Name: Lamb curry (Gulai Bagar)
Yield: to serve six to eight
Cuisine: Indonesia
Ingredients: 3 tbs oil; 8 shallots, or 2 large onions; 1 stick cinnamon; 4 cloves garlic; 4 cardamoms; 2 tsp coriander seed; ½ tsp ground cumin; 5 red chillis or 2 tsp chilli powder; 1 leg or shoulder of lamb; 2 tsp ground ginger; 7 tbs freshly grated coconut or desiccated coconut; 4 cloves; 2 tbs tamarind water; 3 Kaffir lime leaves or bay-leaves; salt; 250 ml (½ pint) thick santen (coconut milk); 500 ml (1 pint) thin santen (coconut milk); 5 kemiri (candlenuts); 2 aubergines (optional); 1 tsp turmeric; pinch of powdered lemon grass; pinch of grated nutmeg

Preparation info

to serve
six to eight

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Indonesian Food and Cookery

By Sri Owen

Published 1980

About

In West Sumatra, where I was born, this lamb curry was often cooked for big feasts and celebrations. We always had it, for instance, when one of my boy-cousins was circumcised, because this was a major family event and huge numbers of people used to gather for it. Half-a-dozen or more sheep would be slaughtered and cut up into quite large chunks—Gulai Bagar is a chunky dish, and even the daily meal of a largish family might require half of a lamb, bones and all, to make the food tastier. On