Roast Lamb & Kale Curry a la Leftovers (with chutney Jell-O)

Every year for Easter I have a big ol’ roast leg of lamb. And then every year I end up with a whole mess of leftovers. But that’s not a bad thing because every year I make lamb curry. This Easter was no different. Oh, but this year I added a Jell-O mold.

The boneless leg of lamb, which I ordered from Relay Foods, was really beautiful. So I am extremely happy to report that I didn’t over cook it. I think that I found the secret to cooking a boneless leg of lamb: cooking it directly on the rack with a “grease collecting” pan underneath it. You roast it at 425 for 25 minutes before dropping it to 350 for the rest of the cook time. Sounds crazy, right? But it works. You can find the full directions HERE. Just remember that a meat thermometer is absolutely necessary with this technique. Also, there may be a lot of blood that runs out of the lamb while it is resting. A lot of red juice ran out of the roast and we feared that the lamb was under-cooked. It wasn’t. Trust the thermometer! Trust those directions!

I changed up my marinade because of what I had on hand. But this was particularly tasty:

• • 1/2 cup sake
• • 1/2 cup white wine
• • 1 cup water
• • 1 tbsp minced garlic
• • 1 tsp dried rosemary
• • 1 tsp dried thyme
• • Juice of 1/2 lemon

Marinate the lamb in Ziploc bag for at least 4 hours. Sake? Yes. Sake. It worked!

Let me reiterate–this lamb was delectable. Slather some mint jelly on it and it was heaven.

Now for the leftover curry–I modified the recipe for a lamb and spinach curry dish that I found from BBC Good Food–I trust the Brits for a good Indian dish. Here’s my version:

Lamb & Kale Curry

• 1 small knob of ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 big onion, chopped
• 1 jalepeno pepper, sliced (seed the pepper and chop if you want a milder dish)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 lb cubed roast lamb (or however much leftover lamb you have)
• 14 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 pound kale, cleaned and chopped
• 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

Saute the ginger, garlic, and onion in oil. Add the sliced pepper. Cook for a few minutes. Add the lamb and brown it a bit (don’t worry too much because the lamb has already been cooked!). Add the spices. Stir in the canned tomatoes, puree, and 1 cup of water. Bring to a simmer. Cover. Cook for 1 hour at least. Preferably 2.

Stir in the kale. Cook for another 20 minutes.

Temper the yogurt with a few spoonfuls of the hot lamb mixture. Then add the yogurt. Serve!

I served this with some fragrant Basmati rice (cooked rice in cooker as directed–but with the addition of 1/4 cinnamon stick, 1 cardamom pod, 2 tbsp of raisins, and 2 tbsp slivered almonds) and some Raita (into 1 cup plain yogurt stir 1/2 of a cucumber, grated. Season with black pepper, chili powder, and cumin to taste).

This curry dish was fab. And really healthy with the kale and the spices and all. The lamb was so tender it just fell apart in my mouth. It was I-don’t-have-to-put-in-my-dentures soft. I ate this for dinner and lunch for a full 3 days and didn’t get sick of it. Delicious! It was just like something you’d get at an Indian carryout. But without all that artery-clogging ghee.

Oh, don’t think that I forgot about the Jell-O!

In theory, this sounds great and a perfect accompaniment to curry. But I messed it up.

Gosh, I am having Jell-O issues as of late. My fridge must run really cold because my gelatin is always set at the time when it should just be thickened. See:

I put it back in the heart mold but it never set again. It was just a blobby mess. And not good. I spooned out a bit with the lamb and then just tossed the rest. I didn’t even bother to take a picture–that’s how sad this dish made me.

But here is something to cleanse the palate! I came to the realization last week that I have watched all of the top 10 Bollywood movies from 2005 (weird, right?). I even own the soundtrack and DVDs of a couple of them. So I had India on the brain and then thought of this. I present to you, what is definitely not the  best musical number from those movies–I think that comes from Bunty Aur Babli–but this is definitely a personal favorite.

Ladies and gentlemen, Salman Khan!