When I started blogging I went mad and started three at once. This one, one for my seniors and a cooking one. The first two are still going. Chugging along anyway – the novelty of the blog seems to have worn off for my seniors (more about that later…). The cooking one didn’t really get off the ground. Started blogging a few of my favourite recipes then stopped. I’ve decided to start including them in this blog instead. Why not? Teaching and cooking. Love ’em both! 🙂
LAMB KATHMANDU
What this dish has to do with Nepal, I’m not sure. Vaguely remember reading about a typical Hymalayan dish which involved lamb and a side of lentils. Could this be the inspiration? Not sure. I know where I can find out though.
There is a fantastic Indian restaurant in Inverness called Cinnamon. I’ve been a regular customer since I moved to the Highlands and simply cannot fault the place. Do not be put off by the bleak exterior and the unfortunate situation (on a busy road directly across from a big supermarket). The interior may not be chic but it is warm, colourful and inviting. The staff are wonderfully welcoming and the food is superb. To top it all off they serve a dish called Lamb Kathmandu. I love it! Lamb, lentils, ginger, spring onion… It’s heavenly.
Tonight I tried to imitate the dish. The result was reasonably successful. Not as stunning as Cinnamon’s version but it was only my first attempt. 🙂
Lamb Kathmandu
(serves 4)
500g neck of lamb, diced
Vegetable oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped roughly
1 large onion, chopped roughly
4 cm piece of ginger, chopped roughly
1 tsp cumin
1tsp coriander
1/2 tsp tumeric
2 cloves
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
200g brown lentils
400g can chopped tomatoes
600ml vegetable stock
-
Heat 2 tbs of oil in a heavy based pan. Fry the lamb until browned. Remove from pan.
-
Whizz onion, garlic and ginger in food processor to make a paste.
-
Fry paste in oil until soft and lightly browned.
-
Add spices and fry gently for a further 5 mins.
-
Add the lentils and lamb to the pan. Stir.
-
Add the chopped tomatoes and stock. Stir.
-
Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 mins – 1 hr or until lentils are soft. Stir occasionally.
A Wee Bit of Cooking 
Love the sound of the recipe -will give it a try this weekend!
I realise how busy you are but it would be fab if some of your pupils could blog our P7 work -look out for some great poems being posted soon!
Sandra
I most definitely will do so very soon. We’re having a problem getting blog access in the school at the moment.
Will keep you posted. 🙂
Wendy
I just came across this whilst bookmarking food and allotment blogs for recipe ideas.
This sounds fantastic, but I think an unlikely Nepali dish. I lived in Nepal for a year (mostly down in the jungle but had to spend a few days in Kathmandu each month) and I can’t recall ever seeing Lamb on any menu – can’t recall ever seeing a sheep in the country for that matter – plenty of goats though but then I never saw anyone eat one.
The staple meal throughout the country (eaten twice a day) was Dahl Baat, which in most households was simply a pile of rice with a thin soup made from red split lentils, red onions, cumin and turmeric poured over the top and eaten with the hands. If you were lucky there might be some veg in there – like a roughly chopped curried potato and the more adventurous cooks would slice some raw green chillies over the top. But it was pretty basic stuff.
Even in the restaurants in Kathmandu there wasn’t much choice (this is back in 1990 – things are probably different now) the only meat you could get was buffsteak (4″ thick waterbuffalo stakes in a sticky sweet gravy served in the skillet).
Down in the jungle we were able to suppliment our Dahl Baat with the odd snake (tastes like catfood fried in swarfeega), a fish called Bam (looks and tastes like eel – uurgh) and barter for wild boar (still the best I’ve ever tasted, we had it in Momo’s which are Tibetan boiled dumplings – more like big ravioli with lots of green chilli).
There was no bread to be had in southern Nepal – not even chapatis (there was a very odd sweet cornbread you could buy in the markets which tasted like stale carrotcake). By the time I got back home I hadn’t eaten any wheat for over a year and was completely intollerant to wheat – I still am over 20 years later 🙂