Name: Inle Lake lamb curry
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Burmese
Ingredients: 3 tbsp tamarind water, or 2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp water; 1 tbsp dried shrimp, chopped, or 1 tsp shrimp paste; 1 x 400 ml can chopped tomatoes; 2 tsp cornflour; 2 sticks lemongrass, trimmed and chopped; 500 g lamb mince; 2 tbsp fish sauce; salt; 2 fresh red chillies, deseeded; a bunch of fresh coriander; 3 cloves garlic, chopped; peanut oil; 2 tsp each of paprika and dried chilli flakes; 1 onion, chopped; 4 cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Food and Travels

By Alastair Hendy

Published 2004

About

Heavenly lamb dumplings in a punchy tomato sauce - sort of mum’s meatballs go comfortably into Asia. I scoffed it daily on Inle Lake: a vast tract of water that supports various villages around its shores - on land, and on stilts, complete with floating gardens. The villagers lead the Life of Pi, on the water with their livestock. Fish plop, dragonflies hum, and insects buzz all day long around waters dappled with Hockney squiggles and abstractions aplenty. The place of escape. Mick Jagger