Time to Curry Favour

Over the weekend, Carl and I made our way to the lovely Mumbles just outside of Swansea to visit his family and run a 10k. Along the way we stopped off at the Abergavenny Food Festival (also known as Gŵyl Fwyd Y Fenni because 19% of the population in Wales speaks Welsh according to the 2011 census). We wandered all over town sampling (and buying!) all kinds of bread, cheese, cider, meat pies, wine. Of course, I somehow managed to stumble across the bubble tea truck before we dropped by the hog roast stand for lunch. I'm not sure the locals quite understood the meaning of bubble tea as almost every passerby exclaimed "I love tea!" while we were waiting in line.

At the Abergavenny Food Festival.

The locally made cheese was absolutely fantastic and we came home with several different kinds: handmade Welsh goats cheese, the most delightful Brandy Braf (a mature cheese with apricots and brandy), a wonderful caerphilly, an award winning extra mature cheddar, the absolute best blue cheese I have ever tried (the name of which I unfortunately cannot remember though I think it is one of these), and a few others. The aforementioned blue cheese with quince jelly on fresh apricot and walnut bread was my favourite snack of the weekend!

In addition to all the bread and cheese, I also got to taste a sort of British meatball known (controversially) as a faggot. They are typically made of pork off-cuts and offal (better if you don't know the details) and served with gravy, mash, and peas. According to Carl, when he was in a grocery store in America as a kid he pointed out that something looked like faggots and some women practically ran across the store all in a huff and pointedly asked if he knew what that word meant 'here.' Americans, you are using this word all wrong and are therefore missing out on this seriously delicious comfort dish! And while we're on the topic, Brits do in fact still use the term fag for cigarette as alluded to on Arrested Development (I nearly died when watching the Wee Britain episodes when watching the show with Carl but that is a story for another post).

In the evening we popped by The Pilot, a pub a brewery run by a sweet and thoughtful lady who even brings treats to the dogs she allows her patrons to bring inside. I must say, if you ever find yourself in Mumbles do drop in and try a pint of their Mumbles Gold! Luckily the beers and cider didn't do too much damage and we all crossed the finish line of the Swansea Bay 10k (10k Bae Abertawe) together.

Finished one race and already looking for another!

So how does all of this somehow tie in to the cooking of my first curry? While discussing cooking and my blog Carl's mums decided to lend me their copy of The Hairy Dieters (done by the British Hairy Bikers - not to be confused with the American knock-off). The book is nothing but fantastic recipes and I easily settled on this curry. Ordinarily I won't post recipes which are not readily available on the internet unless they are from my family, but I decided to post this one because I modified it to cook in my slow cooker instead of on the hob (stove) and in the oven.

Slow Cooker Saag Gosht (Lamb, Spinach, and Potato Curry)

My first curry!

Ingredients
600g lamb
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 large onions, roughly chopped
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
25g chunk of root ginger, roughly chopped
1 plump fresh red chilli, roughly chopped
100g curry paste
400g can of chopped tomatoes
350g potatoes, peeled and chopped into 3cm chunks (Maris Pipers)
450 ml water (for a less soupy version, try 200-250 ml)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp flaked sea salt
1 tsp caster sugar
6 medium tomatoes, quartered
100 g baby spinach leaves
ground black pepper

Directions
1. Trim the lamb of any hard fat and cut the meant into rough chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a large frying pan and fry the lamb until lightly coloured on all sides. Transfer to a plate when browned.

2. Heat the remaining oil in a pot and add the onions. Cook over a medium heat for 6-8 minutes until they're softened and lightly browned, stirring regularly. Turn down the heat, add the garlic, ginger, chilli, and curry paste and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Remove from the heat and blend into a purée.

4. Combine the lamb, spiced onion purée, canned chopped tomatoes, potatoes, water, bay leaves, teaspoon of salt, and sugar in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours.

5. Stir in the quartered tomatoes and spinach leaves and cook on low for a further hour.

Additional Tips
While the book recommends lamb leg steaks, I think shoulder or leg would do nicely as well. For the curry paste I used a medium heat (balti paste from Asda). It had a nice kick to it and was enough to clear out my sinuses but next time I might brave the hot madras paste! If you aren't a fan of spicy food, a mild paste should still make for a tasty curry.


All in all, I had a wonderful weekend and thoroughly enjoyed my first attempt at curry. As a South Bay native, being able to wake up and look out over Swansea Bay and hear the gulls makes me feel right at home. I can't wait to come back for Christmas! I am already thinking about what traditional American dishes I can share!

Until next time, have fun attempting to curry favour with this tasty dish! x