Shalgam Gosht (Lamb with Turnip)

I don't buy lamb often because it's so expensive, but I do like to get a little bit every once in a while. Especially since we've made so few of the lamb recipes we have in our various cookbooks. Sometimes you can get away with substituting beef for the lamb, but a lot of the time the dish really does need the lamb unless you want to completely rewrite it to rebalance the flavours.

I've recently started shopping at a nice halal grocery store downtown and they have a nice selection of Ontario lamb and goat available, so I figured I'd treat myself to a little bit and try out a new recipe.

Shalgam Gosht

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp. mustard oil, divided
• 450g turnips, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 5-6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 slices ginger (~5cm by 3cm by 3mm), chopped
• 1 c. water
• 600g boneless leg of lamb, cut into 2cm cubes
• 4 black cardamom pods
• 1 Tbsp. bin bhuna hua garam masala"
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. firmly packed fresh mint leaves¹
• 2-3 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 1 large tomato, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat 2 Tbsp. of the mustard oil over medium heat.
2. Add the turnips and stir-fry until beginning to brown (~8 minutes).
3. Transfer the turnips to a bowl and set aside.
4. Add another 2 Tbsp. of oil to the pan.
5. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and stir-fry until softened an onion is light brown (~10 minutes).
6. Transfer onion mixture to a blender, add the water, and purée until smooth.
7. Heat the remaining 2 Tbsp. of oil in the pan.
8. Add the lamb and cardamom pods and cook for 15 minutes.
9. Transfer the onion paste to the pan.
10. Add the garam masala and salt, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, mash the mint and chilies into a paste in a molcajete or similar large mortar and pestle type device.
12. Add the tomato to the mint mixture a few pieces at a time, pounding into a paste after each addition. Remove the pieces of tomato skin if desired.
13. Add the turnips, cilantro, and tomato-mint mixture to the lamb and continue cooking, covered, stirring occasionally, for ~30 minutes longer.

---

¹ I didn't have quite enough mint leaves, so I made up the difference with some dried mint. Normally I wouldn't recommed using dried mint as I don't find the flavour to be very good, but the Qitaf brand mint that I got at the halal grocery store is excellent! ^Back