the pan scrapings, the tomato purée and the delicious, organic, tasty yogurt to the casserole.
Add a small amount of water (or beer), some salt to taste and then throw in the raisins and stir them in.
Put it in a 200ºC oven for 45 minutes, adding the apple, sliced, with about 15 minutes left on the clock. Take it out, chop the coriander, and stir it in.
Serve this delicious (and not very hot) curry with Basmati rice. Serve it with a nice beer and eat it with a fork, using your good hand.
The curry was pretty delicious. It was a fitting celebration meal for having curried the favour of those fine, fine people at Glenisk and Blog Awards Ireland. Thank you all. I greatly appreciate the awards.
cookinginsens | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations! Great lamb curry!
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Rosemary. Difficult replying with a big bandage on my right thumb.
thelittlecookbook | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations on the awards, truly deserved – I do really enjoy the stories from your kitchen as well as the bloody great use of local produce!
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Rachel, It’s good to use local when we can.
Brian Shalloe | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations Conor and well deserved.
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Brian. I have to admit to being a bit surprised.
koritt | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations!! Well deserved!! 🙂
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks indeed.
Anonymous | 15th October 2013
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Conor, Well done with the award, and keep up the great food ideas.
Michelle | 15th October 2013
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Terrific! And that curry looks mighty good, too!
Mad Dog | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations!
Adam J. Holland | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations, Sir. I knew you when…
ksbeth | 15th October 2013
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double happiness, double congrats
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Double thanks!
Willie Cloete | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations mate and you deserve the award! Thanks for the effort you put into your recipes and photography, the hallmark of passion shines through!
Regards,
Willie
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Willie, You are too kind. I do have a deal of fun doing it.
Adam | 15th October 2013
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Really well done, Conor. Much deserved.
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Adam,
There are lots of great Irish food blogs around and I am amazed somewhat to go all the way.
therebelkitchen | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations Conor, you really deserved both awards 🙂 The look of this recipe/ blog post is currying favour chez moi at the moment too, must try it! Hope the hand recovers!
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Emma, Do give it a whirl, it’s not difficult and is very tasty. Thumb well bandaged and not so stingy this evening.
Best,
Conor
ohlidia | 15th October 2013
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Oh wow! Congratulations Conor! I guess this puts you in a whole different field, doesn’t it? I hope you can still find the time to visit our little blogs… 🙂 I love curry and your lamb curry looks fabulous!
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thank you Lidia,
Less of the whole different field. The idea is that we inspire each other and you certainly do that for me. This is easy enough if you avoid the thumb slicing and worth trying, if you are minded to.
babso2you | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations on both awards Conor! Well deserved! The dish looks amazing, and I could just about smell the curry through the computer! My best – B
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Barb,
My own computer smells of it today too!
Best,
Conor
babso2you | 16th October 2013
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LOL!
egg me on | 15th October 2013
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No one is more deserving of this award than you. Congrats Conor!
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Tommy, very kind of you.
Fine Dining at Home (@fdathome) | 15th October 2013
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Many congratulations Conor. Looking forward to another year of your posts. I wonder what you’ll enter next year.
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thankfully, I have a couple of weeks posts done and have some breathing space to plot out some more. All good fun!
laurasmess | 15th October 2013
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Wowww!!! Conor, I am so, so impressed (with both the curry and your awards). Congratulations – you deserve every bit of recognition you get. Oh, and by the way… I think curry is a very worthy celebratory meal!
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Laura,
We enjoyed it twice. There was plenty for a Monday evening re-celebration too.
trixfred30 | 15th October 2013
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Great news! Not surprised though.
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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You are too kind to me. You know that I get great fun out of it and the Wife insists I continue to do it (the cooking at least).
Nicki Cloonan | 15th October 2013
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Congrats Conor, seriously well done on the awards! That recipe looks pretty nifty too.
