Gosht Durbari or slow cooked lamb curry with yoghurt, fried onion and spices is a wickedly rich, intensely flavourful, curry. The most viewed recipe on my blog which goes to show how popular it is.
Most of my readers are still reeling over the ‘Vegemite Masala’ – a total fusion affair for many. So I decided on something more traditional today.
Gosht Durbari or a wickedly rich, intensely flavourful, deep dark lamb curry. Not sure if the Oz heat can take this curry but my ‘winter wonderland’ friends will thank me for this.
The star ingredient of this dish is the fried onions; this makes the curry so intensely rich and flavourful. I would definitely suggest making fried onions from scratch instead of the store bought fried shallots. Way different in flavour….believe me, I have tried both versions. Fried onions may take some time but that’s the only real job in this otherwise simple dish.
Spices are minimal, just there to add layers of flavour without much heat. A dish that works if you have non-Indian friends at your dinner table who love a good curry but can’t handle too much heat.
Make sure you get lamb or mutton on the bones as it imparts most flavour to the dish. And this Gosht Durbari is best paired with flatbreads or layered rotis with a yoghurt dip/raita on the side to cut through all that richness.
So put on your aprons and let’s get cooking Gosht Durbari or a delicious lamb curry slow cooked with yoghurt, fried onions and spices.
Recipe adapted from a similar version by Jaspreet Nirula
Gosht Durbari
Ingredients
- 1 kg lamb on the bone; cut into medium-sized pieces
- 1 cup thick plain yoghurt/curd
- 3-4 tbsp ghee/clarified butter
- 1 ½ inch ginger; julienned
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tbsp red chilli powder
- Salt to season
- 4 medium red onions; finely chopped
- Vegetable oil to fry the onions
- Ginger juliennes; for garnish
- Fresh coriander leaves; finely chopped for garnish
For the spice paste:
- 3 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ cinnamon bark
- 5 cloves
- 1 black cardamom
- 8 black peppercorns
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- A pinch of asafoetida/hing
- A pinch of nutmeg grated
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pan and deep fry the sliced onions in batches. Drain and keep aside.
- To prepare the spice paste, dry roast the whole spices till fragrant, cool and grind to a fine powder. Mix with the other spice powders and make a paste with a bit of water.
- Now take a heavy, deep bottomed vessel and heat ghee. Add the lamb along with yoghurt, chilli powders, ginger and salt. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Next add the spice paste and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add enough water to slow cook the lamb.
- After 20 minutes, add ¾ ths of the fried onions, mix well and continue to cook till the lamb is soft and tender.
- Check and adjust seasoning, reduce gravy on high heat if necessary. Garnish with ginger juliennes, fried onions and coriander leaves.
- Serve hot with flat breads, parathas or rotis.
looks great. can I make it a day before serving and reheat it? thanks
yes ofcourse. In fact, the curry will taste better the following day.
How many will this feed? 4?
6-8 people
asafoetida, what is that ? please Lori
Asafoetida is a natural extract, the dried gum from the root of a herb. Known as hing in Hindi, it mimics the taste of onion and garlic, and widely used in Indian cooking. Also has digestive properties. Easily available in Indian stores.
How do you get the smell off for lamb? I don’t live in India and when you cook lamb here it leaves a smell behind. Sorry we do not get any mutton (goat meat) here. Anyway that I can get the smell off of lamb meat before I start cooking it?
May I first know which country do you live in Asha?
Haven’t heard of asafoetida nor know where can I find it. Question: Can I substitute asafoetida for something else? Or can I leave it out? Would it affect the taste of this dish? Thanks. Can’t wait to try it?
Asafoetida can be found in all Indian stores; it has a very unique taste which cannot be replaced with anything else. It is also used to aid digestion. If you cant find it, you can leave it out…increase the quantity of garlic by 1-2 cloves.
But the recipe does not say garlic anywhere. Increase it from what?
The recipe does not contain any garlic.
This curry looks delicious! Just a question, how long was the complete cooking time for slow cooking? It’s hard to know if 1 or 2 hours is enough or are we talking 5 or 6 hours? Looks so good I may make this tomorrow night 🙂
For good quality meat, under 2 hours would be enough since the pieces are cut smaller. But might take longer if using lamb shanks.
Looks lovely…just a query. …for the spice paste you have mentioned that after grinding I should mix it with other spice powders and make a paste…which are these other spice powders? If chilli powder then that needs to be added with the mutton…so which are these powders you have mentioned …kindly reply..I would love to try this out.
By that, I mean the asafoetida and nutmeg, both of which can bring a bitter taste if roasted with the whole spices, so those both have to be added only after the whole spices are roasted and then the whole thing ground. Hope its cleared….
The color came out perfectly! It’s very inviting! Lovely!
Thanks Nagi; its one of the best lamb dishes I know.
Can this dish be paired with basmati rice?
Yes, very much Sheeba. Add a raita and its yummm.
Awsm looks.. are Onions to be long cut…or finely chopped..can we roast a bit longer the meat with spices…helpin it to set in..???
Anil, the onions have to be sliced, not chopped (can’t deep fry this way). Check the picture shown. You can roast longer if you wish to but because the meat is cooked on low heat for a long time, the spices do get in well.
Stunning (from a wintery wonderland-ish ) place!
And hot on the heels from a trip to India. What was your best experience this visit?
Has to be the Rajasthani thali .. Or hmm hang on.. The breakfasts.. Or.. The kachori on the street.. Oh darn it! All of it!
ha ha…I like that. But yes rajasthani thali is really awesome.
Amazing!!
Thanks Sanju
Thanks for the link up….thats a stunning collection of curries