Palak Gosht (slow Indian cooked curry) in the VeloKitchen

Palak Gosht

We finished eating dinner two hours ago and our house still smells like a curry! I broke in my brand new All-Clad slow cooker with an Indian lamb and spinach curry, also known as palak gosht. I was inspired by the recipe in the October 2009 “Oprah” magazine. Here is the link: http://www.oprah.com/recipe/omagazine/recipes/200910-omag-recipe-lamb-curry . If you have never made a curry or your family is not used to eating Indian curries, I recommend this recipe as it is mild and tasty. I think you could easily substitute chicken for lamb, or even make this recipe vegetarian with an equally succesful result. 

We eat Indian curries at least twice a week so I enhanced this recipe based on our experience of cooking with Indian spices and after consulting one of our Indian cookbooks, 50 Great Curries of India by Camelia Panjabi.  When you open our spice cabinet, the smells of curry ingredients waft out of the cupboard. We usually make a mild version for our youngster (little to no chili or cayenne pepper) and a spicier one for the adults. If my husband sweats from his brow, then the curry is hot enough! This was my first attempt at cooking a curry in the slow cooker. The advantages of slow cooking are that you can prepare the meal in advance and the meat turns out melt-in-your mouth tender.

To the recipe above, I added 3/4 tsp. coriander powder, a bay leaf and 2 cloves. The next time I prepare this curry I would also add 1/2 tsp. Garam Masala powder just before serving. To prepare a family-friendly recipe, I cut the cayenne pepper to 1/8 teaspoon while the curry simmered in the crockpot. When the slow cook cycle was complete, (eight hours on low heat), I removed my son’s portion and added two small Thai chilis to the rest to add heat to the curry. If you like your curries very hot, then you could add even more chilis at this step since adding the yogurt at the end cuts the heat of the chilis.

If your slow cooker has been on the warm cycle for an hour or more, you will need to slightly heat the curry before you add the spinach at the end so that it will wilt quickly (in about five minutes). Beware not to heat the curry too much or when you add the yogurt just before serving, the yogurt will curdle. This will not change the flavor, but curdled dairy looks clumpy instead of creamy. I served this curry over rice.  My vote for cooking a curry in a slow cooker is a win and I look forward to adapting other recipes. What’s your experience cooking Indian curries? Please leave a comment below!

Do you enjoy preparing and eating Indian curries? Check out our Curry Crazy Project on our 50 Curries Project page where we are cooking our way through Camellia Panjabi’s 50 Great Curries of India cookbook!

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