Nicki
ps your post sent me off on a tangent to find out where the expression “to curry favour” came from. It seems it might be a derivative from the 16th century. One for another post perhaps?
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Nicki, A 16th century curry could be a fun thing about which to post.
richardmcgary | 15th October 2013
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Nice post, as always, Conor. You are definitely a better man than I for crushing dried tumeric root. I bet this was very tasty. Nice plating shot, too. Sorry about the knife bite. Have you thought about buying a boning knife? It gives you a little better control although knife bites and oven burns are an unfortunate hazard of cooking. Ah, the price you have to pay for a quality meal. 😉
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Richard, The turmeric root put up quite a fight. The Wife had to leave the kitchen while I bashed it into submission. She had to come back when I did the slicing. A boning knife is a good idea. I even have a spare space in my knife block. The good news; Christmas approaches…
Mama Miyuki Easy Pantsy | 15th October 2013
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Congratulations Conor! Your pictures are glorious (mouthwatering) and always fresh with new styles of writings. Btw Conor, I am getting to this food photography. My husband got me a pentax K5 II and I don’t know how to use it. Manuals are too thick and heavy for me..where should I start? links, suggestions? all are very welcome
Conor Bofin | 15th October 2013
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Thanks Mama, I spent a lot of time on You Tube having searched for ‘Digital SLR Photography’. Get a tripod! I also try to do most of my food photography using a fixed 50mm 1.8 lens. I believe you can get one for the Pentax.
Give it a go,
Best,
Conor
Mama Miyuki Easy Pantsy | 16th October 2013
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Ok..I got the tripod..and will check the key words. Well about the lens, maybe next year..Let me explore the basic package first..thans alot Conor
Johnnysenough Hepburn | 15th October 2013
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Well done! No, not the lamb. Ouch, re thumb! Thankfully you refrained from showing a gratuitous shot of it. And you were restrained with showing (off) your new trophies!
Conor Bofin | 16th October 2013
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Thanks Johnny, I did think of taking a “blood in the water” shot over the sink. The Wife cured me of that. She is wise.
Heather | 15th October 2013
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I love this recipe. I am less of a meat eater, so my partner is very glad I have found this blog! It inspires me to cook more meat for him. Thank you for making everything look so beautiful!
Conor Bofin | 16th October 2013
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Think you Heather, hopefully I can tempt you further.
Best,
Conor
Eha | 16th October 2013
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Wonderful! Warmest congratulations from a very warm Antipodes!!
Conor Bofin | 16th October 2013
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Thanks Eha. I appreciate the comments from afar.
ChgoJohn | 16th October 2013
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The good, the bad, and the curry. Congratulations on winning both awards, Conor! How wonderful and so very well-deserved! So sorry to read of the mishap involving your hand. I hope it wasn’t too serious, though it didn’t appear to affect your cooking nor curry. It looks delicious and being it was prepared by Ireland’s number one blogger, I know that it must be. 🙂
Conor Bofin | 16th October 2013
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What a great turn of phrase. I wish I had thought of it. A series of spaghetti western inspired recipes could be great fun. Quince upon a thyme in the West, For a few dollops more….
ChgoJohn | 16th October 2013
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Quince upon a thyme got me. Good one!
StefanGourmet | 16th October 2013
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Congratulations again for those very well-deserved award! You are without a doubt the best Irish food blog I follow 😉 Seriously, except for the missing gratuitous meat shot this is another classic. Love how you subtly included the awards in the ingredients shot. Also love that you make your own spice mix. First time I’ve seen deglazing with yogurt — always important to use those tasty bits but what a great way to do so! Sorry you injured your hand — happens to the best of us.
The glove is a good idea — I usually make do with bandaids. Can you believe I’ve never prepared a curry? Perhaps this should be my first, in honor of your rewards!
Conor Bofin | 16th October 2013
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I would love to see your approach to curry. This one is pretty mild, though tasty. On the slicing end of things, the glove was essential. Healing quickly all the same.
