Freezing tends to make yogurt-based sauces separate unpleasantly.

Thank you! I thought I vaguely remembered it might, but couldn't find the reference.

seconded.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. Because of the advice, the un-yoghurted curry is in the freezer, and the yoghurted curry has been (almost entirely) consumed.

It was *good*.

I'm glad it was good. :) Is the recipe one from Kashmir (originally)?

I don't know; I know little about Indian cookery, though I enjoy Indian restaurants. I suspect I actually do it all wrong, but it tastes good, and rather like things I've eaten in Indian restaurants.

When we first had a lamb to butcher, I looked up a lot of lamb recipes that looked far too complicated for me (meanwhile discovering that lamb simply put in the oven and left there the right amount of time was delicious.) But we had leftover bits of meat on the bone that couldn't be sliced for sandwiches; I wanted something more interesting to do with them. I searched the international foods aisles of the larger grocery stores and finally found a brand of curry paste that had been recommended. So the first attempt was a combination of a recipe (actually for chicken curry) on the side of the jar of curry paste and "sniff-and-try" on my part (that is, "It smells like maybe adding a little X would taste good.") We liked it a lot.

That first lamb, when we had no real meat saw, came in inconveniently large pieces, so the shoulder went in my largest roasting pan. After slicing some off for dinner and sandwiches, we looked at it and "Curry!" came to mind.

What I do with it now is cut the cooked lamb into chunks, put it in a pot with diced tomatoes, sautee a chopped onion and add that, and simmer for awhile with some curry paste added...the amount of curry paste being judged by smell because no two pots have the same amount of lamb. Later in the process I add some plain yoghurt, judging the amount by how light it makes the sauce and how it tastes. As I said, that's probabably all wrong, but it tastes good.

It sounds very tasty, I'm not surprised it's all gone. :)

I like Indian cookery and use a lot of Madhur Jaffrey's recipes. I've found these two very good - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/lambshanksbraisedina_91037.shtml and http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/533996. There's a lovely mix of flavours in each.

Perhaps you could say if there's a WSW wind blowing next time you're mixing up a batch of your recipe, so I can go outside and inhale deeply... :D

Thanks, I'll look at those recipes.

Today is the day for clearing out all the sunburnt, dried up plants from the garden and thinking when we can plant the winter garden. With the water restrictions and all, I don't see any use really in planting out there right now...things will just curl up and die. But I can get the beds ready. I've already cleared out the sunflowers, cutting off the heads that still have seeds and putting them in the back yard for birds, and still have to decided if we can possibly get a few more beans off the beans. I think not, but if we're not going to plant right away, at least the plants shade the soil.

(32 days so far over 100F, many in the 105F range.)

Good grief, that's some run of temperatures. Yes, I understand about using the old plants to keep the soil shaded. Any last little extra scrap of shade or moisture conserved must be an advantage in your situation. Our sunflowers are still flowering, so a few weeks yet till we've got full seed-heads for the birds.

Wishing you a few days of gentle but steady rain! :)

Does curry paste not need to be fried in the oil, the way curry powder does? I usually start by frying it and then add the onion, etc. I like a fruity curry, so mine always contain banana and apple as well as other veg.

Well...I never have fried it in the oil--the directions on the jar say to put it in with the tomatoes, onion, and meat, so that's what I do. Hmmm.

Then that will be the right thing - I tend to use curry powder, rather than paste, which does need pre-fried (so do it with the asafoetida and cumin seeds, which are also the better for a pre-fry), but I expect the paste has already had it done.

Years ago, I tried to make chicken curry using curry powder, but did not know to fry it...you have just given me an AHA! moment. That's what I did wrong (it was edible, but not very good, and I didn't try it again.)

Thanks!

I had thought the same, but also, isn't it bad to reheat things like yoghurt, milk, cream? I may be misremembering the reheating though.

Like many things, you want to freeze that particular element separately, where it will change a little but not too much. I don't know how you're making it, but if you can keep that element separate in the majority and freeze it as such, recombining them later should be much more successful. Like many meat/pasta/sauce dishes, pulling those parts apart is what creates a meal or dish that can be frozen and reheated successfully.

Grr, LJ keeps signing me out today and I am not noticing...

Curry paste is also wonderful in curried chicken salad; much better than curry powder - it's that cooking thang I think. I make a blend of 1/2 mayo and 1/2 low fat yogurt and then add a bit of lemon or lime! juice and curry paste to taste for my dressing. The salad itself has chicken, onion, celery, walnuts, apples and/or raisins, peppers,.... whatever is in the fridge. Chickpeas or leftover brown rice are good additions, as is raw zucchini. Basically whatever appeals and is available, or in my case, needs using up.