StefanGourmet | 16th October 2013
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Apart from never having prepared curry, I’ve also hardly ever eaten one. So I’ll stick pretty close to your recipe for my first 🙂
frugalfeeding | 16th October 2013
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Fantastic, Conor – I’m very impressed and not at all surprised. It truly is a wonderful blog with wonderful food. Damn fine curry too!
Conor Bofin | 16th October 2013
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Thanks Nick, I was on yours ogling that risotto with goat’s cheese. I love that concept. I placed my vote. As we say here in Ireland “Vote early and often!”
frugalfeeding | 16th October 2013
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Wonderful – thanks, Conor. Vote as much as you are able ;).
delightfulinconsistency | 16th October 2013
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Hi Conor,
I stumbled across your wonderful blog this morning, and I have to say that your curry looks delicious. Definitely one to try. From the posts that I have had the time to read, I couldn’t agree more with all the other lovely comments, your award is thoroughly well deserved and I’m sending you lots of Congratulations from my (very small) blog!
Best, Holly.
Conor Bofin | 16th October 2013
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Hi Holly,
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your kind words. I popped over to your blog. Love the Lidl of this….
Best,
C
Linda Duffin | 16th October 2013
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Oh, well done, Conor! I couldn’t be more pleased for you. Huge congratulations, very well deserved – and the curry looks great.
Conor Bofin | 16th October 2013
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Thanks Linda. You are too kind.
Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk | 16th October 2013
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And you clearly deserved both awards!
Conor Bofin | 16th October 2013
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Thanks Glyn, very kind of you to say so.
Claire Edwards | 19th October 2013
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Congrats on the award, well deserved 🙂
Conor Bofin | 20th October 2013
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Hi Claire,
You are very kind to say so. I’m now faced with a choice; Stop altogether or try to get better. I think I’ll go with the latter as there is plenty of room for improvement.
Claire Edwards | 23rd January 2014
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Ahh don’t stop, is there such as perfection, and would we want it? (sounds quite boring to me); there’s always room for a little improvement 🙂
Anonymous | 3rd November 2013
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Congratulations on your award Conor just spotted your Blog tonight..looking forward to trying your curry mix
Conor Bofin | 3rd November 2013
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Excellent. It’s not too hot but is quite tasty. If you want heat, dial up the chilis.
wendy@chezchloe | 5th November 2013
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Big congrats. Did you take Lucy with you? She’s got to be proud.
A delicious looking dish but the shot with the glove- ouch. I hope it’s healed by now.
Keep up the slaving!
Conor Bofin | 5th November 2013
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Thanks Wendy,
Yes, Lucy came along and gave me support (and a hard time). Well healed though I did repeat the exercise at the weekend. That thumb is getting pretty battle scarred.
Caroline@Bibliocook (@Bibliocook) | 5th November 2013
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Congratulations Conor! Love how you were so distracted with getting your awards into the photos (and maybe a little hung over) that you ended up stabbing yourself…hope the finger is all better now.
Conor Bofin | 5th November 2013
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Thanks Caroline, a lot of truth I that. Just as the nerves were healing, I sliced the same thumb again this weekend. I need a chain-mail glove.
Phil @foodfrankly | 11th November 2013
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Hi Connor, sorry to be ridiculously late to this post, but just to add my congratulations. Very worthy of the award!
Phil @foodfrankly | 11th November 2013
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…and also to apologise for just misspelling your name, which I realised as I clicked ‘comment’. Aaah.
Conor Bofin | 11th November 2013
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And thanks for that too!
Conor Bofin | 11th November 2013
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Thanks Phil,
You are too kind. I appreciate it.
Best,
Conor
Jody and Ken | 14th November 2013
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Congratulations! Couldn’t happened to a nicer guy–must have been the obsession with pour shots. (And thanks for the curry recipe.) Ken
Conor Bofin | 14th November 2013
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Thanks Ken.